“We are in the very midst of revolution, the most complete, unexpected, and remarkable of any in the history of the world.” John Adams July, 1776 The Fourth of July parade. Oil City, Pennsylvania. A lot of Read more »
Memorial Day, 2010
… that these dead shall not have died in vain Four score and seven years before Abraham Lincoln spoke these words at Gettysburg, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and Read more »
Independence Day, 2009
Great oaks from tiny acorns grow. In most of the world the sun rose on the morning of July 4, 1776 much as it had risen the day before and much as it would rise the day Read more »
Memorial Day, 2009
On the 19th of April in 1775, on the Village Green in Lexington, Massachusetts, John Brown, Samuel Hadley, Caleb Harrington, Jonathon Harrington, Robert Munroe, Isaac Muzzey, Asahel Porter and Jonas Parker became the first Americans to give Read more »
Patriots’ Day, 2009
“Listen my children and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere” As the sun was rising on the morning of April 19, 1775, 700 British soldiers met up with 77 Massachusetts minutemen on the Read more »
Martin Luther King Day, 2009
“To every thing there is a season.” Ecclesiastes We are in the season of war. American men and women are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have enemies in a nuclear North Korea and perhaps soon-to-be nuclear Read more »
Holiday Season, 2008
Peace on Earth. Good will towards all. Nice words— Peace on Earth. Good will towards all. It makes us feel good when we say them, as if they were magical incantations through which we could transform the Read more »
Thanksgiving, 2008
Deep in my heart, I do believe, That we shall overcome some day We Shall Overcome Anthem of the American Civil Rights Movement I wrote my first essay on freedom 7 years ago, on Read more »
Constitution Day, 2008
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Read more »
Independence Day, 2008
We live, my dear soul, in an age of trial. What will be the consequence, I know not. John Adams to Abigail Adams, 1774 It was a cold winter day in January, 1776 when John Adams left Read more »