| "If this be treason..." |
[Jul. 4th, 2009|09:36 am] |
(As has become my tradition for who knows what reason, I give you that post I wrote a LONG time ago once again...)
Who were these men, these people who fought at Valley Forge, at Yorktown, and at a hundred other small battlefields during those 8 long years? What motivated a collection of farmers and craftsmen to take up arms and risk the fury of the most powerful nation on earth? Why did they endure what they did?
Was it for Glory that they flocked to the colors of a nation that did not yet exist? Perhaps for some, but it was certainly not for glory that they stayed. Look at what these men endured. Their uniform was a collection of layered pieces consisting of linens and wool. The same uniform they wore in summer they wore in winter. It broiled them in their own sweat during hot Virginia summers and froze them in the bitter cold of New Jersey winters. And those who had the uniform were fortunate, as there were scarce supplies of them. Those whose uniforms wore out had to make do with rags, marching mile after mile in bare feet, patching holes in knees and elbows with scraps of cloth scarcely better than rags themselves. Combat was a cruel, vicious affair, as men had to be close enough to one another to see the fear and hate. Death was a demeaning, ravening beast on the field, robbing men of dignity in their final moments. Men were subjected to watching friends, brothers, fathers trying to hold in their own intestines, faces twisted into crude parodies by the pain. The wounded screamed or wept, begging for death to end the misery of horrific injuries. The hospitals of the day were charnel houses with stacks of limbs outside, and the sickly smell of rot within. Men slowly died from gangrene, the slow rot that liquefies a man's flesh while he still lives. They died of dysentery, as the diarrhea we find to be little more than an inconvenience today proved fatal then. They slept in the mud, in the dirt, in the snow... There's glory for you.
Was it for honor that they fought? Honor... Let's face some unpleasant facts. These men were traitors. They were willfully defying their king, and their country. They weren't fighting a foreign occupier. They were English subjects. When they fired at the British Troops at Lexington and Concord they were firing on the same men who had protected them against the French and the Indian Tribes allied with the French. They were firing on the men they had previously stood beside guarding the colonies. A number of them, including George Washington, had served in the previous war, even commanded in it. King George was their sworn king. Britain was their sworn country. They violated those oaths to fight a war against their own brothers. There's honor for you.
Then, if it was not for glory or honor they fought, why did they fight? It certainly wasn't about taxes, as the tax burden in the colonies was insignificant next to that experienced back in England. It had nothing to do with representation, as King George had agreed to allow the colonies to have representation in Parliament, and the right to choose their own governors. It wasn't about the repressions of the King, as his acts were made in response to the provocations of the colonists. So what was it? What made 8 years of such living worth it?
It was one thing. One minor thing. Self determination. The thought that a man should have the right to determine his own fate, and his own value, independent of some one thousands of miles away. That a man's birth did not make him noble or serf, that a man did not have a station to which he should keep, but rather than a man should be able to go as high as his talents and determination could get him.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident:
That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness..."
The history of the United States is certainly not flawless as we attempted to put these words into practice. The legacy of Slavery and Jim Crow, the driving of the Indian onto poor reservations, the exploitation of immigrants, the mass incarceration of Asians in World War II, all show how imperfect our ancestors were, and we continue to be. But one thing has held true that entire time. The Founding Fathers, the Continental Army, the Patriots and Minutemen, they fought for something different. They fought for an ideal we may never reach, but it was an ideal worth fighting for, worth dying for. One of their descendants probably said it best as he dedicated a cemetery on another battlefield 87 years later.
"that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion. . . that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain. . . that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. . . and that government of the people. . .by the people. . .for the people. . . shall not perish from this earth."
So, as we go out and watch the fireworks, as we enjoy eating hot dogs and playing with our children and friends in the park, let us remember those men, so long ago, and the path they set us on. Let us remember what was worth sacrificing their honor, and enduring the foul glory of battle. Let us remember the price so many of them payed, and so many continue to pay to this day. And as they did before us, let us "mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."
Happy Independence Day, all. |
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
sareth's journal
