Today we often celebrate and interpret the Declaration of Independence (which soon turns 250) outside its historic context. But there would not have been a Declaration of Independence if there had not been A Declaration Setting forth the Causes and Necessity of Their Taking Up Arms. Ratified by the Second Continental Congress on July 6,…
On June 17, 1825, at the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill, over 100,000 people (including 190 veterans of the actual battle) witnessed the Marquis de Lafayette, “America’s Guest” from France who fought with us for our independence, lay the cornerstone for the monument. Daniel Webster, master of ceremonies, closed by saying; “Let…
On Wednesday, May 10, 1775, at about sunrise, Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold pounded on the door of the British commander of Fort Ticonderoga. When opened, Allen demanded that the fort be surrendered. When asked by what authority, Allen responded, “In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!” The British at Fort…
The Hancock-Clarke house in Lexington is a quarter of a mile off the green where 8 militia lost their lives and 10 were wounded on April 19, 1775 (250 years ago). It had been built by Rev. John Hancock, Patriot John Hancock’s grandfather, in 1737. Rev. Jonas Clarke, who had become Lexington’s pastor in 1755…
About two weeks before March 23, 1775, when Patrick Henry would deliver his most famous speech, his wife Sarah had passed away after an awful mental illness where she had to be restrained from hurting herself. St. John’s Church in Henrico Parish was the only building large enough to hold the 2nd Virginia Convention on…
Thomas Barnard, Jr., born in 1748, was 27 years old on February 26, 1775 (250 years ago). Fewer than three years before, he had become pastor of North Church in Salem after his father had become paralyzed in 1770. Thomas’ legacy of reformed theology went back to his great-grandfather, Thomas Barnard, who had later repented…
Edmund Burke was born January 12, 1729 in Dublin, Ireland. Though his mother, Mary, was a Roman Catholic, he adhered to the Protestant beliefs of his father, Richard, remaining in the Anglican Church. While attending Protestant Trinity College in 1744, he started his own debating society, “Edmund Burke’s Club.” Though his father desired him to…
This iconic picture, taken on December 20, 1920, recreated the attempt to move Plymouth Rock from the waterfront on December 22, 1774. Both events were strategically done close to Forefathers Day, the day the Pilgrims stepped on Plymouth Rock in 1620. But why did they want to move the Rock in memory of the Pilgrims…
The year was 1862. The bloody seven-day battle at Harrison Landing, also called the Peninsular Campaign in Virginia, had just concluded. General Daniel Butterfield had lost 600 men and was wounded himself. He thought that the traditional bugle call to mark the end of the day, known as “Lights Out,” was too formal and not…
Remember the one who fell overboard from the Mayflower? John Howland, the young man whose life was almost snuffed out in 1620, is John Howland the man in 1634 – in command of a post 170 miles north of Plymouth, refereeing a political dispute, driving away a threat to Plymouth’s wellbeing, and coming out of…
You may recall the sad saga of Rev. John Lyford we chronicled in the June e-news of this year. In summary, the Pilgrim congregation in Plymouth had been taught by Pastor John Robinson in Leyden to discern the character of their leaders, not just their knowledge. This is why it took a while for the…
John Hancock, at 24 years of age, witnessed the coronation of King George III (who was 22) in London on September 22, 1761. Hancock had graduated from Harvard in 1754 and was on a business trip for his uncle, Thomas. He was there when George II died, and he wrote his uncle that he hoped…
To set the context for this story, we need to rehearse the theology of the Pilgrim Church in relation to its minister. Pastor John Robinson had taught them in Leiden that “a company of faithful people thus covenanting together are a church, though they be without any officers among them.” Robinson had taught that “if…
The spring of 1624 in Plymouth brought a contrast of character that provides lessons today for both the youngest of children all the way to those old enough to have experienced these observations first-hand. Bradford writes, “They began now highly to prize corn as more precious than silver, and those that had some to spare…
In the spring of 1624, the Pilgrims realized that changing the “common course and condition” (communal farming) to a private initiative where each family was responsible to produce its own corn was wise. Bradford writes, “…Having found the benefit of last year’s harvest, and setting corn for their particular, having thereby with a great deal…