"FALL IN" to the FReeper Foxhole!
Good Sunday Morning Everyone.
If you want to be added to our ping list, let us know.
Git yer patriot size pitcher wrought here.
Warfare between frontiersman and Indian increased in intensity during the Revolution. The British from posts at Niagara and Detroit encouraged Indian attacks that harassed the westernmost settlements. In mid-1778 George Rogers Clark with about 175 to 200 men set out on an expedition sponsored by the Commonwealth of Virginia with the ostensible purpose of defending Kentucky but with secret orders to take the British posts in the Illinois country and if possible, Detroit. In July 1778 by surprise moves and by winning the sympathy of the French settlers he captured Vincennes and Kaskaskia without firing a shot.
In December 1778 Colonel Henry Hamilton, the British commander at Detroit, retaliated, recapturing Vincennes and rebuilding the dilapidated Fort Sackville there. Clark, determined not to have Vincennes remain in British hands, started out on a bold 180-mile mid-winter march from Kaskaskia to retake the fort. Fording and ferrying numerous icy streams and flooded rivers, Clark and his nearly starved men reached Vincennes on 23 February 1779. He warned the inhabitants of his approach and marched his men back and forth with many flags to create the impression of an overwhelming force. The French welcomed the Americans and the Indians fled into the woods.
After a brief fight Hamilton agreed to surrender, and on the 25th marched his garrison from the fort between two companies of frontiersmen. Looking around as he presented his sword to Clark, Hamilton is said to have exclaimed, "Colonel Clark, where is your army?" At the same moment two other American companies entered Fort Sackville and raised the American flag.
Clark was unable to achieve his goal of capturing Detroit and did not completely halt Indian attacks on Kentucky, but his amazing exploits strengthened American claims to the Northwest territory.
The Great Seal is used to seal 2,000 to 3,000 documents each year. It identifies the authority and ensures the authenticity of the documents sealed by the United States Government. As such, it provides an apt analogy of the Bible Wheel as God's Divine Seal of Approval on the structure of the Bible, the fundamental founding document of the Christian Faith.
The Great Seal was designed to explicitly acknowledge God's hand in the foundation of the United States, as stated in the official description (page 12) of the reverse side of the Seal:
The pyramid signifies strength and duration: The eye over it and the motto, Annuit Coeptis (He [God] has favored our undertakings), allude to the many interventions of Providence in favor of the American cause. The date underneath is that of the Declaration of Independence and the words under it, Novus Ordo Seclorum (A new order of the ages), signify the beginning of the new American era in 1776.
The "many interventions of Providence" include the integration of the numbers, mottos, and geometric forms of the Great Seal with God's design of the Holy Bible and His intent for the new nation. Regardless of the theological variations amongst the founding fathers, every signer of the Declaration of Independence , to a man, placed his life and sacred honor in the hands of Divine Providence, as recorded in the last sentence of that great document:
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
The Continental-Confederation Congress, a legislative body that governed the United States from 1774 to 1789, contained an extraordinary number of deeply religious men. The amount of energy that Congress invested in encouraging the practice of religion in the new nation exceeded that expended by any subsequent American national government. Although the Articles of Confederation did not officially authorize Congress to concern itself with religion, the citizenry did not object to such activities. This lack of objection suggests that both the legislators and the public considered it appropriate for the national government to promote a nondenominational, nonpolemical Christianity.
Congress appointed chaplains for itself and the armed forces, sponsored the publication of a Bible, imposed Christian morality on the armed forces, and granted public lands to promote Christianity among the Indians. National days of thanksgiving and of "humiliation, fasting, and prayer" were proclaimed by Congress at least twice a year throughout the war.
These are the men used of God to found this nation. Three of them were also commissioned by the newly formed Continental Congress to design the Great Seal. Before they adjourned on July 4, 1776, Congress passed this resolution:
Resolved, that Dr. Franklin, Mr. J. Adams and Mr. Jefferson, be a committee, to bring in a device for a seal for the United States of America.
Truly, the Lord's hand was on the foundation of this great country, this City on a Hill, this Beacon of Light, Life, and Liberty to all the peoples of the world! America is the Land of the Free because of the freedom wrought by Christ, our Eternal Light. May His Light shine on us forevermore!
Good afternoon
