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Finally, Gen. Casimir Pulaski became an American, 230 years after the Polish nobleman died in Georgia fighting for what became the United States. President Barack Obama signed a joint resolution today of the Senate and the House of Representatives that made Pulaski an honorary citizen. Pulaski's contribution to the Americans' effort to leave the British Empire began with a flourish. He wrote a letter to Gen. George Washington, the Revolution's leader, with the declaration: "I came here, where freedom is being defended, to serve it, and to live or die for it." Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich, whose home city of...

As American colonists battled for independence, Gen. "Mad" Anthony Wayne captured a British fort in New York at midnight, earning a reputation as a brilliant strategist in the chaos of battle. George Washington rode on horseback to congratulate him in person. Soldiers who noticed his reckless bravery gave him his nickname. Later, the fiery leader trained a fearsome army outside of Pittsburgh in 1792, conquered the Indians and negotiated a treaty with them so the Northwest Territory could be settled.*** After he died at age 51 from an attack of gout, his body rested for 12 years in an oak...

A Declaration by the Representatives of the United Colonies of North-America, Now Met in Congress at Philadelphia, Setting Forth the Causes and Necessity of Their Taking Up Arms.(1) If it was possible for men, who exercise their reason to believe, that the divine Author of our existence intended a part of the human race to hold an absolute property in, and an unbounded power over others, marked out by his infinite goodness and wisdom, as the objects of a legal domination never rightfully resistible, however severe and oppressive, the inhabitants of these colonies might at least require from the...

Afterburner with Bill Whittle  A Tale of Two Revolutions: The War of Ideas & the Tragedy of the Unconstrained Vision Sep 9 / Afterburner with Bill Whittle   10min Bill Maher, Barack Obama and the Truth About American Exceptionalism Aug 31 / Afterburner with Bill Whittle   15min MSNBC & The Great Liberal Narrative: The Truth About The Tyranny of Political Correctness Aug 24 / Afterburner with Bill Whittle   13min The Power & Danger of Iconography: The Resistance Steals Obama's Weapons Aug 14 / Afterburner with Bill Whittle   8min Beyond the Angry Mobs: Only You Can Bring Congress...

Radicalism and rebellion can be vilified or canonized without much thought. In the context of the American Revolution, we view the radicalism and rebellion of our founding fathers as good, even sacred. Yet we often use the terms radical and rebel as pejoratives in a modern context. Why is that? Radicalism and rebellion are healthy when the system rebelled against acts to deprive free men of their natural rights. But radicalism and rebellion can also be used against a system which recognizes and preserves those rights. This is the situation we find ourselves in today, with radicals rebelling against the...

Pamela Geller of the Atlas Shrugs & American Thinker wrote a great article entitled: Palin's Commencement Address. She correctly tells us Governor Palin’s farewell Address was just the beginning and, unlike Øbama, an optimistic view of America as our better days are ahead. Øbama, whom sadly believes America’s standing in the world has diminished and our better days are behind us. She hit it on the nose and described perfectly the importance and meaning of Governor Palin. There is an new American Revolution and it is the American People led by Governor Palin verse the Socialist Elitest in the Hollywood-New...

One day in October 1778 as an 18 year old, my 4th great grandfather, picked up his gun and reported for duty with the 8th Albany Militia. He and his fellow citizen- soldiers went into battle against the mighty British Army which was backed up by a large number of Indians. They had no training. All they had was a burning desire to live free and a willingness to back it up with their lives if need be. And that “need be” came later in the week when they faced the British and their Indians at the Battle of Fort...

While reading the following news story: http://uk.reuters.com/article/motoringAutoNews/idUKTRE5406CF20090501 ---------------- I was reminded two very important quotes from John Adams about the American Revolution: * As to the history of the revolution, my ideas may be peculiar, perhaps singular. What do we mean by the Revolution? The war? That was no part of the revolution; it was only an effect and consequence of it. The revolution was in the minds of the people, and this was effected from 1760 - 1775, in the course of fifteen years, before a drop of blood was shed at Lexington. o Letter to Thomas Jefferson (1815-08-24),...

The Second American Revolution (VIDEO)

Flyers:  Available below Range:  Hartford Gun Club Address:  157 South Main St, East Granby, CT 06026 Website:  http://www.hartfordgunclub.com When: April 18-19, 2009 Range Fee:  $10 per shooter per day Camping available: We can pitch tents on the rifle range.  Ten RV/Electric hookups are also available at $10 per night.  There is a clubhouse with restroom and sink. Hotels: Many hotels to choose from near Bradley Intl Airport (Windsor Locks, CT) (~2 miles away)  Holiday Inn, Best Western, Candlewood Suites, Crowne Plaza, Staybridge Suites, LaQuinta Inn, Days Inn, Sheraton, Ramada. (avoid Motel 6!) Directions:    *  Take I-91 to Exit 40...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Largest Marksmanship Event on the Planet World Record Attempt to be Made Locally Contact: [local name and phone number] On April 18 and 19th, the Revolutionary War Veterans Association's "Project Appleseed" rifle marksmanship clinic will be in town at XYZ [location] for a history-making attempt at establishing a world record for the longest cumulative firing line spread over the largest land area in history - a total of 2.5 miles of firing line spread over the North American continent - from California to Florida, Texas to Minnesota, Arizona to Maine. It will be the biggest marksmanship event...

Washington Crosses the Delaware, 1776 Back | EyeWitnesstoHistory.com Washington Crosses the Delaware, 1776 December 1776 was a desperate time for George Washington and the American Revolution. The ragtag Continental Army was encamped along the Pennsylvania shore of the Delaware River exhausted, demoralized and uncertain of its future. The troubles had begun the previous August when British and Hessian troops invaded Long Island routing the colonial forces, forcing a desperate escape to the island of Manhattan. The British followed up their victory with an attack on Manhattan that compelled the Americans to again retreat, this time across the Hudson River...

Following the withdrawal of the British army from Boston on 17th March 1776, Washington in the expectation that Howe would attack New York which was held for the Congress marched much of his army south to that city. In fact the British had sailed north to Halifax in Nova Scotia. It was not until the summer of 1776 that Howe launched his attack on New York. The British fleet reached the entrance to the Hudson River on 29th June 1776 and Howe landed on Staten Island on 3rd July. The Congress declared independence the next day. Reinforcements began to arrive...

Very rarely a well written scholarly book directed to the general reader not only corrects profound misperceptions of historical persons and events but also shows the true origin of a basic part of human social action. Such a book is Defending the Declaration by Gary T. Amos.1 This excellent book belongs in the library of every Christian church, college, school, history scholar and teacher, pastor, attorney, and family especially when home schooling. It should be required collateral reading in American history courses (high school and college) dealing with the origins of America. Last but not least it makes a wonderful...

One signed all three bulwarks of the Republic. The other was second only to James Madison as the architect of the Constitution. Robert Morris and James Wilson were two of the most important, yet least publicized, of the Founding Fathers. Why has Philadelphia not commemorated some of its most important citizens? Wilson was according to American Heritage magazine, one of the most underrated Americans in history. Historian Gary Wills wrote, "A signer of the Declaration, a principal drafter of the Federal Constitution, the principal ratifier, and the profoundest theorist of it, Wilson is the least known of the Founding Fathers."...

I've been doing some genealogical research and have traced a couple branches of my family through the Civil War, the Texas War of Independence, and the Revolutionary War. I've also been given the opportunity via some co-workers to join the Sons of the Republic of Texas. I've checked into it, but have also found other historical societies such as the Sons of the Confederacy, and the Sons of the American Revolution. Does anyone out there have any info on these groups as to what it's like to be involved in these groups, and which ones are worth joining?

NEW YORK - "Lafayette, we are here." So said an aide to "Black Jack" Pershing when the American general and his troops reached France in 1917, joining the Allies' war against Germany. It was payback for the service rendered by the Marquis de Lafayette to the fledgling United States in its war for independence 140 years earlier. But "le temps marche," as the French say — time marches on. Memories fade. And while hundreds of American counties, cities, squares, streets and schools bear the name Lafayette, how many people today could identify the Revolutionary War hero? "Not many," says Richard...

Based on David McCullough's 2001 best-selling book, "John Adams," the HBO 7-part mini-series starring Paul Giamatti as John Adams and Laura Linney as Abigail Adams is as important for the message that it sends as it is for the history it conveys. Beginning with young attorney Adams's defense of the British soldiers on trial for the Boston Massacre (for whom he won an acquittal), the story follows the political career and personal life of Adams as he becomes a key member of the Continental Congress, editor/co-drafter of the Declaration of Independence, minister to France and England, vice president, then president....

"Listen my children and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five; Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year."

This day in history...VIDEO

Sorry for the vanity - but I can't think of a better resource than FR regarding this topic. I don't trust Amazonian recommendations. Please, if you can, recommend the best book/s detailing the American Revolution. Not just the battles, but the politics leading up to the war, the writing of the Declaration of Ind., who the signers were ...etc. I'd appreciate any input. Thanks for your time.

Five years into their war to retain control of America, the British thought they were winning. As Piers Mackesy relates in his brilliant, classic history of the American Revolution, The War for America, 1775-1783, the British cabinet believed the rebel cause was disintegrating by 1780. One of the best American generals, Benedict Arnold, had changed sides. Rebel finances were weak. Morale in George Washington's army appeared to be plummeting, and there was talk of mutiny in the rebel camp. The British army had landed in the South and was chewing up American forces there. The intervention of the French on...

A gold and enamel medal that once belonged to the American Revolutionary hero the Marquis de Lafayette goes on auction here Tuesday, and could fetch as much as 10 million dollars, experts said. The medal being sold by Lafayette's descendants was given to the Frenchman in 1824 by relatives of America's first US President George Washington, when Lafayette was 67 years old. The gift was made a quarter-century after the death in 1799 of Washington, who as a general led US troops to victory in their battle for independence against Britain. -snip-

ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY:On Dec. 3, 1756, Aaron Ogden was born in Elizabethtown, the son of a legislator who would rise to a public service career of his own.Ogden, who served in the military during the American Revolution and the undeclared war against France, grew into a skilled orator and debater. He served in Congress from 1801 to 1803 and was elected governor of New Jersey in 1812. Ogden, who also had business interests in steamboat machinery, later became embroiled in a Supreme Court case concerning the monopoly of steamboat service in New York waters. Drained of his...

 Andrew Wnukowski of Hillside checks his redcoat costume in the glint of a car window. About 5,000 British troops came ashore at Closter Dock in Alpine on Nov. 20, 1776, setting the stage for the redcoats to capture Fort Lee from the upstart American revolutionaries later in the day.   On Saturday, four "soldiers" with red coats, muskets and goatskin backpacks -- along with a dozen or so intrepid "civilians" -- re-created the climb up the Palisades toward the site named after Gen. Charles Lee, who would be court-martialed two years later for disobeying Gen. George Washington's orders during the...

The way Jerry Hurwitz sees it, it doesn't take an Einstein to understand the significance of the hal lowed ground on which a pivotal Revolutionary War Battle of Princeton was fought 230 years ago. Part of the battle on Jan. 3, 1777, was waged on 22 acres of gently sloping farmland now owned by the Institute for Advanced Study. The institute -- an independent, private research institution that counted physicist Albert Ein stein among its faculty -- is adja cent to the 85-acre Princeton Battlefield State Park. But that section of the battlefield was never incorporated into the state park,...

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — In a small survey boat, maritime archaeologist J. Lee Cox Jr. was checking the bottom of the Delaware River at the Sunoco Logistics pier in South Philadelphia when he got a hit on the side-scan sonar. A pipe? A log? A hazard to the oil tankers docking nearby? No one was sure until a diver was sent down weeks later and found a strange pointed object buried in the muck about 40 feet down. Earlier this month, Cox identified it as the business end of a cheval-de-frise, an iron-tipped log once embedded in the river, along with...

On March 15, 1781, American forces inflicted heavy losses on the British Army at Guilford Courthouse, North Carolina. The redcoats had seemed invincible only a few months before. Winter clouds scudded over New Windsor, New York, some 50 miles up the Hudson River from Manhattan, where Gen. George Washington was headquartered. With trees barren and snow on the ground that January 1781, it was a "dreary station," as Washington put it. The commander in chief's mood was as bleak as the landscape. Six long years into the War of Independence, his army, he admitted to Lt. Col. John Laurens,...

IN MY OPINION One of the first lessons you learn when studying history is that history books are usually written by the side that wins the war. After the Civil War, the South's role in the American Revolution was relegated to practically a footnote. My 10th-grade U.S. history book basically had two paragraphs about the South's role -- the British took Charleston, there were lots of backwoods skirmishes in the Carolinas at places such as Kings Mountain and Cowpens, and the British surrendered at Yorktown. The implication was that the only battles of consequence took place within 200 miles of...

In 1975 the United States Postal Service issued a stamp honoring a man named Haym Salomon for his contribution to the cause of the American Revolution. This stamp was uniquely printed on the front and the back. On the glue side of the stamp, the following words were printed in pale, green ink: "Financial Hero – Businessman and broker Haym Salomon was responsible for raising most of the money needed to finance the American Revolution and later to save the new nation from collapse." I personally have one of these stamps. Historians who have studied the story of Salomon all...

"Let me get this straight, Gen. Washington: You want us, the representatives of the Second Continental Congress, to fund a sneak attack on British troops starting on Christmas?" "That is correct, sir. After we declared our independence from King George, he was most unhappy. He ordered his army to attack us. The Brits have made tremendous gains on our homeland." "Gains, Washington?" "Sir, whereas our Continental Army is something of a motley crew, the Brits are well-trained and well-funded. Their forces include Hessian mercenaries, professional fighters who are most skilled at the art of war." "Your point, Washington?" "The Brits...

In 1776 Lt. Col. Thomas Knowlton seemed to be precisely the kind of military officer the American military needed to win the Revolution. He was a veteran of the French and Indian War two decades earlier. He proved to be a supreme leader of men in combat outside Boston. And he was tapped by Gen. George Washington to start a new elite military unit--Knowlton's Rangers--that was capable of operating behind enemy lines.

The Fourth of July is a great opportunity to renew our dedication to the principles of liberty and equality enshrined in what Thomas Jefferson called "the declaratory charter of our rights."As a practical matter, the Declaration of Independence publicly announced to the world the unanimous decision of the American colonies to declare themselves free and independent states, absolved from any allegiance to Great Britain. But its greater meaning—then as well as now—is as a statement of the conditions of legitimate political authority and the proper ends of government, and its proclamation of a new ground of political rule in...

The Americans will be taking to the high seas off the Yorkshire coast this summer in search of their nautical "Holy Grail". Martin Hickes reports on an expensive obsession. THIS August, a flotilla of American scientists will mount a £175,000 expedition off Flamborough Head in search of a wreck, more than 200 years after it sank. Two US teams will plunge into the North Sea in search of the flagship of a Scottish captain, known to the Brits as little more than a pirate, but to the Americans as a hero of the American Revolution and the "Father of the...

1775 : The Battle of Bunker Hill During the American Revolution, British General William Howe lands his troops on the Charlestown peninsula overlooking Boston and leads them against Breed's Hill, a fortified American position just below Bunker Hill. As the British advanced in columns against the Americans, Patriot General William Prescott reportedly told his men, "Don't one of you fire until you see the whites of their eyes!" When the Redcoats were within 40 yards, the Americans let loose with a lethal barrage of musket fire, cutting down nearly 100 enemy troops and throwing the British into retreat. After reforming...

Americans revere a great number of dates that hold special significance for their culture and history. The Fourth of July, Veterans Day, the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. — a quick glance through any calendar provides numerous other examples. Yet the one day of most importance, to both the nation and its culture, is the one that is conspicuously absent from any mention of notable historical dates. No parades honor the fallen; no speeches in Congress remind us of their deeds; no wreaths are laid; no moments of silence requested. On this sacred date no president will stand on...

A monument and historical marker were dedicated today at Port Canaveral, Florida, commemorating The Last Naval Battle of the American Revolution From the historical marker, dedicated on March 10, 2007: The last naval battle of the American Revolutionary War took place off the coast of Cape Canaveral on March 10, 1783. The fight began when three British ships sighted two Continental Navy ships, the Alliance commanded by Captain John Barry and the Duc De Lauzun commanded by Captain John Green sailing northward along the coast of Florida. The Alliance, a 36-gun frigate, and the Duc De Lauzun, a 20-gun ship,...

George Washington is one of the most recognized figures in U.S. history. But familiarity breeds contempt. More often than not, Washington is an old painting on the wall – solemn, impersonal and distant – or the subject of childhood stories and nursery rhymes. We all know that he chopped down a cherry tree and had wooden teeth. The actual Washington is much more compelling. We can all see the brilliant flourishes of Jefferson's pen, Madison's constitutional handiwork or the success of Hamilton's economic policies, and that can cause us to overlook or underestimate the magnitude of Washington's achievement. Yet he...

High school cheerleaders must now cheer for girls' teams as often as for boys' teams thanks to federal education officials' interpretations of Title IX, the civil rights law that mandates equal playing fields for both sexes. According to The New York Times, almost no one directly involved wants this -- not the cheerleaders, not the fans, not the boys' teams, and not even the girls' teams. But it doesn't matter: The law coerces cheerleaders to cheer at girls' games. Of all the myths that surround Left-Right differences, one of the greatest is that the Left values liberty more than the...

Continental Army General George Washington’s celebrated “Crossing of the Delaware” has been dubbed in some military circles, “America’s first special operation.” Though there were certainly many small-unit actions, raids, and Ranger operations during the Colonial Wars – and there was a special Marine landing in Nassau in the early months of the American Revolution – no special mission by America’s first army has been more heralded than that which took place on Christmas night exactly 230 years ago. Certainly the mission had all the components of a modern special operation (though without all the modern battlefield technologies we take for...

ANNAPOLIS, Md. Maryland will spend 600-thousand dollars to buy George Washington's handwritten resignation from the Continental Army. Maryland archivists said in February that they'd acquired the speech to put in the State House in Annapolis, where the Revolutionary War hero resigned his commission in 1783. The state Board of Public Works approved that purchase yesterday, along with 150-thousand dollars for an accompanying letter written by a witness describing the event. The speech is seen as a turning point in America's formation because it established that the military should be subservient to civil authority. The 750-thousand dollars granted by the Board...

Gates learned of the Revolutionary War veteran in his lineage while filming his PBS documentary, 'African American Lives.' (Staff file photo Justin Ide/Harvard News Office) Henry Louis Gates Jr., W.E.B. Du Bois Professor of the Humanities and director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard, was inducted into the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) on July 10 at the society’s 116th annual convention, held in Addison, Texas. Gates learned of the Revolutionary War veteran in his lineage while filming his PBS documentary, “African American Lives,” a program that used innovations in...

The American Revolution’s Continental Army was fighting hard in late 1777. General George Washington faced serious need of soldiers to serve through more than the usual 90-day enlistment. General James Varnum gave him the idea to raise a regiment of volunteer “Blacks, Mulattoes, and Indians” from Northern colonies, and in January 1778 Washington ordered Rhode Island governor Nicholas Cooke to organize the new force. While Northern slave-owners received 120 English pounds for each volunteer, the volunteers themselves were promised more than pay---full freedom in exchange for loyal service through the war. By June 10, about 138 Northerïn slaves from several...

ON June 11, 1823, a man named John Redman walked into the courtroom of Judge Charles Lobb in Hardy County, Virginia, to apply for a pension, claiming to be a veteran of the Revolutionary War. Redman, more than 60 years old, testified that he had been in the First Virginia Regiment of Light Dragoons from Christmas 1778 through 1782, serving initially as a waiter to Lt. Vincent Howell. The Light Dragoons fought mainly on horseback, using sabers, pistols, and light carbines. They marched from Winchester, Va., to Georgia, where, in the fall of 1779, they laid siege to Savannah. The...

Anonymous bidder snaps up flag belonging to a Connecticut regiment and three others for total of $17 million. An American Revolutionary War flag fetched $12.3 million at an auction in New York on Wednesday, and a group of three other flags went for more than $5 million to the same bidder, Sotheby's said. The total price of $17,392,000 was well over the pre-sale estimate of $4 million to $10 million for the two lots of battle flags captured by the British during the 1775-83 war,...

 David McCullough was born in 1933 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was educated there and at Yale University. Author of 1776, John Adams, Truman, Brave Companions, The Path Between the Seas, Mornings on Horseback, The Great Bridge and The Johnstown Flood, he has twice received the Pulitzer Prize and twice the National Book Award, as well as the Francis Parkman Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Award. The following is adapted from a public lecture delivered at Hillsdale College on March 31, 2006, during Mr. McCullough's one-week residency at the College to teach a class on “Leadership and the History...

I saw this last week and wanted to recommend it for those who did not see, tape, Tivo or DVD it. Although the first hour (French and Indian War) was a bit more negative in terms of Washington's strategy and sophistication (yeah, he shouldn't have built Fort Necessity on low ground), he was a mere kid at the time in charge of the Virginia Militia, and the only one in the colony to step up. Also, the depiction of events in Jumonville Glen is antithetical to what I have read in several different sources, that is, Washington never gave the...

by Mark Finkelstein May 22, 2006 In one fell segment, Chris Matthews pulled back the curtain and revealed his view of America's foreign policy intentions as fundamentally pernicious. For him, the United States in Iraq is no better than a 'colonial master.' Matthews' guest on this evening's 'Hardball' was John Batiste, one of the former generals calling for Donald Rumsfeld's removal as Secretary of Defense. The topic at hand was the failure to anticipate the insurgency with which we have been been faced in Iraq. Describing the miscalculation, Matthews said: "It's like the British coming in to New York at...

The following narrative appeared in an obituary notice of the Columbian Sentinel of Feb. 6, 1793: Died at Menotomy, the 2d instant, Capt. Samuel Whittemore, AEt. 96 years and 6 months. The manly and moral virtues, in all the varied relations of a brother, husband, father, and friend, were invariably exhibited in this gentleman. He was not more remarkable for his longevity and his numerous descendants (his progeny being 185, one of which is the fifth generation) than for his patriotism. When the British troops marched to Lexington, he was 79 years of age, and one of the first on...

Americans revere a great number of dates that hold special significance for their culture and history. The Fourth of July, Veterans Day, the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. — a quick glance through any calendar provides numerous other examples. Yet the one day of most importance, to both the nation and its culture, is the one that is conspicuously absent from any mention of notable historical dates. No parades honor the fallen; no speeches in Congress remind us of their deeds; no wreaths are laid; no moments of silence requested. On this sacred date no president will stand on...