On Monday, our nation will celebrate its 246th birthday. This milestone should be honored by all Americans who today enjoy liberty and freedom largely unprecedented in human history. We all owe an enormous debt of gratitude to our Heavenly Father as well as to those brave colonists who fought for and forged these United States.
While it may be hard to comprehend in our age of Facebook, cable news, and the internet, it took days and even weeks for word to travel throughout the colonies that we had won the Revolutionary War. Norman Scott writes in his book, Shenandoah Iron, about a group from Pennsylvania traveling through Woodstock in 1781 who asked local residents why they were shouting, shooting and celebrating. They were surprised to hear that the cause was Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown!
It’s only fitting that we would continue to celebrate this victory today even as our founders admonished us to. Picnics, fireworks, parades, and such are all appropriate ways to remember this miraculous world event.
When living in luxury, peace, and ease, however, we can easily forget the sacrifices made by our forbearers. While we continue to reap the benefits of their labors, let us be aware of the enormous prices they paid.
Scott also tells of Isaac Zane, Jr., who bought and operated an iron furnace at Marlboro in Frederick County, later named Zane’s Iron Works. Although he operated this enterprise profitably prior to the Revolution, during the war, he supplied cannon and cannon balls for George Washington’s Continental Army.
Because Washington was badly strapped for cash, Zane provided these arms and munitions on credit. Sadly, much of this debt went unpaid and, combined with his already burgeoning obligations, caused great financial losses from which he never recovered. He is just one of many individuals who suffered financially to secure our current freedoms.
Those monetary losses, however, are miniscule compared to the cost of human lives. Although records are spotty, The American Battlefield Trust estimates that 6,800 Americans died in the Revolutionary War while another 6,100 were wounded. Additionally, they report that perhaps as many as 17,000 more died from disease including many who were prisoners of war. Each of these represents a home where their son never came back and whose hearts grieved for their loved ones.
In light of such great personal losses, the least we can do is pause to remember and to celebrate their sacrifices. It is fitting to do what Woodstock residents did years ago with shouts and parties, though with fireworks rather than gunshots.
It is even more important to steward and guard well the precious gift they bought for us with their blood, sweat and tears. We must carefully and jealously protect each of the freedoms enshrined in our Constitution and preserve them for future generations.
While some advocate for the elimination, disregard, or overhaul of the Supreme Court, others celebrate the capitol riot of January 6. Great care must be taken to protect our nation from all such attacks and we must respect, cherish and preserve our country for our children and grandchildren.
That’s not to say we can’t or shouldn’t work for improvement. We should. But we must do so within the boundaries established by our wise and selfless founders.
Writing in his book, Mr. Jones Meet The Master, US Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall wrote, “…the future of our world is going to be in the hands of disciplined people…in a democracy, citizens have to be self-disciplined, or the country goes down, defeated from within by moral rot. That was why France fell, you know…” Discipline imposed from within is vital if we are to escape discipline from without.
As we celebrate our nation’s birthday, let us remember the sacrifices of our predecessors, thank God for the gift of these United States, and do all we can to preserve her for future generations.
Blessings, George