THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
I have a message today about the American Revolution; it is not a story about a far away time when America was a nation of farmers, unrelated to a complex modern society. The American Revolution is one of the most important events in world history, and the American Revolution and the forces it unleashed are still going on, enlightening the dark corners of the world.
In 1776, Thomas Paine prophetically wrote: “We have it in our power to begin the world anew… America makes a stand, not for herself alone, but for the whole world.”
The shot fired by the embattled farmers from Concord Bridge was truly heard around the world. It was a brash challenge of the New World to the Old. Thirteen small colonies of 3 million souls, with no army and no navy, had challenged a mighty nation of 64 million people with the world’s most powerful army and navy.
The war went on for nine long years, and finally a great victory was achieved at Yorktown, on October 19, 1781. The forces of Lord Cornwallis marched down the Hampton Road, lined with American and French soldiers, to surrender their arms, while the British band played “The World Turned Upside Down.” When the red sun set on the Yorktown battlefield on that day, although no one knew it, the tide had irreversibly turned, Independence had been won, and the world forever changed.
The American Revolution heralded the beginning of the end of the Old Order, an Old World where servility to a hereditary monarch, aristocracy, patronage, and privilege were everything, and no man could acquire success without them. It ushered in a new order of the ages and gave birth to a democracy founded upon the belief that the government is the servant of the people. The modern state began to develop, and America was the first one with a complete written constitution and the first one without a King. Property rights and contractual rights became more important than being born a nobleman. A new society was born, one based upon capitalism and composed mainly of the middle class. The era of Kings, nobility, and privilege was coming to an end.
The common man, now limited only by his abilities, came from the Four Corners of the earth, and crossed all the world’s oceans, seeking the freedom and opportunities beckoning in America’s wilderness, her cities and towns. He gladly left behind his Old World identity to become a new man, an “American”; he found a new life and became an “uncommon man.”
Over the next two hundred and twenty-five years they came by the millions to be a part of the American experiment, to pursue the American dream, and America became the land to which the world’s immigrants aspire.
The American Revolution rolls on. The American constitution inspired Poland to adopt its first written constitution in 1791. France followed in 1792, and today almost all-democratic governments have a written constitution.
The American Revolution rolls on. Thomas Jefferson’s magnificent words in the Declaration of Independence have never been more powerful than they are today: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” Jefferson’s words have been embraced by the whole world; they echoed in the hearts and minds of those brave Chinese students who stood up for democracy in Tiananmen Square, and carried with them a copy of the Declaration of Independence and a replica of the Statue of Liberty.
Historian Samuel Eliot Morison described Jefferson’s words in these terms: “These words are more revolutionary than anything ever written by Robespiere, Marks or Lenin, and more explosive than an atom----they are a continual inspiration to the oppressed people of the world.”
The American Revolution rolls on. The ideals enshrined in our Bill of Rights that freedom of speech, religion, and the press, the right to keep and bear arms, to peacefully assemble, to a speedy and public trial, due process of law, and freedom from unreasonable searches and seizure, are the birth right of Americans shook the world.” Year after year these rights have been expanded on behalf of Americans and non-Americans in our legislative halls, our courtrooms, and on the battlefield at places like San Juan Hill, Belleau Woods, Normandy, Iwo Jima, Inchon, Kuwait City, Kosovo, and Kandahar. Though universally admired, they are denied to billions of people, and the bold shot fired at Concord Bridge on April 19, 1775, is still echoing today in the hearts and minds of men and women living in tyranny in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, wherever people yearn to be free.
The American Revolution rolls on. It is true that not all Americans have equally shared in the American dream; minorities, women and the handicapped have at different times suffered severe disadvantage. The job of redressing the balance led to a great civil war, the 14th 15th, 19th amendments to the Constitution, two voting rights acts, nine Civil Rights Acts, American With Disabilities Act. Supreme Court cases like Brown vs. Board of Education and Baker vs. Carr (one-man one vote, 1962). The inspiration and intellectual underpinning of these advances are the ideals embodied in the Declaration of Independence, our Constitution and Bill of Rights.
The American Revolution rolls on. With God’s grace, in the 225 years since her Independence, America unleashed the power of the common man, and became the most successful nation in the world. We have sent a man to the moon and returned him safely home. America has become the world’s only Superpower; it’s economic role model, an outpost of freedom in the world. America now defines the modern world.
In the ancient world Paul was proud to say; “I am a Roman Citizen.”
Today one-half of the world’s immigrants come to America. They come from all nations of the world and they enjoy an unparalleled legacy of freedom and opportunity born of the American Revolution and are proud to proclaim; “I am an American.”
The ideals enshrined in our Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights, are the most powerful forces in the world today; they are a threat to all tyrants and are more powerful than any cannon, sharper than any sword and more explosive than any munitions. The American Revolution rolls on, expanding freedom and opportunity for Americans and non-Americans, bringing hope and a new life to the oppressed people of the world.
B.
Rice Aston
President General 2002-2003