Editorial | The Fever is still unabated
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,…”
Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776
… “if a good Bleeding can bring those Bible faced Yankees to their senses[,] The Fever of Independency should soon abate.”
British Major General James Grant, following the Battle of Brooklyn, Aug. 27, 1776
A nascent nation almost died aborning when British troops pocketed Commander George Washington’s contingent of some 9,000 troops in Brooklyn Heights, a pivotal and early battle of the Revolutionary War.
As described by the American Battlefield Trust, the then – most powerful country in the world trapped Washington’s soldiers against the East River with … “no feasible means of winning the battle.”
Washington’s troops did not win.
They suffered a bloody “good bleeding.”
But they did not bow down despite heavy losses, despite the prospect of a siege leading to annihilation.
Instead, the man who came to be known as the father of our county coordinated a retreat across the river “in the dark of night.”
“Instead of surrendering, Washington evacuated the army and retreated to Manhattan, a decision that saved the Continental Army and the patriot cause,” the American Battlefield Trust website states.
Washington’s troops did not fold because they, like most Americans today, believed — and believe — that “certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” are worth fighting for.
The Fever of Independency did not, will not abate.
We salute those who made today’s holiday possible.
And we wish you and yours a happy and safe Independence Day.
Breeze editorial