Happy 250th birthday to the greatest country on earth, the United States of America! I am honored to be reporting from Mount Vernon, the home of the “Father of our Country,” George Washington.
It is a blistering 98 degrees with almost 50% humidity, but that has not stopped large numbers of patriots from turning out for the all-day events at Mount Vernon. There was even a column of troops, all of them in historical dress, and the officers in full dress uniform, marching and drilling in the full sun. A re-enactor portraying George Washington reviewed the troops to a cheering crowd, and “Gen. Greene” read out the Declaration of Independence to scores of “huzzahs” and loud audience applause.
Children are crowding around the cannons and the puppet show. Long lines are waiting to walk through the rooms where Washington and his family lived and died. A group of immigrants had their citizenship ceremony this morning in front of the mansion. There are daytime fireworks and nighttime fireworks, sessions with historical experts portraying key figures in the Revolution, and special wreath layings at George and Martha Washington’s tomb. People from across the country and all different backgrounds are here to celebrate the U.S.
In many places in America now — especially in urban centers, such as where I live — there is not much sense of shared culture and community. But today at Mount Vernon, it’s like a massive patriotic fair of yesteryear. We are all here because we’re excited about this historic anniversary and interested in understanding and appreciating the history behind it.
Related: My Love Letter to America
In case you are wondering, Washington, of course, did not have the Declaration read at Mount Vernon in 1776. But when he received the copies of the Declaration and the orders from the president of the Continental Congress, John Hancock, Washington did ensure his whole Army in New York heard the Declaration, as Mount Vernon’s website explains:
In the General Orders for July 9, Washington explained that the Congress, “impelled by the dictates of duty, policy and necessity” had “been pleased to dissolve the Connection” between the colonies and Great Britain. He ordered the brigades in New York to assemble at six o’clock that evening, “when the declaration of Congress, shewing the grounds & reasons of this measure, is to be read with an audible voice.” One voice alone would not be able to carry over such a large crowd; instead, someone stepped to the front of each brigade and read the Declaration aloud, likely from one of [printer] John Dunlap’s broadsides…
Connecticut-born Samuel Blachley Webb, one of Washington’s aides-de-camp, wrote in his journal that, “Agreeable to this day’s orders, the Declaration of Independence was read at the Head of each Brigade; and was received by three Huzzas from the Troops.” He sensed that his fellow soldiers were “highly pleased” by the Congress’s decision to separate from Great Britain. Caleb Clapp, a young ensign from Massachusetts, wrote in his diary that “this day the Declaration of the Independant States of America was read at the Head of the Brigade,” after which the soldiers sang a psalm, their chaplain offered a prayer, and “the whole” gave “three Cheers.”
The fight for independence had really only just begun, but now the cause was definite. Instead of simply fighting to obtain concessions from a faraway king, the Patriots were fighting for their own nation. And 250 years later, we salute those heroes who made our rights and freedom possible.
Editor’s Note: Every single day, especially in this 250th year of America’s existence, here at PJ Media, we will stand up and FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT against the radical left and deliver the conservative reporting our readers deserve.
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