|
This was a really nice, reasonably long essay just packed with links on assorted topics on revolution and America, but then the machine ran out of resources. Since FM Radio doesn't let me save my ramblings here without posting, all that is gone now. I will try to reconstruct without getting too angry. Here goes......
Today those of us in the former British North American colonies celebrate the 227th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. It is a happy day, and as a proud internationalist, I have always believed that the American Revolution is worth standing up for. Many of those who will spend this day waving the flag have much more in common with Lord North and George III than with John, Abigail and Sam Adams, much less Tom Paine and Ben Franklin. The American Revolution was fought largely by ordinary people, for mostly abstract reasons (property was a factor, but not the central one). It represents the very best of humanity. Yes, it would have been better if none of these revolutionists owned slaves, but without the success of the Revolution of 1776, the Revolution of 1865 would not have been possible.
July is a busy month for old revolutionists like me. Besides the commemoration of 1776, we celebrate the July 14th storming of the Bastille and the start of the French Revolution, the July 19th fall of the Somoza regime in Nicaragua, and yes, the July 26th attack on Batista's Moncada barracks to begin the Cuban Revolution.
So today let us celebrate all those revolutionaries who fight for freedom, liberty and justice. Read the Declaration and learn its lessons. Locate Page Smith's two-volume A New Age Now Begins: A People's History of the American Revolution and the newer title with the similar name, Ray Raphael's A People's History of the American Revolution: How Common People Shaped the Fight for Independence.
Have a cookout, too. It's a holiday!
5:24:05 PM 
|
[Macro error: Can't evaluate the expression because the name "trackbackLink" hasn't been defined.]
|
