The Historian's Archives

LEAVE. ME. AND. MY. BLOG. ALONE. I am not interested in clicking your links, and I do not have time to KEEP deleting spam from this blog. BEAT IT.

Wow. I haven't blogged in ages! Well, my mother Mrs. Mecomber finally put a spark under my seat and got me to blog again -- she tagged me with a photo meme! To be honest, I don't have that many photos. But I do have a TON of history pictures; you know, paintings and sketches, etc., from American history. So let's see, what are the rules? 1. Go to your Picture Folder on your computer or wherever you store your pictures.
2. Go to the 6th Folder and then pick the 6th Picture.
3. Post it on your bloggy and tell the story that goes with the picture.
4. Tag 5 other glorious peoples to do the same thing and leave a comment on their bloggy tellin’ them ’bout it.

Well, here is my picture:


No, these guys are not standing in line. This is an illustration of the steps that a Continental Soldier, fighting for American independence in General George Washington's army, would have to go through to load his musket. My family learned about these steps when we visited Fort Stanwix in Rome, New York. It could take as many as 20 seconds to load your musket, and after you fired a single shot (and muskets were usually less accurate than the one firing it), you would have to start all over again! Imagine trying to do that when you have bullets and shells whizzing around your head! No wonder it was the habit of the Continentals to retreat into the woods rather than take an open field!

You would think that somebody would have tried to make an improvement on this system, so that you wouldn't have to spend so much time reloading. Well, you'd be correct. The most common rifles in America, mentioned above, were mass-manufactured by factories in Europe. But in the early American wilderness, you had to shot many times, and fast. With Indians on the warpath, and hunting the main source of food supply, a better musket was invented (some say) as early as the 1740s by the German settlers of western Pennsylvania and Kentucky. This was also known as the long rifle, because its barrel was longer than most rifles, giving it greater accuracy. It was also built to fire two shots without needing to reload. This weapon came in handy many a time during the Revolutionary War, and since it was a uniquely American musket, it was the patriots' "secret weapon."

One of the times this rifle came in handy was right here in New York State, at the Battle of Freeman's Farm (one of the first battles of the Saratoga Campaign of 1777), when Daniel Morgan's Rifle Company used it to ambush the British from the tops of the trees, taking down British officers. Eventually, the British were overwhelmed by the Americans, and the British General Burgoyne was forced to surrender, on October 17, 1777. The attempt to divide the American colonies by taking New York had failed, and it is said that Burgoyne privately made the statement that his defeat meant that the final victory in the Revolutionary War would belong to the Americans.

Well, well. Usually when you do "todays in history," only one famous event occurs on the same day and the same year. But August 9, 1757, is different. In fact, not only did two notable events take place on that day, but both occurred in the eastern portion of Upstate New York, and had some pretty bearing effects on New York State history!

Most of those familiar with The Last of the Mohicans (ah, that would be the book, a history-based novel by James Fenimore Cooper) know that today was the day that the British outpost on Lake George, Fort William Henry (commanded by Colonel William Munro), was finally turned over to their French enemies (led by Marquis de Montcalm), during the French and Indian War. Montcalm promised Col. Munro that he, his soldiers, and all the inhabitants of the fort, would be granted safe passage along the road, as they left the fort. However, Montcalm's large force of fierce Indian warriors didn't feel bound by that agreement. As the people made their way down the forest roads, they were surprised by a large band of Indians, who killed everyone they could get their hands on, and swiping the goods they thought valuable.

This was a terrible tragedy. And yet how true it is that even sad days are not all clouds and storm. A happy event also took place that day, in Albany, New York. Philip Schuyler's second daughter, Elizabeth Schuyler, was born. She was to become Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, Alexander Hamilton's wife. As was the custom in those days, she was baptized as an infant -- the very day she was born. Her father wrote:

In the year 1757 August the 9th at 5 o'clock in the afternoon was born our second child a daughter named Elizabeth, baptised [sic] by Domine Thedorus Frelinghuysen, Witness Cortland Schuyler my brother and mother Cornelia Schuyler. (source)

In the Schuyler family Bible (which is still being preserved at Schuyler Mansion in Albany), Philip Schuyler recorded the births of each of his children, and recorded a prayer after each entry. For Elizabeth, he wrote:

"Elizabeth, born August 9, 1757. Lord, do according to thy will with her." (source)

I was just tagged by (guess who) my Mom, Mrs. Mecomber, and now I've go to do the Crazy 8's!
Here goes:

8 Things I'm Passionate About:

1. Jesus Christ
2. Biblical worldview
3. American Founding Era
   
4. My family
5. My pets
6. Writing
   
7. Blogging
8. Playing with siblings
   

8 Things I Want to Do Before I Die

1. Lead someone to Christ
2. Visit a foreign nation
3. Learn another language
4. Write a book
5. Visit Mount Vernon and The Grange
6. Make dying the last thing I do
7. Celebrate my next birthday
   
8. Live long enough to blow out the candles

8 Things I Say Often:

1. Holy cow!
2. By gar!
3. Well, gee golly joe!
4. (in Swedish Chef accent) "Ye ber shtorndy shpeeshy-shpyshee!"("This is very spicy!")
5. (with Goofy accent) Daaaayyzeee! (the name of our dog, Daisy)
6. Quit that and blow your nose!
7. No.
8. What's so funny??

8 Books I've Read Recently:

1. The Bible (Hebrews, James, 1 Corinthians)
2. What If the Bible Had Never Been Written? by Dr. James Kennedy and Jerry Newcombe
3. A Chance to Die: The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael, by Elisabeth Elliot
4. The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve, by G. E. Griffin
5. Finding My Way Home, by Nettie Ma
6. Alexander Hamilton: How the Mighty Are Redeemed, by Christopher S. Yates
7. (Only started reading) Real Christianity, by William Wilberforce
8. (Only started reading) Reminiscences of Men and Events at Home and Abroad during Three Quarters of a Century, by James Alexander Hamilton

8 Songs I Could Listen to Over and Over:

1. Jesus, Joy of Man's Desiring, Johann Sebastian Bach
2. All the Heavens, Third Day
3. A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, Martin Luther
4. O! For a Thousand Tongues, by Charles Wesley
5. God You're My God, Delirious
6. Every Knee Shall Bow, Twila Paris
7. Freedom, Mark O'Connor
8. Concierto de Aranjuez, Rodrigo (performed by John Williams)

8 Things That Attract Me to My Best Friends:

1. Love of God
2. Uprightness
3. Kindness
4. Cheerfulness
   
5. Consistency
   
6. Spunk
7. Good Communication
8. Gentleness

8 People That I Think Should Do "Crazy 8's"

1. Kim
   
2. ElementaryHistoryTeacher
3. HH
4. The Educational Tour Marm
   
5. Somebody who knows they're crazy
6. The other person I am forgetting to think of
7. The crazy person who wants to do Crazy 8's
8. Some blogger I don't know, who is getting angry at me for not mentioning their name

WHEW! Well, that's it! I hope it's good, Mom! :D

While doing some research one day for a research paper, which I plan to post on this blog in the near future, I found this great website: www.greatseal.com. It is a terrific place to learn about the history and design of the Great Seal and those who designed it. Why was this website built? Partially to combat the various theories behind the Great Seal, particularly the reverse side (the side that displays a decapitated pyramid and the all-seeing eye). Some say that the Great Seal's designs have origins with the Illuminati and the occult; others say, pointing to the all-seeing eye, that it actually represents the favor which God gave us during our American Revolution. Which side is correct? I'll answer when I post my paper. ;)

Anyway, while I was looking around this website, I couldn't help but find these two pages, containing exerpts of history reports "reportedly collected by U. S. schoolteachers from genuine student essays." Some of them are gut-bustin' funny.

Here are some of the excerpts from the bloopers on American history:

One of the causes of the Revolutionary War was the English put tacks on their tea. Also, the colonists would send their parcels through the post without stamps. During the War, the Red Coats and Paul Revere were throwing balls over stone walls. The dogs were barking and the peacocks crowing. Finally, the colonists won the War and no longer had to pay for taxis.

Delegates from the original thirteen states formed the Contented Congress. Thomas Jefferson, a Virgin, and Benjamin Franklin were two singers of the Declaration of Independence. Franklin had gone to Boston carrying all his clothes in his pocket and a loaf of bread under each arm. He invented electricity by rubbing cats backwards and declared, "A horses divided against itself cannot stand." Franklin died in 1790 and is still dead.

George Washington married Martha Curtis and in due time became the Father of Our Country. Then the Constitution of the United States was adopted to secure domestic hostility. Under the Constitution the people enjoyed the right to keep bare arms.

Bach was the most famous composer in the world, and so was Handle. Handle was half German, half Italian, and half English. He was very large. Bach died from 1750 to the present. Beethoven wrote music even though he was deaf. He was so deaf he wrote loud music. He took long walks in the forest even when everyone was calling for him. Beethoven expired in 1827 and later died for this. France was in a very serious state.

The sun never set on the British Empire because the British Empire is in the East and the sun sets in the West. Queen Victoria was the longest queen. She sat on a thorn for 63 years. Her reclining years and finally the end of her life were exemplatory of a great personality. Her death was the final event which ended her reign.

The nineteenth century was a time of many great inventions and thoughts. The invention of the steamboat caused a network of rivers to spring up. Cyrus McCormick invented the McCormick raper, which did the work of a hundred men. Samuel Morse invented a code of telepathy. Louis Pasteur discovered a cure for rabbis. Charles Darwin was a naturalist who wrote the "Organ of the Species." Madam Curie discovered Radium, and Karl Marx became one of the Marx brothers.

And here are some excerpts from the bloopers on world history:

The inhabitants of ancient Egypt were called mummies. They lived in the Sarah Dessert and traveled by Camelot. The climate of the Sarah is such that the inhabitants have to live elsewhere, so certain areas of the dessert are cultivated by irrigation. The Egyptians built the Pyramids in the shape of a huge triangular cube. The Pyramids are a range of mountains between France and Spain.

Pharaoh forced the Hebrew slaves to make bread without straw. Moses led them to the Red Sea, where they made unleavened bread, which is bread without any ingredients. Afterward, Moses went up on Mount Cyanide to get the ten commandments. David was a Hebrew king skilled at playing the liar. He fought with the Philatelists, a race of people who lived in Biblical times. Solomon, one of David's sons, had 500 wives and 500 porcupines.

Eventually, the Romans conquered the Greeks. History calls people Romans because they never stayed in one place for very long. At Roman banquets, the guests wore garlics in their hair. Julius Caesar extinguished himself on the battlefields of Gaul. The Ides of March murdered him because they thought he was going to be made king. Nero was a cruel tyranny who would torture his poor subjects by playing the fiddle to them.

Writing at the same time as Shakespear was Miguel Cervantes. He wrote "Donkey Hotel." the next great author was John Milton. Milton wrote "Paradise Lost." Then his wife died and he wrote "Paradise Regained."

Gravity was invented by Isaac Walton. It is chiefly noticeable in the Autumn, when the apples are falling off the trees.

ROFL!!!

There is probably a somber side to this story: too little education, too much TV. But that's what public schools are all about -- helping children to know more about what interests them, and not necessarily to learn anything. And why do they do this? Because uneducated masses are very politically useful.

But instead of dwelling on that bothersome topic all day long, we loosen up by reading and laughing over these.

Whether or not the reports are genuine, they still are darn funny.

I commented briefly on a post written by my Mom, Mrs. Mecomber, at New York Traveler.net, here. It became a full-blown discussion about government and society, and I would like to share my thoughts on that from a historical perspective, to the best of my ability, since part of the discussion was a response to what I initially wrote.

In response to something I said, Aahz wrote:

However, what you (and America’s Founding Fathers) fail to see is that if man can’t be trusted to run his own life, then how can he be trusted to run the lives of others?

Let's make one thing clear. Under our Constitutional form of govt., govt. officials do not "RUN your life." The govt. "runs people's lives" now, not because govt. is just evil, but because the govt. was not kept from transgressing the bounds set for it BY OUR CONSTITUTION. The blame for this fatal mistake rests upon none other than the American populous.

Actually, the Founders did NOT fail to ask this question; if one reads the quote above I presented from The Federalist 51, he will realize that they DID ask this question, and came up with the answer "oblige the govt. to control itself."

How does that happen? First of all, our govt. was not set up so that the public officials governed according to their own whim, as they had always done in other countries and other civilizations. Rather, they are merely enforcing the law. The local policeman does not stop you you on the road just because he doesn't like you, but because you are passing the speed limit, or have broken some other LAW. If he did stop you for any reason other than by a requirement of LAW, he would have his badge and his place taken from him, as long as LAW is still in force.

The point is, that our govt. was set up to be a govt. of LAW, and NOT of MAN. It is crucial to understand this. Our govt. officials should not govern the nation based upon their whim, but should govern according to the CONSTITUTION; if they fail to do this (just as current govt. in this country for the most part has done), than those OFFICIALS should be removed and replaced. It does not mean that we throw out the baby with the bathwater by abolishing govt. altogether, because history has proven that this action (anarchy) devolves back into tyranny. The French Revolution, immediately succeeded by the tyrannical reign of Napoleon, is one of the most horrific examples. Without the rule of law, there can be no liberty, and it takes a degree of govt. to see that law is enforced. Since human nature is inherent corrupt and selfish, man must be controlled. Our Founders framed our govt. in such a way that the govt. checks the passions of the people and the people check the passions of the govt., and that this process is guided by our CONSTITUTION.

Our Founding Fathers abhorred the principles of the French Revolution, which said that govt. and religion were hindrances upon the freedom of man. When the Revolutionaries overthrew their govt. a state of anarchy ensued as the anti-govt. Jacobins tried to secure anarchy by defeating the pro-govt-revolutionaries, the Feulliants. The nation of France had not only rejected govt., but they rejected all law, and since there was no govt., there was no one to restore order, peace, and the rule of law until Napoleon came along to establish himself as the law of the land. Until that time, the streets of Paris ran with blood from the guillotine.

Aahz also said:

You’re right that the French revolution was a disaster. But then, instituting democracy in Somalia was a disaster as well. The country has only flourished since the formal government was abandoned and the people left to fend for themselves.

If Somalia was such a success, then why aren't people who are seeking for freedom flocking to Somalia? In spite of all our problems, America is the freest, wealthiest, and most prosperous and productive nation on the earth today. People voting with their feet don't seem to contest that.

Let me also point out Somalia's SIZE, in comparison to America's current SIZE (both in land mass and in population). Somalia has an area of 246,201 square miles with a population of 9,118,773 (the 59th largest in the world). Compare that to the United States, which has an area of 3,794,066 square miles and a population of 303,320,000 (the 3rd largest population in the world). Democracies work better in smaller countries than in big ones. Democracies are also very incapable of defending themselves. These aspects were discussed in The Federalist Papers and in the Anti-Federalist Papers, as you probably know. The Federalists won the argument (and by the way, most of the leading Federalists and pro-Constitutionists were veterans of the Revolutionary War who had fought in the Continental Army, not just the rich aristocrats like the 20th century revisionists have convinced many Americans to believe). Why were most of them veterans? Because they were the ones who suffered under a more "democratic" form of government. While the states, who practically possessed all sovereignty in national affairs thanks to the Articles of Confederation, were bickering in Congress about which one of them was going to send the most supplies and money to Congress, or which citizen of which state was going to go to represent America in France or replace George Washington as Commander-in-Chief, the Continental troops were dying of lack of food, clean water, adequate medical treatment, and other forms of privation. They experienced the worst side-effect of this more "democratic" organization of government.

The Founding Fathers did not run into revolutionary excesses when they started the American Revolution, and no nation has equaled America in freedom and prosperity so long as we have stuck to our Constitution, which they made for us. Why is this? Our Founders, when they rebelled against tyranny, did not overthrow the institution of govt. altogether; in the Declaration of Independence, they said, “That whenever govt. becomes destructive of these ends [the protection of life, liberty, & the pursuit of happiness], it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, AND TO INSTITUTE A NEW GOVT., laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

Aahz also said:

“However, I DO believe that people CAN get along if left to themselves. There are countless examples of this very thing happening.”

I would like to know of these “countless examples.” They must be hiding in the dark somewhere. It is true that people in smaller groups do not need as much govt., and can get along better without an organized political state over them; however, even on the most minuscule level, people must have govt. (I.e., an authority figure, and one who administers the rules) on the level of family, church, business, town, etc. Man left to himself, without the restraint of LAW, will trample on other's rights just to get what he wants. Everybody from little kids to emperors is like this; to claim otherwise is fantasy, unless you can prove that a whole society prospered without govt. Again, I'd like to see these countless examples you speak of.

I agree that the govt. now is trying to make us their serfs, but the answer is not to annihilate the govt.; the answer is to RETURN TO OUR CONSTITUTION! We are in a state of tyranny now, not because we have govt., but because we have lost the rule of law. As Alexander Hamilton said:

“Most of our mistakes can be laid at the doorstep of our failure to follow the Constitution. That Constitution, if we so desire, can provide needed guidance and a road map to restore our liberties…"

Aahz also said, concerning the U.S. Constitution and Dec. of I.:

“As for the Declaration of Independence it is a great document. As is the Constitution. However, they are also both rife with hypocrisy - All men are created unless they’re black, or female, or foreign, or not landowners.”

OK, this statement is rife with historical inaccuracy.

First of all, the Founders did believe that all humans are created with equal value (although the context of the phrase “all men are created equal” seems to imply that they wrote to say “all men are equal under the law” -- that is, no matter who someone is, he cannot claim to have more authority over the law). Just because they did not legislate to give blacks, women, non-landowners the right to vote does not mean that they thought that white male landowners were more valuable than all other people. (It is interesting to note that Alexander Hamilton, a framer and signer of the Constitution often accused of pandering to the wealthy for his own gain, did not own land, or even a home of his own, until the last four years of his life.) As to the treatment of the Founders toward blacks and women, they established abolition societies and schools for women long before the abolition and suffrage movements of the 19^th century. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration, along with Franklin, established the first American abolition society, and it was Rush again who founded the first college for women. Hamilton, who has often been falsely called a lackey of aristocrats, etc., (see this post which disproves that assertion), also founded an abolition society with John Jay (co-author of The Federalist Papers) in NY, and during the American Revolution, suggested that blacks should be allowed to fight for freedom, and be given their freedom if they agreed to fight with the Americans. Hamilton, too, was a believer that women should cultivate their education, and even went out of his way to complement the literary skills of Mercy Otis Warren, even though her political ideas were contrary to his. Washington said that no one wished more fervently that slavery be abolished than he did. Jefferson unsuccessfully tried to decry the practice of slavery in the Declaration, but Congressional delegates from South Carolina and Georgia prevented this portion of the D. of Independence from passing, threatening to secede from the Union. There are countless other examples of the Founding Fathers trying to stop slavery, but it was a touchy situation, because the Southern states threatened to secede if the federal govt. made them give up the practice, and if the Union broke up, the American experiment would have been destroyed. The Founding Fathers who owned slaves only continued to do so during their lifetimes because those blacks did not know how to support themselves, and states like VA had passed laws against the education of blacks. It was a sad situation, and the Founders thought they had no choice but to take gradual steps toward abolition, and to leave the final step to posterity.

Aahz also says:

"Absolutely we’ve strayed from the Constitution. Getting back to it would be an excellent step in the right direction. That’s why I support Ron Paul. But it’s not the end of the path to freedom, just a pitstop along the way." Then I must ask, "What then, are you proposing is the ultimate goal? Are you proposing the abolition of the political institution called government?" If you are, you are mistaken in thinking that it will bring liberty, for, as I explained previously, it will bring only the despotism of the many; society cannot survive with a pure democracy. History, from the ancient Athenian republic to the (attempted) French democracy are good examples, and the Founding Fathers, wisely echoing this theme (quotes can be found here), gave us this form of government, which is unquestionably the freest in the world. I know that you are not suggesting "the rule of the guillotine or of the jungle," but if you are suggesting that the govt. be overthrown, such disastrous circumstances will happen, because the govt. and its supporters will not take to overthrow sitting down. Atrocity and violence always accompanies overthrow of established authority.

"I’ve read and reread the Federalist papers and other documents of America’s founders and found them to be full of the same pro-state arguments that you are making. The voices I agree with were drowned out or compromised away by those in favor of tyranny as the Constitution clearly shows."

The problem you seem to be having is understanding the intent of the Constitution. The Constitution doesn't serve the same purpose as the Bill of Rights; it is just a statement of how the federal govt. is supposed to work. Just because the Constitution gave the federal govt. more sovereignty in national affairs than it gave the state govts does not make the Framers statists. Most of those who framed and supported the Constitution were Revolutionary War veterans who had served the Continental Army, and who saw that the national affairs left in the hands of the various states was disastrous; thousands of men starved and died just because the states could not agree who was going to send the most supplies, or because they were too busy bickering about which man from which state was going to replace General Washington as Commander-in-Chief.

If this does not answer your complaints about the Federalist Papers (which were written by those who wrote the Constitution and knew them best; so how can you say that the writers of The Federalist were statists but we need to get back to the Constitution?), than please give me examples of how the Federalist Papers come from a statist point of view.

I don't think that the Federalists were statists. They believed that the state governments should not be sovereign in national affairs (although they fully supported the state govts being sovereign in their own affairs), that does not make them statists. They saw that the disunity of the nation and the inefficiency of a government over-run by faction and discord among the state governments was less favorable to liberty -- and they were right! Look at the correspondence of such judicious figures as Washington at that time! Look at the Narrative of Private Joseph Plum Martin! The reason why so many Continental Army veterans were Federalists is because they suffered the brunt of inefficient and factitious government. I would like to conclude with two quotations from the Federalist Papers, that sum up what I have been trying to say. The first one explains that government is necessary; the second explains that the government needs to be checked.

"There was a time when we were told that breaches, by the States, of the regulations of the federal authority were not to be expected; that a sense of common interest would preside over the conduct of the respective members, and would beget a full compliance with all the constitutional requisitions of the Union. This language, at the present day, would appear as wild as a great part of what we now hear from the same quarter will be thought, when we shall have received further lessons from that best oracle of wisdom, experience. It at all times betrayed an ignorance of the true springs by which human conduct is actuated, and belied the original inducements to the establishment of civil power. Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice, without constraint. Has it been found that bodies of men act with more rectitude or greater disinterestedness than individuals? The contrary of this has been inferred by all accurate observers of the conduct of mankind." Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist #15 (emphasis added)

"If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions." James Madison or Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist #51

My family and I have seen several documentaries on American history, the Founding Fathers, the American Revolution, etc. Most of theses documentaries have been produced by the mainstream media outlets like The History Channel, PBS, or the Discovery Channel. We do not watch these programs, and as a policy, my parents preview whatever films these channels release before allowing us kids to see them. Overall, the channels have a revisionist tilt, and I personally have noticed that they seem to be aimed at portraying the negative more than the good. I think that because of this over-hyped negativity, most people are discouraged from learning about history, and instead leave it to the experts.

With the documentaries that I have seen, I would like to make an exception. The program John & Abigail was outstanding -- probably the best film that PBS is capable of producing. The reenactments were fascinating (the man who did John Adams fit the role perfectly, and embraced it with passion), and the story inspiring. The only improvement that could have been made to the film is to dare to include the mentions of the religious beliefs that they shared, and which permeated the lives of both John and Abigail Adams (John almost became an ordained Congregationalist clergyman, and Abigail Adams was the pious daughter of a Christian pastor).

However, throughout all the mainstream documentaries, including this one on John and Abigail Adams, I have noticed that the Christian background of the stories told is either carefully edited out of the picture altogether, or, if mentioned at all, is dumbed down and derided. A new "documentary" about America's Founders and Founding Era is out there though, not projected by the mainstream media, and does not exclude the Christian aspect. I refer to the video Drive Thru History America, hosted by Dave Stotts, a very talented and entertaining narrator, who has previously traveled around the world to do a series on the Greek and Roman influence upon western civilization, and the influence that Christianity had on those civilizations -- truly fascinating!* To get an idea of the movie, there are several video clips which can be viewed through the website.

I highly recommend this video to all; it is fit for all ages. If you think that history is boring, maybe this video (and a post I wrote) will help you change your mind. :) Our Founding Fathers (and Founding Mothers) were more than just a few motionless, austere faces peering down at you from the National Portrait Gallery. They were real human beings, with eccentric personalities and ordinary human characteristics. But we can learn from them, because they were guided by their principles, which in turn were rooted in their faith in God.

*Dave Stotts has previously hosted a similar video -- a series on the ancient Greek and Roman influence on Western civilization. He looks at history in light of the Bible, and the early history of the Christian Church. He visits many of the old cities that are named in the New Testament, and wonderfully adds a historical background to the church to whom the Apostle Paul wrote his famous epistles.

One note on these, however. Although the videos are harmless, occasionally several images of ancient Greek and Roman sculpture, which are quite lacking in modesty, are flashed. Everything else in the videos are fine; no profanity or anything like that. The narrative is homely and hilarious, and the lessons are inspiring and educational.

UPDATE: I just recently received an email from Homeschool Gold. Good news! They managed to get the website back up, and are even planning to add a forum to the website. Anyone who had a website up on Homeschool Gold, and who removed their Homeschool Gold button from their site due to its being hacked may now put the button back up. If you do not have the html code of the button saved anywhere, it is bound to be somewhere in your email box, from when you first received the code from Homeschool Gold.

Way to go, Homeschool Gold!

This morning, I received a sad email from the web administrator of HomeschoolGold.Net:

Our server was hacked last week, decimating all the sites there. You may have noticed that the button no longer works. While we were able to restore the sites from backups, we were forced to move to the only available hosting service, which unfortunately, does not allow topsites type sites, therefore homeschoolgold.net will be forced to shut down. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Homeschool Gold was just a little website were homeschoolers, who no doubt rely upon the vast troves of educational knowledge to be found on the Internet, could go to learn about other homeschoolers, or could go to websites and blogs with material to help them in their homeschooling programs. That such a site could be hacked only proves how much opposition the homeschool movement in this country is receiving.

I am going to miss the Homeschool Gold website; I hope that soon anther homeschool website like it will be created in its stead.

He was the only well-known "mainstream" Founding Father to have been born off the American continent.

He fought during the American Revolution, playing leading roles in the Battles of Princeton, Trenton, and Yorktown.

He is considered by many authorities (and myself) to be one of those individuals most responsible for our having the United States Constitution.

And finally, he was born on this day, January 11, although the year of his birth is rather disputed.

Any guesses? Go ahead and take a try. I'll post the answer in a day. :)

In my study of American history, or indeed in anyone's study, I have noticed a lot of facts which make the history of the American nation totally unique in the world. Many people have observed that of all the revolutions in the world, America's was the most successful and least atrocious (on the American side, anyway). Another unique trait of American history is that the “father of our country,” General George Washington, refused to accept absolute executive power, even when his countrymen freely offered it to him. American history is filled with “uniques,” but the uniqueness of American history which I would like to discuss here is a general pattern throughout our history, more exclusively, our early founding history.

Think for a moment about the Founding Fathers and the Founding Era. Both were extraordinary. Both are surrounded by legend and fiction, but such is not unique. The patriarchs and great heroes of other civilizations and nations, past and present, have such. What then is unique about the extraordinary men and events of early America?

When we examine the long-gone nations and cultures and civilizations of the past, we are constantly learning of the myths and superstitions believed about the rulers and great warriors of that nation by the people who lived centuries after those rulers had died. Many times fables that the hero was part divine, or was instructed, empowered, or miraculously protected by a god, were invented centuries after those men had died, and were used to inspire patriotism in the hearts and minds of the people (usually this was done when the civilization was declining or in a time of great crisis). Other fables and myths were created in order to make the history of that civilization more mystifying and therefore, to make it appear that that nation had a grand destiny appointed by the god of that nation.

America, even though our society has not been as superstitious as those ancient cultures in this regard, nevertheless has some “legends” that are reflective of these ancient myths -- only that these "legends" are actually historically provable facts. The following facts, if read in the context of some ancient culture, would probably be effortlessly dismissed as mythological and fictitious. And yet these facts are true. To my knowledge, none have questioned their accuracy or historicity. The fiction one would expect to find in ancient mythology, is actually true in the American case. For example:

• The Grand Patriarch of the nation was miraculously protected by the Deity in a perilous battle, and his enemies, no matter how skilled or cunning, could never hurt him. Years after one of these extraordinary instances of divine protection, this Grand Patriarch was visited by one of his former enemies, who prophesied to him that this man was indeed favored by God and would become the father of a great empire.
• Many times those who struggled in war to forge their nation's independence were protected or aided by Divine Providence. Once, a miraculous fog secured their escape from the enemy.
• Two men most responsible for the independence of that country being declared later became bitter enemies. Both lived to be unusually advanced in years, and were later reconciled to each other. Both passed away almost at the same time a full half century after they had given birth to the new nation. Their reconciliation, and the extraordinary deaths, were foretold in a dream of a man who helped reconcile these two patriarchs.

And these are only a few of the amazing miraculous circumstances which occurred during our founding. To sum up, the difference between the tales of ancient civilizations throughout history and those of our country is that ours can be proven true. Save the Hebrew nation, America is the only nation that can boldly assert the evidence of a divine hand in its early history. If America is unique in anything, it is unique because evidence of the "hand of Providence" is not only an evident, but a conspicuous part of our history.