The Forgotten Flag of the American Revolution and What It Means

nationalreview.com ^ | 7/4/2014 | Daniel Hannan

[rktman]

We all know the story of American independence, don’t we? A rugged frontier people became increasingly tired of being ruled by a distant elite. A group calling themselves Patriots were especially unhappy about being taxed by a parliament in which they were unrepresented. When, in 1775, British Redcoats tried to repress them, a famous Patriot called Paul Revere rode through the night across eastern Massachusetts, crying “The British are coming!” The shots that were fired the next day began a war for independence which culminated the following year in the statehouse in Philadelphia, when George Washington and others, meeting under Betsy Ross’s gorgeous flag, signed the Declaration of Independence.

[rktman]

A little additional history lesson from Mr. Hannan. Stuff we don't/didn't know or were never taught.

[SES1066]

I love his ending paragraph;

The Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution that followed, distilled and fortified the principles on which British exceptionalism had rested since the Great Charter. No Briton can be unmoved when he stands in the room where those sublime documents were signed. Their promise is why large parts of the world remain prosperous, free, and self-governing. That is the gift of the English-speaking peoples to the rest of the human race. It is why, taking the bad along with the good, we say, on this of all days, God bless America.

— Daniel Hannan writes for the Telegraph and is author of Inventing Freedom: How the English-Speaking Peoples Made the Modern World.

[centurion316]

The British didn’t like their German King anymore than we did, we just had the guts and ability to do something about it. Had the House of Commons followed our lead, we would still be British to this day.

[P-Marlowe]

We all know the story of American independence, don’t we?

Only those of us over 60.

[P-Marlowe]

Had the House of Commons followed our lead, we would still be British to this day.

But we'd only be 13 States instead of 50.

The Mississippi Basin would be populated with French Speaking Cheese Eaters and the Western United States would be part of the Republic of Mexico.

[FroggyTheGremlim]

"Western United States would be part of the Republic of Mexico. "

Uh, that's what it is now.

[LucianOfSamasota]

Nice!

[FrdmLvr]

Good stuff. Thanks for posting! I enjoy reading your daily flag columns - they are informative and enjoyable to read. Happy Independence Day to you!

[Jack Hydrazine]

‘In the later part of his life, George III suffered from recurrent, and eventually permanent, mental illness.’
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_III_of_the_United_Kingdom

Liberalism is a mental disorder.

[Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Paul Revere did NOT shout the "British" are coming. At that point, most of the colonists still considered themselves British, and Revere would have shouted that the regulars are out.

And anyway, Revere didn't get far. Prescott is the one who should get credit for raising the alarm. Too bad his named doesn't rhyme with anything.

[mabarker1]

You can drop that number down to at least 52 Please.

That said We are the LAST Generation that does.

4th of July PING!

[First_Salute]

The forgotten flag, is An Appeal to Heaven, which displayed a tall pine tree.

[rktman]

Hmmm. Prescott. Mascot, dreadnaught, biskott. Thankfully for everyone, I’m no poet, and I know it. ;>}

[centurion316]

That’s certainly a possible outcome, but it depends on an assumption that a Britain free of the Hanoverians, or at least of George III would have continued to enforce the restrictions on Westward expansion.

An equally plausible outcome would be a politically independent America, operating as a member of a British Commonwealth as begin to emerge in the following century. In that case, not only would the West be in the fold, but all of British America including Canada, the Caribbean, and Central America would be united under the Grand Union flag.

[Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Compared to what is considered normal today with gov surveillance, taxes on literally everything (MA has a tax on a tax on liquor, I've been told), the requirement to register everything, the PC-police making sure nobody looks cross-eyed at dudes in thongs canoodling in the streets...Farmer George would have been an easy yoke indeed.

Amazing how times change. Makes you wonder HOW we got so far from our founding principles without the vast majority of people even taking the slightest notice.

[defconw]

How about dropping the number to 50.

[Chode]

Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.

Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving n the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured.

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.

They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated.

But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.


Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson Jr, noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.

Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates. Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more.

Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged: "For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."

They gave you and me a free and independent America. The history books never told you a lot about what happened in the Revolutionary War.

We didn't just fight the British. We were British subjects and we fought our own government! Some of us take our liberties for granted, forgetting they were won by the "militia" against an overbearing central government bent on robbing individuals of basic rights to speech, self-defense, and personal property.

Be sure to take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday to silently thank these patriots and resolve never to give away the freedoms they died to secure. It's not too much to ask for the price they paid.

[Master Zinja]

The American Flag Daily: The First American Flag

http://www.dailyflag.us/2014/06/flag-history-first-american-flag.html

Follow The American Flag Daily on Twitter @Jason Zinzilieta

[VanDeKoik]

To your average hipster on the internet, these guys don’t exist, and they were racists anyway. Also, we would be better of as a British colony because they have better TV shoes and free healthcare.

I’m not making that up! That’s crap I’ve seen on websites today.

[MV=PY]

The comments are worth reading. They temper the author’s argument that the Declaration etc are all borrowed from English history and thus not unique.