Free Republic

I'm looking for really in-depth resources about the Revolutionary War for my own personal knowledge. Documentaries, books, etc. Thanks in advance. :)

Stoodley's Tavern, Portsmouth NH, as it appears today. Here, on 13 December 1774, after a miserable day's ride of 65 miles through a snowstorm, is where Paul Revere delivered the news of British troop movements which led to the seizure by local patriots of the powder and arms at Fort William and Mary. Politico promises us that: "Obama set to unveil curbs on gun sellers: Executive actions expected next week will be part of the president's new year push to make progress on long-stalled problems before the 2016 presidential election heats up."In addition, we are told -- "Coming Soon:...

The Coffee Party, a liberal Facebook group with nearly a million fans, posted this meme of Thomas Paine, one of America’s founding fathers. While I’m glad to see anyone studying the Founding, it looks like the message was lost on a majority of their left-leaning audience. Below are 11 of the best comments from their readers, with my responses: 1. “That is exactly like trying to reason with a republikkklan” -Ed. You know the KKK was founded by Democrats, right? 2. “Thomas Paine must have anticipated the Tea Party!” -Ed. Yes, he did – the original Tea Party that you’ve...

My favorites are Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine.

At the end of the seventeenth century approximately 200,000 people inhabited the British colonies in North America. The following century saw an explosion in numbers with the population doubling about every 25 years. The majority of these new immigrants were Scotch-Irish, Germans or African slaves. Between 1700 and the beginning of the American Revolution, approximately 250,000 Africans, 210,000 Europeans and 50,000 convicts had reached the colonial shores. The passage to America was treacherous by any standard. Many of the immigrants were too poor to pay for the journey and therefore indentured themselves to wealthier colonialists - selling their services for...

Full title: Archaeologists uncover secrets of historic Revolutionary War battle site BOSTON – Archeologists using 21st-century technology are mapping out the exact spots British soldiers and Colonial militiamen were standing as they fired at each other during a pivotal skirmish on the first day of the American Revolution. Parker's Revenge, as the fight is known, occurred on April 19, 1775, after the battles of Lexington and Concord as the redcoats retreated to Boston. Capt. John Parker, commander of the 77-member Lexington militia, had met the 700-strong British column on the green at 5:30 a.m. Eight of his men were killed...

I would like to have George Washington come back from the dead for one day. I’d stand there and look at George, wearing those tight socks and that funny white wig, and I’d ask him the question: “George, what do you think about Donald Trump?” I’m not sure George would know how to respond. I certainly don’t. The Donald’s phenomenon has been the big political story of the summer, interrupted only for short periods of time when someone else loses some more emails or resigns from Congress or visits from the Vatican. All those other things are interesting, to be...

Our Ageless Constitution "The structure has been erected by architects of consummate skill and fidelity; its foundations are solid; its components are beautiful, as well as useful; its arrangements are full of wisdom and order...." -Justice Joseph Story Justice Story's words pay tribute to the United States Constitution and its Framers. Shortly before the 100th year of the Constitution, in his "History of the United States of America," written in 1886, historian George Bancroft said: "The Constitution is to the American people a possession for the ages." He went on to say: "In America, a new people had risen up without...

Students in South Dakota will now graduate from high school without studying early American history, under new teaching guidelines adopted by the state. After a year of deliberations, the state Board of Education adopted new curriculum standards that no longer require instructors to teach the first 100 years of U.S. history. Such milestone events and developments as the Revolutionary War and the drafting of the U.S. Constitution could be completely ignored. Cutting out early U.S. history in 11th grade hurts the ability of students to “think historically” when they reach higher education, according to a letter sent to the state...

They all pledged their “lives, fortunes and sacred honors,” and it was more than just an idle boast. The Founding Fathers were committing treason against the most powerful empire that the world to date had ever seen. It was also their Mother Country, to which many of their friends, family, and neighbors were still loyal. And while they certainly, in the words of Patrick Henry, “made the most” of their treason, the idea that they would establish the most free and powerful nation in the history of mankind was not the most likely outcome. So in singling out these 7...

Ben Franklin is the prototype for the celebrity-as-politician. His autobiography is still in print; if he were alive, he’d be on Drudge’s columnists’ list, and command speaking fees that would turn Hillary Clinton green with envy. A popular T-shirt has a quote erroneously attributed to Franklin: ‘Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.’ But John Witherspoon? He wasn’t a fan of self-promotion, which was no less prevalent then. Today, in D.C., his statue stands at a tiny triangle where Connecticut Avenue intersects with N Street and 18th Street N.W. It is routinely ignored. At...

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their...

LIBERTY! The American Revolution is a dramatic documentary about the birth of the American Republic and the struggle of a loosely connected group of states to become a nation. The George Foster Peabody award-winning series brings the people, events and ideas of the revolution to life through military reenactments and dramatic recreations performed by a distinguished cast. _________________________ EPISODE 1: "The Reluctant Revolutionaries" 1763-1774In 1763, the capitol city of America is London, George Washington is lobbying for a post in the British army, and no one thinks of Boston harbor when they hear talk of tea parties. In a dozen...

“It’s so bad….it’s like having a statue of Hitler” Liberals at the University of Texas signed a petition to remove a statue of GeorgeWashington and memorials to other founding fathers in another illustration of thepolitically correct insanity that has emerged in the wake of the Charleston massacre. (Watch video at link) Students at the University have started an actual petition to remove statues of Robert E. Lee, the commander of the Confederate army, and Albert Sidney Johnston, a Confederate general who died during the Civil War, remarking, “It is impossible to reach the full potential of an inclusive and progressive...

The most luscious watermelon the Deep South has ever produced was once so coveted, 19th-century growers used poison or electrocuting wires to thwart potential thieves, or simply stood guard with guns in the thick of night. The legendary Bradford was delectable — but the melon didn't ship well, and it all but disappeared by the 1920s. Now, eight generations later, a great-great-great-grandson of its creator is bringing it back. The story of the Bradford begins on a prison ship during the American Revolutionary War. It was 1783, and the British had captured an American soldier named John Franklin Lawson and...

Top Vatican adviser Jeffrey Sachs says that when Pope Francis visits the United States in September, he will directly challenge the “American idea” of God-given rights embodied in the Declaration of Independence. Sachs, a special advisor to the United Nations and director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, is a media superstar who can always be counted on to pontificate endlessly on such topics as income inequality and global health. This time, writing in a Catholic publication, he may have gone off his rocker, revealing the real global game plan. The United States, Sachs writes in the Jesuit publication,...

The replica ship called the Hermione and its crew made the trans-Atlantic trip from Rochefort, France; the same place where Lafayette left on his journey to America back in 1780. (Courtesy of York County, Virginia) WASHINGTON — It was a battle a young America was losing  —  the battle for  independence.  That was until the French stepped in, providing the edge America so desperately needed in its revolution against the British.A young Frenchman played a pivotal role in helping secure independence from Great Britain.   His name was Marquis de Lafayette, and he was on board a French warship in 1780 that...

Early pictures of the U.S. Declaration of Independence and many artifacts commemorating the centennial of the "Star-Spangled Banner," Baltimore's Washington Monument and other key aspects of American history were revealed Tuesday. The 1915 Centennial Time Capsule was one of two time capsules discovered during the renovation of Baltimore's Washington Monument, the first to honor George Washington. The monument has been going through a $5.5 million restoration by the Mount Vernon Place Conservancy since January 2014. The 1915 time capsule was opened Tuesday at the Walters Art Museum, while the contents of a time capsule from the 1815 cornerstone, some of...

"There are 120 Thousand stands of Arms in good Repair in the hands of the comon People of New England only; and Amunition may amt. for more Battles than one, nor are they at a loss for whole [illegible] of further Supplies of Powder & Arms."

"Freedom's Frigate" is the nickname of a sailing ship now on its way to America. It's a replica of the French vessel that helped our country win the war of independence. Before its departure, Mark Phillips went aboard: As memorials to American wars go, this one goes right back to the first one -- the Revolutionary War. And it is certainly among the most handsome and most intricate history lessons ever built. A newly-launched replica of the French frigate, Hermione, is now in mid-Atlantic, ploughing her way westward toward the U.S. East Coast. She's retracing the voyage of the original...