Free Republic

Welcome to Independence Day weekend, New Jersey. It's a time to cast aside all the aspersions brought on by the Turnpike's industrial corridor and celebrate our proud Revolutionary War history. Simply put, New Jersey, more than any other state, was the place where the battle was fought, nearly lost, and ultimately won. With a four-day holiday weekend, it's a chance to make a historic scavenger hunt to put New Jersey's legacy in perspective. That is, if the state lawmakers can play nice on the budget impasse and get the parks they're supposed to run reopen. Here are some stops along...

In the gloom of this holy Christmas night, a cold sleet fell. It was not a night for man nor beast but yet here they were. Huddled upon the banks of this frigid river, 2000 men contemplated their bleak fate. The past few months had gone very, very badly. Their hopes had been crushed time and again. The noble experiment in Liberty which had begun with such promise, had by this time deteriorated to the point where every day was a battle just to survive. Defeat after defeat, at places like Long Island, Harlem Heights, Fort Washington and White Plains...

Full length movie, even if you've seen it before it is worth watching again.

Christmas morning dawned gloomy and cold over the rebel camp. The low, overcast sky promised drizzle, or worse, by afternoon. The temperature, hovering just above freezing the past few days, was now dropping rapidly. The weather conditions did not improve the mood of the soldiers who, having skewered chunks of meat with the ramrods from their flint-lock firearms, were squatting around low campfires preparing the morning's repast.  The general of this rag-tag army was cold too, but for the good of his men he tried not to let it show. Standing six feet, two inches tall and weighing nearly 220...

Continental Army General George Washington’s celebrated “Crossing of the Delaware” has been dubbed in some military circles, “America’s first special operation.” Though there were certainly many small-unit actions, raids, and Ranger operations during the Colonial Wars – and there was a special Marine landing in Nassau in the early months of the American Revolution – no special mission by America’s first army has been more heralded than that which took place on Christmas night exactly 230 years ago. Certainly the mission had all the components of a modern special operation (though without all the modern battlefield technologies we take for...

TRENTON--History anyone? It was a gray, bleak winter afternoon the day after Christmas, but the city was buzzing with Colonial activities yesterday. And, that was just the start. For the next five days and nights, Patriots’ Week celebrates Trenton’s pivotal role during the American Revolution with reenactments, art, music and literature. And, if yesterday’s opening events are any indication, then this second annual history blitz has caught on quickly, as bigger-than-expected crowds turned out all day. Out on South Warren Street in the late afternoon, Patriots’ Week Manager Amy Brummer wore a wide smile as family after family arrived at...

WASHINGTON CROSSING, N.J. Dec 25, 2005 — Hundreds of spectators along the Delaware River saw the first complete re-enactment since 2001 of Gen. George Washington's historic crossing. Unlike the past three attempts, when days of precipitation pushed water levels and speeds above safety levels, this Christmas presented a more placid route from Pennsylvania to New Jersey. Jim Gibson, portraying Washington in a full uniform replete with sword and peaked cap, and about 60 of his fellow re-enactors made it across in two longboats just as a raw mist became a steady rain.

In the gloom of this holy Christmas night, a cold sleet fell. It was not a night for man nor beast but yet here they were. Huddled upon the banks of this frigid river, 2000 men contemplated their bleak fate. The past few months had gone very, very badly. Their hopes had been crushed time and again. The noble experiment in Liberty which had begun with such promise, had by this time deteriorated to the point where every day was a battle just to survive. Defeat after defeat, at places like Long Island, Harlem Heights, Fort Washington and White Plains...

The First Christmas Present to America - 1776 - The Revolution is saved at Trenton Ernest R. Bower | December 25, 2003 | Ernest R. Bower In the gloom of this holy Christmas night, a cold sleet fell. It was not a night for man nor beast but yet here they were. Huddled upon the banks of this frigid river, 2000 men contemplated their bleak fate. The past few months had gone very, very badly. Their hopes had been crushed time and again. The noble experiment in Liberty which had begun with such promise, had by this time deteriorated to...

<p>Through a spy, the British were tipped off that George Washington would be making his famous Christmas night crossing of the Delaware, but the information went unheeded, according to newly reviewed papers of the British commander.</p> <p>The papers from the archive of Gen. James Grant were found in the tower of his Ballindalloch Castle, northwest of Aberdeen, Scotland.</p>

Amendment I1. The government cannot make you believe in a religion.2. The government cannot keep you from practicing any religion you choose.3. The government cannot keep you from saying what you wish.4. The government cannot keep you from writing what you want.5. The government cannot stop you from publishing what you want.6. The government cannot keep you from joining together peacefully with others to express your views.7. The government cannot prevent you from complaining about what the government or others are doing to you.Amendment II8. The government cannot take away your right to own and keep guns.Amendment III9. The government...

Fortunately, during the American Revolution our enemy was from afar. Today's revolution is difficult because there are so many Anti American Marxists posing as Americans. They call themselves democrats. [3 minute video]

As a citizen historian, I find it both "funny" and annoying how skewed history is and how few treat leftist historians compared to their leftist journalist counterparts. Its a huge problem for us. Pimping a new book that he will hope you will buy, Andrew Roberts (the Book's author) writes this glowing piece for The Smithsonian about you know, George III, he wasn't all that bad of a guy! Hey I have an idea. Maybe we should've stayed under monarchism. That whole "liberty thing"? Perhaps that's overrated. Sarcasm aside, take a look at paragraph number 2: We can now see,...

Many sincere Christians have confused, conflicting, and convoluted notions about what became the War for Independence or, as some call it, the Revolutionary War. However, it was not a revolution but a war of self-defense, and that fact is seldom discussed in America’s classrooms. When the pertinent facts are known, Americans will have no embarrassment over our “rebel” past. The Stamp Act of 1765 was a power grab by King George III whereby various publications and legal forms in America would require a stamp (tax) before they could be issued. The colonialists resented the act as being taxation without representation....

Over the last two years, progressive critics have casually attacked the origins, nature and values of American society. Is the idea of America so indestructible that it can weather any assault? The foundational dates of America — the signing in 1776 of the Declaration of Independence and in 1787 of the Constitution — have been attacked. Citizens are now asked to believe that they have no inspirational or historical value. Statues of the American luminaries have been defaced or toppled. Names on schools and monuments are obliterated. The Soviet-like erasures do not just involve Confederate generals. Often the Founders, such...

"""North Carolina County Wants Teachers Fired, Disciplined If They Undermine Constitution, Bash Founders, Say America’s Racist""" A North Carolina county is insisting that its local school board institute a policy that would discipline or fire teachers if they assert that the American Founders were not heroes, if they make statements undermining the Constitution, or if they assert that racism is endemic in America. The Johnston County Board of Commissioners is withholding $7.9 million until the policy is accepted by the school board

On September 17, 1787 — 234 years ago today — the delegates to the constitutional convention who had approved the final document signed it and sent it on its way toward ratification. We now celebrate that date as Constitution Day, to acknowledge our debt to them and remind ourselves (as it’s plain we could use the reminding) of the extraordinary governing framework they created. If you’re free and online at 11 a.m. Eastern today (or if you want to look in on the video later), you should check out the American Enterprise Institute’s annual Constitution Day lecture, which will be...

On September 7, 1776, during the Revolutionary War, the American submersible craft Turtle attempts to attach a time bomb to the hull of British Admiral Richard Howe’s flagship Eagle in New York Harbor. It was the first use of a submarine in warfare. Donated to the Patriot cause after the outbreak of war with Britain in 1775, Ezra Lee piloted the craft unnoticed out to the 64-gun HMS Eagle in New York Harbor on September 7, 1776. As Lee worked to anchor a time bomb to the hull, he could see British seamen on the deck above, but they failed...

The Culpeper Flag is often mistaken as a modern variation of the iconic “Don’t Tread On Me” Gadsden Flag – and rightly so. What many don’t know is that the Culpeper Flag was inspired by its Gadsden counterpart, and both have become touchstones of the Second Amendment Movement. While remarkably similar to its Gadsden relative, the flag of the Culpeper Minutemen is arguably cooler – and significantly more obscure. While it has the same coiled rattlesnake and “Don’t Tread on Me” legend, the Culpeper Flag is white, it carries the additional motto “Liberty or Death,” and when historically correct, a...

President Trump's 1776 Commission — described by the White House as a "historic and scholarly" effort to help restore Americans' understanding of how the country was founded — has released its final report, which it describes as a "dispositive rebuttal of reckless 're-education' attempts."The White House also said the 45-page report provides a chronicle of U.S. history challenging those that attempt to "reframe American history around the idea that the United States is not an exceptional country but an evil one."The report, released Monday, is also critical of what it calls "destructive scholarship" that misrepresents the history of slavery and...