Free Republic

There are things that I am definitely aware of even though I don't often or ever bring them up. One of those things is the de-humanization campaign that progressives have engaged in (in varying degrees) ever since our first progressive President, Theodore Roosevelt, and it puts us in the position to ask the question. How can we re-humanize our Founding Fathers? What tools can we rely on or use or else, what tools can we build to have an effect against the problem? First, let's recognize something. There is a lot of power in the spoken word. It is very,...

Two secret battlefield letters written by George Washington during one of the toughest winters of the Revolutionary War have recently surfaced and are now up for sale — just in time for America’s 250th birthday celebration this July 4. Four years into the American colonist’s bloody struggle to break free from British rule, Gen. Washington, from his headquarters in Morristown, NJ penned the letters revealing how the Continental Army tried to monitor loyalist activity and British troop movements across the Hudson River during the winter of 1779 to 1780. Those messages, carefully preserved by descendants of Revolutionary War soldiers, are...

Today I am happy to announce the release of the very short audio for Thomas Jefferson's interesting letter "A Dialog between the Head and Heart", which reaches just past 30 minutes long. Yes, it is a very short recording, but this one is a little different than most others I work on. This recording is a compilation; that is, there are three voices present that are seemingly talking to each other in a way. One of the recordings in this I recorded. This does not signal my triumphant return to the microphone though. I wish. I still have a very...

Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled a statue of Alexander Hamilton in White Springs near the Suwannee River as part of America’s upcoming 250th birthday during a press conference in Hamilton County this week. Hamilton was a founding father and the first Secretary of the Treasury under President George Washington from 1789 to 1795. Hamilton also founded the Federalist Party, America's first political party, in 1791. He is also on the $10 bill. While attending King's College (now Columbia University) around 1774, Hamilton became a vocal writer for the American cause against the British crown. Hamilton would later join the Revolutionary War...

"If you want to understand the real Declaration, do not repeat the preface." - Woodrow Wilson There is so much in that little line. The obvious question is regarding the preface - what's in the preface of the Declaration of Independence that scared Wilson so much? In short, fundamental truths. Timeless, tested, proven to work fundamentals. Our reliance on our creator, and not upon government, for our rights. In 1911, Woodrow Wilson gave his now infamous speech regarding the Declaration to - of all places, I love this - the Jefferson Club. "An Address to the Jefferson Club of Los...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Some of the documents that helped shape the United States are temporarily leaving Washington, D.C., ahead of America’s 250th anniversary, giving many Americans a rare chance to see them in person. The "Freedom Plane National Tour: Documents That Forged a Nation" – launched by The National Archives – is bringing founding-era records out of the nation’s capital and into communities across the country. The nationwide tour kicked off Friday at the National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, where visitors can walk through a specially prepared exhibit room to see several historic documents...

Some of the United States’ most important historical documents are beginning a first-of-its kind journey Monday as part of the country’s 250th anniversary commemoration. Typically housed in highly controlled vaults under the watch of preservation experts at the National Archives, documents such as the 1783 Treaty of Paris that formally ended the Revolutionary War and the 1774 Articles of Association that urged colonists to boycott British goods are rarely moved. But those documents, signed by George Washington, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and other American revolutionary leaders, will be making their way across the country and put on display for free...

I've only just begun...and I just have to say this is a "must read" especially this year! Not a quick read, but compelling, and a fabulous detailed history that none should ignore. Prof. Turley is thorough and thoughtful. We are going through troubling times these days, and back before the ratification of our Constitution, there was much turmoil right here while the people worked on forming a system of government. Fabulously done! I have many other things to do, but I can't put it down. So...I guess I'm reading for a while.

On February 22, 1732, George was born to Augustine and Mary Ball Washington. He spent most of his childhood at Ferry Farm on the Rappahannock River. All of the homes and plantations where Washington lived were maintained by enslaved labor. When George was eleven, his father died and he became a slave owner. As a result, George did not receive a formal education like his older half-brothers. Instead, he helped his mother on the farm and attended a local school in Fredericksburg. For the rest of his life, Washington supplemented his education with reading and self-guided study. At seventeen-years old,...

Though rarely honored these days exactly on Feb. 22, his actual birth date, “Presidents’ Day” is officially still Washington’s birthday. And that’s entirely right and proper, as our first chief executive deserves every American’s gratitude. Amid today’s bitter political discord, all should consider Washington’s example. Yes, he — and the entire generation of the Founders — achieved greatness that none of their successors could hope to match.

The National Park Service began removing a slavery memorial at the President’s House in Philadelphia on Thursday afternoon -- an exhibit that opened in 2010 and honored the lives of the nine people held there who were enslaved by President George Washington. ABC News Philadelphia station WPVI captured video on Thursday afternoon of NPS staffers taking down boards and panels that told the stories of Austin, Christopher Sheels, Giles, Hercules, Joe Richardson, Moll, Oney Judge, Paris and Richmond. Michael Coard, a Philadelphia attorney who founded an advocacy group that fought for a slavery memorial at the President’s House for decades,...

The Last Men of the American Revolution | 10:33BBC Global | 717K subscribers | 363,677 views | January 14, 2025

On this day, exactly two and a half centuries ago, an Irish immigrant who had become one of Gen. George Washington’s trusted aides in the Revolutionary Army was the first person to use the name “United States of America.” Stephen Moylan played a key role in the American Revolution, but like his fellow Irish Catholic immigrant and George Washington’s favorite aide, John Fitzgerald, Moylan had been almost lost to history in the modern era. That is, he was overlooked until, at the close of the 20th century, a letter of his from Jan. 2, 1776, came to light that proved...

excerpt from the letter "Dear Board Members: The Martha Laird Chapter (Chapter) of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) has engaged the Center for American Liberty to evaluate the legality of amending the DAR bylaws to exclude natal men—including natal men who identify as women—from membership eligibility."

The most famous ‘tea party’ ever took place on the evening of December 16, 1773, in Boston Harbor, Massachusetts. The Sons of Liberty, led by Samuel Adams, writes The History Channel, rallied “against British Parliament and protested the Griffin’s Wharf arrival of Dartmouth, a British East India Company ship carrying tea. By December 16, 1773, Dartmouth had been joined by her sister ships, Beaver and Eleanor; all three ships loaded with tea from China. That morning, as thousands of colonists convened at the wharf and its surrounding streets, a meeting was held at the Old South Meeting House where a...

A Pennsylvania home where George Washington stayed during the Revolutionary War is for sale for $3.295 million. The house, in Fort Washington, served as the army commander’s headquarters during the White Marsh encampment, which spanned six weeks in late 1777 and culminated in the Battle of White Marsh, after which the British Army retreated to Philadelphia. Named the Emlen House, the original home was built in 1717 for the Emlens, a prominent Quaker family, to use as a summer retreat. The Colonial house has a fieldstone exterior, a portico and dormer windows. Sited on 2.64 acres, the three-story home has...

(Sep. 27, 2025) — Vattel’s legal treatise was mentioned in communications between John Jay and others during the revolution and founding and framing time period. Vattel’s legal treatise was a very important guiding light and legal reference to the Founders and Framers in the justifying the revolution, the founding of our nation, the writing and framing of our founding documents, and in the establishment of our new U.S. Federal Government’s “Common Law” via subsequent U.S. Supreme Court Decisions, especially regarding U.S. citizenship. John Jay became the first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. I have often wondered if the...

The country’s impending 250th birthday provides myriad opportunities for Americans to gather, ponder, and reflect on the nation’s history and the principles that have enabled American greatness. As part of that effort, the National Archives in Washington has, for the first time in that history, allowed ordinary Americans to read the entire original version of the nation’s founding document. For two weeks — from Sept. 16 through Oct. 1 — the entire Constitution is on public display. Visitors to our nation’s capital from across the country and around the world can view these priceless documents and, in doing so, hopefully...

In New York City on September 22, 1776, Nathan Hale, a Connecticut schoolteacher and captain in the Continental Army, is executed by the British for spying. A graduate of Yale University, Hale joined a Connecticut regiment in 1775 and served in the successful siege of British-occupied Boston. On September 10, 1776, he volunteered to cross behind British lines on Long Island to spy on the British in preparation for the Battle of Harlem Heights. Disguised as a Dutch schoolmaster, the Yale-educated Hale slipped behind British lines on Long Island and successfully gathered information about British troop movements for the next...