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“ Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! ” —Patrick Henry The American Revolution began in earnest at Lexington on April 19, 1775, and was formalized with the passing of the motion for independence by the Second Continental Congress on July 2, 1776. It is the creative act of the American republic. We Americans in the 21st century take our freedom and constitutional protections for granted, but they were hard won, and the achieved result was never a foregone conclusion. Surely the United States would eventually have broken out of the British Empire, but the path might well have been similar to that of Canada, without a revolutionary war. The Constitution was ratified by the narrowest of margins in key states, and had the first president and his successors been different men, the country might not have survived, even under that founding document. |
Documents Albany
Plan of Union |
“The Second Day of July 1776 will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America.—I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shows, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.” —John Adams to Abigail, July 3, 1776 Join in the discussion, and welcome to the American Revolution. |