Today, as I write, is President’s Day, February 20. 2023. However, Lincoln’s birthday is February 12 and Washington’s birthday is February 22. Certainly these two presidents deserve special recognition, especially George Washington, who helped found our US of A. Without George Washington’s unfailing leadership during the revolutionary war, we would be still speaking the King’s English or perhaps French as is spoken in some of the Canadian Provinces.
Where would our US of A be if King George III had prevailed and General Washington had been defeated? All the signers of the Declaration of Independence would have been shot or perhaps imprisoned for life, along with their families. No Ben Franklin who discovered electricity, No Dr. Benjamin Rush who is considered the Father American Psychiatry, no Thomas Jefferson who resided by himself in the White House while it was being built. No Lewis and Clark Expedition to explore west of the Mississippi River. No Constitution and no Amendments giving us freedom of speech, the ability to defend ourselves and to keep our homes secure from invasion by abusive governments (4th Amendment), and so forth.
Without George Washington’s leadership in winning the revolutionary war over British rule and tyranny, there would not have been John Quincy Adams who fought in the senate for the end of slavery right up to when he collapsed, dying in the senate chamber. There would not have been President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation effectively ending slavery in the
US of A. There would not have been over 600,000 lives lost in the civil war to end slavery and preserve the Union. Without strong US military leadership in WWI and WWII we indeed might be saluting the Nazi flag or speaking the language of another country. Of course we likely would not have our constitution’s freedom of speech, the right of dissent, and any ability to defend ourselves against tyrannical regimes.
The US of A has been a beacon of freedom to world countries that have been and are currently under tyrannical control. But are we without blemish? Certainly not. Witness the treatment of American Indian tribes confined to reservations. Meriwether Lewis, as the Indian Commissioner in St. Lewis, wanted land west of the Mississippi River reserved for American Indian Tribes. But to no avail. Has our federal government always been in the right? Only a fool would answer that in the affirmative!
Perhaps we should have lost the Revolutionary War. If so, the freedom of dissent and the rule of law protecting US citizens would very likely not be today’s reality. We citizens need to be ever thankful for our land, our constitution, and our freedoms. We should all ask “what if” questions with respect to history and the future. For example, what if we lose our two–party legislative system? Or what if Lincoln had lost the civil war? Asking, “What if,” with the intent of creating alternatives, hopefully would encourage the asker to seek out, with an honest, sincere and unbiased mind, all historical facts and future scenarios.
