‘WE DID OUR PART’

From an original American Patriot: 

          “Politics were out of control. The rhetoric from both sides was frenzied, and loyalties were being declared. Those in power had gone too far, but then… so had the radicals. Most of us reg’lar folks was content just to watch and wait. Anyhow, the biggest part of all that trouble seemed to be goin’ on mostly in the big cities and on up north in them New England states, places like Boston and Philadelphia. At any rate, it was generally believed that all the protests and chaos would surely be quelled shortly. You just didn’t go against the government. That’s somethin’ that just wasn’t done.”

          “The 2^nd year into it, the free-thinkers declared independence, which was basically like kickin’ a sleepin’ bull in the butt. And a time or two, durin' the next couple o’ years, it looked as if Gen’ral Washin’ton was about to get the horns put to him an’ his men for it. Still, though, them Liberty Boys hung with it; goin’ toe-to-toe with the British Reg’lars.”

          “We pretty much remained aloof from it all ‘til about the third year of the struggle. What with all the civil unrest, the economy eventually ground to a standstill, and, as if that tweren’t enough, our few store shelves started goin’ bare; not that any of us had any money to buy anything with. Not to mention, the worse things got, the more grumblin’ was heard out an’ about the countryside. Why, even the parson took to preachin’ sedition from the pulpit of a Sunday.”

“Still, at this point, more loyalties lay with the established government than against it. It’s human nature to resist change, no matter the circumstances. That is until The People have been pushed too far. Like the first time that Tarleton’s Legion descended on our valley, stripping each home place of its livestock and produce. Took ev’rthing, they did, and didn’t leave a thing for us to eat. Hell, it’s a wonder we all didn’t starve.”

“And if that tweren’t enough, they come back two other times over the next year and a half, doin’ the same blast’d thing; only the last time, the damn’d Dragoons burned three families’ homes and outbuildin’s to the ground and shot poor Tom Driscoll down in his dooryard, all for naught, too. Said he was a suspected rebel… and him a cripple, at that.”

“Well, that done it for me and mine. Even if Ol’ Tom hadn’t been kinfolk, he was still ‘one of our own’, and his killin’ was like the proverbial straw-that-broke-the-camel’s-back. My two eldest boys took up their guns and started out on foot, with intentions of joinin’ the Continentals, first chance they got. I, myself, chose to stay closer to home where I could see after my family, but make no mistake… from that point on I was a partisan.”

“My boys fought under Nathan’l Green and Dan’l Morgan in ev’ry skirmish from Camden to Yorktown, while I rode all over Hell’s Half Acre with the South Carolina ‘Gamecock’, Andy Pickens. And when it was all over, we’d whupped the damn’d Redcoats, and created a nation in the doin’ of it.”

“Heed my words, friends and neighbors and descendants of mine. It took a sight of’ doin’ an’ a whole lot of goin’ through Hell to establish this here United States of America. We did our part; me and my boys and the rest of the brave men and women that’s gave their lives over the past 237-years keepin’ this country free. Now, it’s time for you to do yours. We gave you a guide. It’s called The Constitution; adhere to it! Stay the course. Don’t screw this up; don't let us down."

I hope you've had a fantastic 4th of July! God bless America!