Historical Lessons.

 

  

There is nothing new under the sun. The same authoritarianism promoted by Trump, leaders in Hungary, and other places of the existed decades ago in the Axis Powers. The Axis Powers were made up of Italy, Nazi Germany, and Japan. Many fascists movement have grown by financial crisis, scapegoating of certain human beings, culture war distractions, and overt bigotry. Italy, Germany, and Japan were angry over the Treaty of Versailles involving land and money. They wanted revenge. Many of these nations promoted dictatorships and totalitarianism (which allowed a government where one leader or a single party control all of the lives of the people culturally, socially, and economically). Totalitarianism grew. Italian totalitarianism developed after WWI and peace treaties. Italy didn't get land along the Adriatic coast. The government in Italy had issues, a communist movement was growing, and returning veterans couldn't find jobs. Benito Mussolini founded the Fascist Party (a far-right party called Fasci di Combattimento) in 1919. It promoted nationalism and used the Black Shirts to fight socialists and communists. In 1922, the Italian King Victor Emmanuel III asked Mussolini to make a government. The government had an army in a few years. Mussolini indoctrinated young people, banned political parties, took over the press, created a secret police, and suppressed strikes. Mussolini hated liberalism and socialism. Sound familiar. Later, Mussolini would illegally invade Ethiopia. 

 

The Revolutionary War started on the Spring of April 19, 1775. By this time, the British monarchical government wanted further control over the colonies, and the colonies rejected many of the policies from King George III. After the Coercive Acts were passed, miliary commander General Thomas Gage was named governor of Massachusetts. John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and other colonial leaders created a Provincial Congress to govern Massachusetts without Gage. To the British, this was an act of rebellion and treason. To the Patriots, this was standing up against tyrannical rule. So, Hancock, Adams, and other colonists gathered arms and ammunition. By April 19, 1775, the war happened when Gage sent troops to try to arrest Hancock and Adams in Lexington, Massachusetts. The Redcoats wanted to seize weapons that were stockpiled by the Patriots in Concord. The Patriot Paul Revere rode in the countryside to warn of the British troops coming to Lexington and Concord. The local Patriots united to fight in Boston. The Patriots were in militias made up of farmers and soldiers plus regular people. By the morning, 70 Patriots were on the Lexington Green. The British came and the British commander ordered the militias to leave. Someone fired a weapon. Then, the shooting on both sides occurred which officially started the Revolutionary War. Eight Patriots were dead. The Redcoats went to Concord later. Then, hundreds of minutemen (or Patriot militia members) responded. They fought and the Patriots killed or wounded more than 200 British soldiers. This shocked the United Kingdom. The British traveled to Boston in the late afternoon. In New England, thousands of Patriot soldiers made the British soldiers to stay in Boston. Provincial assemblies of Patriots ruled the New England colonies. Loyalists, or people who wanted to be loyal to the British Empire, fled to Boston. By May 1775, there was the Second Continental Congress held in Philadelphia. Delegates from all the colonies were there. The assembly wanted to unite for the war effort. Armed volunteers from the Middle and Southern Colonies marched north to fight in Boston. Congress gave the command of the new Continental Army to George Washington (he was a colonial officer in the French and Indian War). George Washington was from my state of Virginia, which was the largest and most powerful colony during that time. New England wanted Virginia to make a Patriot victory.

Some more militant members of the Continental Congress wanted to declare independence from British. Yet, most of the colonists weren't ready for that yet. Most colonists back then wanted to remain in the British Empire without paying taxes to the Parliament. By July 1775, Congress wanted a peace offering to King George III to petition the colonists' allegiance to the King but not to Parliament. King George III rejected the offer or petition and sent more troops to Boston. There has been a debate on independence. Most colonists supported the Continental Congress and the boycott of British imports. Yet, a large minority wanted British rule. The Loyalists loved British rule. The Loyalists opposed British tax, but they want to obey the Empire. In 1774, there was a debate between Patriot John Adams and Jonathan Sewell, a Loyalists. Many Loyalists feared that the Patriots would lose as Britain was a large empire. Many Loyalists were farmers, not just wealthy people. Many Loyalists wanted some Patriots to stop shutting down Loyalist newspapers, to punish people who criticized the Patriots' actions, and taxes from the Patriots. Many Africans and Native Americans supported the Loyalists, because they wanted their land kept out from the colonists and promises of freedom by the British empire. Many of the Patriots were wrong for hypocrisy, and many of the Loyalists were wrong for supporting a colonial British Empire. The British author Thomas Paine wrote his book called Common Sense to support independence. His book helped to grow them movement for independence since January 1776.  Thomas Paine was an immigrant from England who was an artisan and tax collector. Thomas Paine rejected the authority of Kind George III. He wrote in favor of a republican state governments, independence from the UK, and a union of new states. Paine rejected the king's power as disruptive to the common people's power in government. Paine said that the common people should elected the government, not the King. He viewed the king, not Parliament, as the greatest enemy of American liberty. Paine wanted merit, not privilege to allow people to get opportunities. He wanted America to trade with the world after America is free. Then, the historical day came of July 4, 1776. 

 

By 1775 and 1 1776, the Revolutionary War in its infancy. The British Empire was almost four time bigger than the 2.5 million people in the colonies. The UK had massive manufacturing and had more ships and the weapons than the colonists. The colonists knew of the American lands, used guerilla warfare, and were not going to give up their battle plans. The Constitutional Congress printed money massively causing inflation and lacked the authority to pay taxes. The British made many errors in the conflict early on. The British forces underestimated the Patriot forces. The British and the Patriots fought at Bunker Hill. The British lost the battle at Concord previously. There were fortified hills over Boston at Bunker Hill done by the Patriots. The Patriots wanted to drive the British from the seaport. The British commander Lord William Howe wanted a front assault in the middle of the day. The problem was that the Patriots were readily for Howe's forces being overtly seen with red uniforms on. The British had a bloodbath. The first two charges by the Redcoats failed. The third charge was victorious by the British, but massive casualties existed. The Patriots lost the Bunker Hill battle but won a psychological edge. By January 1776, the Patriots wanted to rule Boston from British occupation. So, Colonel Henry Knox used cannons to aid the Patriots outside of Boston. His men carried cannon hundreds of miles from upstate New York (where Ethan Allen's men captured Fort Ticonderoga). The Patriot shelled Boston and the British ships in the harbor, so the British abandoned the city by March 1776. Lord Howe made the mistake that conquering seaports and major cities would end the war. War is bigger than that. You need the people's support, and the British conquered Philadelphia and New York City for a time, but the Redcoats still lost the war. The Patriots increasingly won the people's minds and hearts. The Patriots used guerilla warfare. Thomas Paine inspired by cause of Americans via his book called The American Crisis. That book was used by George Washington to inspire his soldiers to fight on. The Redcoats used German Mercenaries of the Hessians to fight the Patriots. George Washington was an expert in warfare, so despite losing battles, he organized his troops to fight for another day. Washington won victories which count. 

 

The date of July 4, 1776, would be remembered by all of us forever and ever. It was the date when the Declaration of Independence would be signed by the Patriots. By the spring of 1776, the movement of independence grown exceptionally. Congress selected a committee to draft a document to declare American independence and the reasons for it. By July2, Congress voted that America was free. Two day later, they approved of the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson drafted the document. He was inspired by Paine's ideals and the views of the Enlightenment. He listed the colonies' grievances against the British Empire. He wrote the bold words of "all men are created equal." Thomas Jefferson's history of a slave owner and abuse of Sally Hemings is well known (making Jefferson a notorious racist hypocrite), but that phrase inspired multiple revolutions for equality and justice worldwide. There are rights among every human that are unalienable that are given by birth from God that can't be taken away. Many signers of the Declaration of Independence owned slaves (which was wrong), and that document motivated many future defenders of equality and justice like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. etc. The ink was signed, but the war had to be won. So, the Revolutionary War continued in 1776 and beyond. This is a special time as no Americans at that time won a victory against the British Empire. The British Empire has the largest military on Earth on multiple continents. It was a miracle that the Patriots won, but Americans had a triumph after the Revolutionary War. 

 

The American colonial forces struggled for a time. The Continental Army was running out of food and other supplies. That is why women supplied their husband much aid. Some women secretly fought in the Army like Mary Hays and Deborah Sampson. The British blocked the ports in America. Mary Hayes gave troops water during the battle of Monmouth. The British forces attacked New York City by early 1776. Howe and the Redcoats captured the city of New York City by September 1776. About 30,000 British troops and German troops defeated the Continental forces from Brooklyn to Manhattan. The Americans fled to New Jersey. George Washington saved his army and counterattacked on December 26, 1776. George Washington crossed the Delaware River in the middle of Christmas night. It was surprise attack that defeated more than 1,000 German mercenaries at the Battle of Trenton. This victory increased the spirits of Patriot forces and was a turning point in the Revolutionary War. George Washington in 1777 won more victories because he was a great military leader. Washington's forces won a victory against British General Charles Cornwallis's troops at the Battle of Princeton in New Jersey. Washington had troubles too. He lost more defeated and General Howe of the Redcoats conquered Philadelphia too in the fall of 1777. British General Burgoyne lost to the Patriots in the Battle of Saratoga in New York State. Burgoyne surrendered by October 1777. By this time, the Revolutionary War expanded into the Deep South in South Carolina, Georgia, etc. The war also spread into the Midwest as far as Detroit and Kentucky. The victory at Saratoga inspired the French to join America to fight the British. The French didn't like the British conquering them after the French and Indian War. The French military General and Patriot supporter Marquis de Lafayette gave military education to Patriot forces. Benjamin Franklin helped to create a strong alliance among America and France. This alliance grew by February 1778. The French Navy and Army helped to defeat British forces. Franklin was beloved in France with his wit and charisma, and he was a genius diplomat. The Spain joined France and America as an ally too in 1779. Spanish governor of Louisiana Bernardo de Galvez gave money and supplies to the Patriots to stop British ships from entering the Mississippi River at New Orleans. 

George Washington's forces had hunger and health issues during the Winter of 1777-1778. So, the Americans had help from a German volunteer named Baron Von Steuben. Some Patriot soldiers in about 3,000 out of 10,000 lacked coats and shoes. Stueben's help was a game changer. By June 1778, the British left Philadelphia to go to New York City. The Patriots fought at Monmouth, New Jersey. There was the frontier war. The Proclamations of 1763 by the British banned colonists to have settlements to the west of the Appalachian Mountains. Many colonists rebelled against that order. The British supported Native American attacks on the colonists to keep the colonists in the East (not because of any particular love for Native Americans). Colonial settlements were attacked by 1777. Many white settlers attacked and killed unjustly neutral Native Americans, disregarded truces, and promoted revenge that existed for over one century. In the Midwest, Colonel George Rogers Clark led the Patriot militia to fight the British. They took the settlements of Kaskaskia and Cahokia by the spring of 1778. Clark with his 175 solders and French settler allies ruled all British posts in Indiana and Illinois. The British with Native American allies recaptured a fort at Vincennes, Indiana. Clark's men recaptured Vincennes after convincing many Native Americans to abandon their British allies. The Ohio River valley was ruled by many Patriots. The Native Americans British forces attack frontier outposts in 1779. Patriot troops responded in an evil, brutal fashion by burning 40 Iroquois towns, destroying the power of the Iroquois Federation. I don't agree with that action. Many Native Americans attacked settlers, forcing many of them to go to the east. Later, the British forces would increasingly fight the Patriots in the South as found in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and in Georgia. That would be the start of the end of the Revolutionary War. 

 

By the 1950s, Ray Charles was a household name in American society. Ray Charles worked in country music, R&B, and pop music. He was the person who fought hard in the cause of the Civil Rights Movement and getting proper ownership of music. In 1959, Ray Charles released a country music song called I'm Moving On (which was a tribute to the song of the same name from Hank Snow). He was born in the South in Albany, Georgia. His mother inspired him to follow perseverance, self-sufficiency, and courage in his life. Wylie Pitman taught him how to play the piano. At the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind in St. Augustine, Florida (from 1937 to 1945), Ray Charles learned to play the classical piano music of Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven. His teacher, Mrs. Lawrence, taught him how to use braille music. He was a friend of Quincy Jones when Jones was 15 years old in Seattle, Washington. 

 

It has been 25 years since the start of this new century. Now, we witness a new President. Disappointed, but not shocked, most American voters voted for a habitual liar, a liable rapist, a sexist, a xenophobe, a racist, and a fascist as President of the United States. He overtly shown what he wants during his diabolical Presidency. Our democracy is under threat worldwide, not just in America. A pernicious deception has been promoted that Trump is a role model and a person that true believers should emulate. That is a lie. We should never emulate a male who mocks veterans, who mocked a disabled person, who lies about Kamala Harris's heritage, and who wants to be a dictator on Day one of his Presidency. Many people say that Trump is the Antichrist. I don't agree with that view, but his behavior and actions are a representation of anti-democracy and anti-God deeds. We live in unique times where false leaders and false movements will raise up so badly that a wide spectrum of people will be brainwashed. Donald Trump claims to be for the working class but is aided billionaire, super wealthy Wall Street interests that love his economic agenda. Trump claims to be for women but uses misogynistic language against women who disagrees with them. Trump claims to note be a racist but called Latinos "The Spanish" and African Americans (the Blacks) plus he said that Jewish people are disloyal to America if they didn't vote for him (which is anti-Semitic). Trump is anti-environment. When the Clean Air Act helped to cut smog and acid rain in the 1970s and 1980s, Trump wants to eliminate program to combat climate change. Trump called the insurrection on January 6th a 'love fest' in desiring to pardon many of the terrorists who assaulted people, destroyed property, and wanted to overturn the 2020 election (which is treason). The 2024 election shown America's face as America is America. There are many white people and sellout people of color who care more than MAGA than a clean environment, than health care for all, and justice for all. Even the Bible says love your neighbor as yourself, but many MAGA cultists call people who disagree with them slurs. Stephen Miller and Tom Homon want to even oppose Governors who desire compassion shown to immigrants in their xenophobic lust for power. The big lie is that migrant crossings have radically increased now when migrant crossing are in lows. Therefore, some in the corporate media coddled Trump, and the Russian-funded misinformation definitely contributed to the Trump victory in 2024. There is an amnesia about the corrupt first term of Donald Trump having the following realities: Trump said that people should drink beach to cure COVID-19, 3 million more people lacked healthcare, he decreased corporate taxes (which caused working class Americans to pay for it), he wanted to use the U.S. military to combat anti-police brutality protesters (General Esper adamantly opposed that plan), and he added $7.8 trillion to the deficit. Trump has been called among the worst Presidents in American history, so this new era of American history must be realized. Also, we must never give up. We want to defend our democratic human rights and promote the Dream for all people too. 

By Timothy