How We Almost Lost Our Great American Republic

It says in the Bible that God is not just interested, but involved in the affairs of nations. Many of us firmly believe that He was explicitly involved in the outcome of the last Presidential Election. We had almost lost our great American Republic. Most don’t know how close that was. So that such never happens again, I think that it is very important for us to understand how we got to that point. If you will read the following, you will know:

How We Got There

From the Civil War to Lyndon Johnson, Southern Democrats utilized the negative motivation of intimidation to keep African Americas from voting. But as television and media reporting revealed the horrors of these intimidation tactics, it was bad press for the Democrat Party.

Political strategists proposed a different tactic to control minority voters, namely, switching from “intimidation” to “entitlement.” In other words, instead of suppressing the minority vote through intimidation, it could be controlled through dependency on entitlement programs.

According to Ronald Kessler’s book, Inside The White House (1996), Lyndon Johnson, who had a reputation for vulgarity in private conversations, explained his intention to make the BIG SWITCH in strategy from intimidation to entitlement to two Democrat governors aboard Air Force One, saying: “I’ll have those n****rs voting Democratic for the next 200 years.”

Malcolm X exposed this liberal Democrat tactic in a 1963 address: “The white liberal differs from the white conservative only in one way: the liberal is more deceitful, more hypocritical than the conservative. Both want power, but the white liberal is the one who has perfected the art of posing as the Negro’s friend and benefactor, and by winning the friendship and support of the Negro, the white liberal is able to use the Negro as a pawn or a weapon in this political football game that is constantly raging between the white liberal and the white conservative. The American Negro is nothing but a political football and the white liberals control this ball through tricks or tokenism, false promises of integration and civil rights. In this game of deceiving and using the American Negro, the white liberals have complete cooperation of the Negro civil rights leaders who sell our people out for a few crumbs of token recognition, token gains, token progress.”

Manning Johnson, a black activist recruited by Marxists, but later left them to write Color, Communism and Common Sense, 1957: “White leftists descended on Negro communities like locusts, posing as ‘friends’ come to help ‘liberate’ their black brothers. Everything was inter-racial, an inter-racialism artificially created, cleverly devised as a camouflage of the red plot to use the Negro.”

At first this was difficult, as most blacks were independent and self-reliant, averse to being dependent on gifts from an all-powerful government.

This attitude was expressed by George W. Carver, who wrote in A Brief Sketch of My Life, 1922: “I would never allow anyone to give me money, no matter how badly I needed it. I wanted literally to earn my living.”

Democrat social workers overcame this initial opposition from those “too proud” to take a hand out, and enrolled increasingly larger numbers. This gradually led to a cultural shift of generational dependency, and with it, a strong tendency for recipients to vote for Democrat candidates who promised more hand outs. In other words: more dependents translates into more votes. As lower income voters grew more dependent on government programs, it proportionally increased the Democrat Party’s voting constituency.

Alexis de Tocqueville warned: “The American Republic will endure, until politicians realize they can bribe the people with their own money.”

George Bernard Shaw stated: “A government policy to rob Peter to pay Paul can be assured of the support of Paul.”

Vote-buying eventually leads to national bankruptcy, as Margaret Thatcher warned: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”

Lyndon Johnson, with the help of Democrat Senator Edward Kennedy, changed immigration quotas to bring in more immigrants from poorer, third world countries. These could be immediately enrolled in entitlement programs, and thus, be inclined to vote for the party promising to continue free benefits.

LBJ’s immigration policy change initiated a demographic transformation reminiscent of the Fall of Rome.

Will and Ariel Durant wrote in The Story of Civilization: “If Rome had not engulfed so many men of alien blood in so brief a time. If she had occasionally closed her gates to let assimilation catch up with infiltration, she might have gained new racial and literary vitality from the infusion, and might have remained a Roman Rome, the voice and citadel of the West.”

In other words, a person needs food, but they should only eat it as fast as their body can assimilate it. A nation needs immigrants, but they should only be brought in as fast as the “body-politic” can assimilate them.

These policies contributed to California transitioning from a Republican state into a Democrat state. If more immigrants can be let into a state, and counted in the census, the state will gain more congressional districts, increasing its power in Congress. And since electoral votes are allotted to each state based on their number of congressional districts, plus two senators, and since the President is elected by electoral votes, if a state can increases its population, it will get a greater say in determining who the next President will be.

Another observation is, that as homelessness and crime increase in major cities, many pro-family and pro-business individuals with financial means move out–a higher percentage being Republican.

The city is left with a higher percentage of dependents on entitlements and welfare programs, a higher percentage being Democrat. Thus, more crime results in more of a Democrat monopoly in city government.

What has been the impact of the socialist Welfare State on families and neighborhoods?

Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society Welfare State provided more money to a household if the father was not present in the home. This adversely affected the strong church-centered black families and neighborhoods.

Prior to LBJ’s “War on Poverty,” less than 2 percent of the Federal Budget was on welfare spending. Fifty years later, spending on anti-poverty programs mushroomed to 27 percent of the Federal Budget, costing $22 trillion (adjusted for inflation), three times the cost of all U.S. military wars since the Revolution, yet the percentage of people in poverty has not improved.

Before LBJ’s “War on Poverty,” less than 5 percent of children were born to unmarried parents. 50 year later it has skyrocketed to 40 percent.

Before LBJ’s “War on Poverty,” less than 10 percent of U.S. children lived in single parent households. 50 years later that number has exploded to 33 percent, with the poverty rate of single female parent households growing to 37.1 percent.

In 1965, Labor Department sociologist Daniel Patrick Moynihan reported that 25 percent of all black children were born illegitimately. In 2015, that number had grown to 72 percent.

As was posted by the White House Office of Public Liaison: “This is perhaps the most dismal legacy of the Johnson years, and a sad testament to the vision of social planners who believed more government would mean stronger families and marriages.”

African American Republican Rep. J.C. Watts, Jr., stated February 5, 1997: “For the past 30 years our nation’s spent $5 trillion trying to erase poverty, and the result, as you know, is that we didn’t get rid of it at all. In fact, we spread it. We destroyed the self-esteem of millions of people, grinding them down in a welfare system that penalizes moms for wanting to marry the father of their children, and penalizes moms for wanting to save money. Friends, that’s not right.”

Internationally renown Pediatric Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson was appointed U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. He stated: “My mother worked as a domestic, two, sometimes three jobs at a time because she didn’t want to be on welfare. She felt very strongly that if she gave up and went on welfare, that she would give up control of her life and of our lives, and I think she was probably correct about that. But, one thing that she provided us was a tremendous example of what hard work is like.”

Dr. Carson added:

“The more solid the family foundation, the more likely you are to be able to resist peer pressure. Human beings are social creatures. We all want to belong, we all have that desire, and we will belong, one way or another. If the family doesn’t provide that, the peers will, or a gang will, or you will find something to belong to. That’s why it becomes so critical for families with young children to understand what a critical anchor they are.”

Beginning in the 1960s, educational emphasis transitioned from academic achievement to behavior modification. Voters who were less educated could be more easily manipulated and controlled, as was the case in the Democrat pre-Civil War South. Basic public morality has been replaced with situation ethics, abortion, unrestrained sexual agendas, and the inciting of racial tensions for political advancement.

Sigmund Freud wrote in Case Histories II: About psychological projection, where humans, when they are cornered and their guilt is about to be exposed, resort to the defensive mechanism of denying in themselves the existence of unpleasant behavior while attributing that exact behavior to others, ie., a rude person accusing others of being rude.

In Genesis 39, Potiphar’s wife accused Joseph of lusting after her when she was lusting after him.

A noted political technique, “accuse the victim of what you do,” was echoed by Democrat Political advisor David Axelrod: “In Chicago, there was an old tradition of throwing a brick through your own campaign office window, and then calling a press conference to say that you’ve been attacked.”

Saul Alinsky wrote in Rules for Radicals: “The organizer’s first job is to create the issues or problems. The organizer’s first job is to create the issues or problems. The organizer must first rub raw the resentments of the people of the community. The organizer polarizes the issue and helps to lead his forces into conflict. An organizer must stir up dissatisfaction and discontentl’ Fan the latent hostilities of many of the people to the point of overt expression. He must search out controversy and issues, rather than avoid them for unless there is controversy people are not concerned enough to act.”

This was observed by Republican Booker T. Washington: “There is a certain class of race-problem solvers who do not want the patient to get well, because as long as the disease holds out they have not only an easy means of making a living, but also an easy medium through which to make themselves prominent before the public.”

Retired NBA player Charles Barkley stated on a CBS panel, April 3, 2021: “Man, I think most white people and black people are great people, but I think our system is set up where our politicians, whether they’re Republicans or Democrats, are designed to make us not like each other so they can keep their grasp of money and power. They divide and conquer.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt stated in a Fireside Chat, December 29, 1940: “These trouble-breeders have but one purpose. It is to divide our people into hostile groups and to destroy our unity and shatter our will to defend ourselves.”

And he said again:

“Remember the NAZI technique — Pit race against race, religion against religion, prejudice against prejudice. Divide and conquer!” And in another chat he said: “May this country never forget that its power has come from its citizens, living in freedom and equality. May it marshal its righteous wrath against those who would divide it by racial struggles.”

Rep. J.C. Watts, Jr., stated February 5, 1997: “Too often when we talk about racial healing, we make the old assumption that government can heal the racial divide. Republicans and Democrats – red, yellow, black and white – have to understand that we must individually, all of us, accept our share of responsibility. It does not happen by dividing us into racial groups. It does not happen by trying to turn rich against poor or by using the politics of fear. It does not happen by reducing our values to the lowest common denominator. And friends, it does not happen by asking Americans to accept what’s immoral and wrong in the name of tolerance. We must be a people who dare, dare to take responsibility for our hatred and fears and ask God to heal us from within. And we must be a people of prayer, a people who pray as if the strength of our nation depended on it, because it does.”

Then Rep. Watts told a story to emphasize his point: “I’ve often told the story of a boy and his father. The father was trying to get some work done, and the boy wanted the daddy’s attention, but the father was busy at his desk with so much to do. To occupy the boy, this father remembered that he had seen a picture of the world in this magazine. In what he thought was a stroke of genius, the father tore out the picture and tore it into 20 different pieces, and he said, ‘Here son. Go put the world back together.’

And you know what happened? Five minutes later the little Michelangelo was back, saying, ‘Daddy, look what I’ve done.’

The father looked, and he said, ‘Son, how did you do it so quickly? How did you put the world back together so quickly?’

And the little boy answered, ‘Dad, it was easy. There was a picture of a man on the back of the map, on the back of the world. And once I put the man back together, the world fell into place.’

And friends, this is our agenda: to put our men and women back together, and, in that way, keep our country together.”

—

How The Muslims Almost Took Over The World

In the late 1500’s the Muslims almost took over the whole world. It is my opinion that God did not want that to happen. How he prevented it is one of the most interesting periods in world history. If you would like to know how it all happend, here is the story:

The Story

In 1571, Lala Kara Mustafa Pasha surrounded the Christians in Famagusta, Cyprus, the last stronghold of Western Europe in the Eastern Mediterranean. He promised the defenders of Cyprus that if they surrendered, they would be allowed to leave.

Lala Kara Mustafa Pasha broke his promise. He flayed alive Venetian commander, Marco Antonio Bragadin, and ordered the execution of all 6,000 Christian prisoners. The beautiful St. Nicholas Church was turned into the Lala Mustafa Pasha Mosque. The Church of Saints Peter and Paul was converted into the Sinan Pasha Mosque. After this, the Sultan planned on attacking Rome, and from there conquer the rest of western Europe.

The Sultan’s threat was taken seriously, as centuries earlier, in 846 AD, Rome was attacked by 11,000 Muslim pirates. They sacked the city, looted the old St. Peter’s basilica, and the church St. Paul Outside the Wall, and desecrated the graves of both St. Peter and St. Paul.

So, in 1571 after conquering Cyprus, with the Sultan again threatening Rome, Pope Pius V used all his influence to get the Christian states of Spain, Naples, Sicily, Venice, Genoa, Sardinia, Savoy, Urbino, Papal States, Germans, and Croatians to assemble into the Holy League.

On October 7, 1571, the largest and most decisive sea battle on the Mediterranean took place — the Battle of Lepanto off the western coast of Greece. The Holy League insisted that their fleet be led by the 24-year-old son of King Charles V of Spain – Don John of Austria.

Don John of Austria led the 212 ships with nearly 68,000 soldiers and sailors of the Holy League. A danger for soldiers fighting at sea, was that if they fell overboard, their armor would cause them to immediately sink.

Ali Pasha led the Muslim Ottoman Turks, consisting of 82,000 soldiers and sailors on 251 ships powered by thousands of Christian galley slaves rowing under the decks. This was the last major battle with rowing vessels.

As the sun rose on the day of battle, the Holy League found itself at a great disadvantage, having to row against a strong wind. Don John led his men on deck in a prayer, then suddenly the wind changed 180 degrees to favor the Holy League.

The Holy League’s ships collided into Ali Pasha’s ships. Fierce fighting went on for hours. Don John sailed his flagship Real crashing into Ali Pasha’s ship. Ali Pasha was soon killed, his vessel’s crescent flag was lowered and his head was hung high in its place. This caused Ottoman warriors to lose heart.

The Ottomans lost 200 of their 230 ships. Some 12,000 Christian galley slaves were released from under the decks. Had the Ottomans not been defeated, they would have invaded Italy and possibly conquered Europe.

Hilaire Belloc wrote in The Great Heresies (1938): “The last great Turkish organization working now from the conquered capital of Constantinople, proposed to cross the Adriatic, to attack Italy by sea and ultimately to recover all that had been lost in the Western Mediterranean. There was one critical moment when it looked as though the scheme would succeed. A huge Mohammedan armada fought at the mouth of the Gulf of Corinth against the Christian fleet at Lepanto. The Christians won that naval action and the Western Mediterranean was saved. But it was a very close thing, and the name of Lepanto should remain in the minds of all men with a sense of history as one of the half dozen great names in the history of the Christian world.”

So, it was not God’s plan for the Muslims to conquor Europe and control the whole world. Otherwise there would not have been a New England and the American Colonies.

Epilogue: However, years later the Muslims started raiding American ships in the Mediterranean. President Teddy Roosevelt was one tough dude and did not countenance that. He sent the U.S. Marines there to extinguish the Muslim threat for good. Thus, in the United States Marine Corpse Fight Song that is why the words: “We fought our Countrie’s battles on the shores of Tripoli.” are included.

And if you saw the historically accurate, and my favorite movie, “The Wind and The Lion”; Teddy Roosavelt wanted to liberate Mrs. Pedecaris who was captured and being held by the Berber Chief, Raisulie The Magnificent. Teddy sent a contingent of United States Marines. They marched to their beating drums in full-dress uniform and formed up in front of the Pasha’s palace with their guns ready; and on command they mowed down every last one of those Muslim Guards. So, Mrs. Pedecaris was immediately set free. And President Roosevelt sat down alone in front of his huge mounted grizzly bear and read the letter to him from the Raisuli: “The Raisuli: To Theodore Roosevelt — You are like the Wind and I like the Lion. You form the Tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the Ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear.“

Ron

How Does a Republic Differ from a Democracy

In the historic 2024 election, President Donald J. Trump not only won the electoral vote but also the popular vote. This puts those accusing him of being a “threat to democracy” in an awkward position. Since the majority of citizens voted for him, those organizing resistance are now the ones being a “threat to democracy,” as they are resisting a democratically-elected President. Elon Musk remarked on TCN on X, October 7, 2024: “Those who are saying that Trump is a threat to democracy are themselves actually the threat to democracy” 

It is important for Americans to understand what a Democracy is vs. a Republic. Please read the following so that you will know for sure:

In Greek, the word “demos” means “people” and “cracy” means “to rule.” A “democracy” is where the citizens rule themselves. The people are king.

“Democracy” has two basic definitions. One is a reference to “popular” government, where the population is involved in ruling itself. This definition was popularized by President Roosevelt during World War Two, contrasting democracy with Germany’s National Socialist Workers Party; and by President Truman during the Cold War, contrasting democracy with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Truman stated in his Inaugural Address, January 20, 1949: “Communism is based on the belief that man is so weak and inadequate that he is unable to govern himself, and therefore requires the rule of strong masters. Democracy is based on the conviction that man has the moral and intellectual capacity, as well as the inalienable right, to govern himself with reason and justice.”

The other definition of democracy is a reference to the specific political system, such as what existed in the Greek city-state of Athens.

Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary has the definition: “Government by the people; a form of government, in which the supreme power is lodged in the hands of the people collectively, or in which the people exercise the powers of legislation. Such was the government of Athens.”

As a political system, democracy such as that in Athens only worked on a small-scale. It was very time consuming, as every citizen was required to be present at every meeting, every day to talk about every issue. Those refusing to get involved It was very time consuming, as every citizen was required to be present at every meeting, every day to talk about every issue. Those refusing to get involved in politics were liable to penalties. Logistically, it could not function in an area larger than a city, as citizens were not able to travel longer distances to be in attendance everyday.

“Politics” is simply the “business of the city.” Residents of the “polis” were called “polités,” and the way they treated each other was called being “polite.”

In Latin, “city” residents were called “citi-zens,” and the way they treated each other was called being “civil.” Citizens not keeping up with what was being talked about everyday were called “idiotes.”

Thomas Sowell wrote in “Degeneration of Democracy,” June, 2010: “A democracy needs informed citizens if it is to thrive, or ultimately even survive.”

Will and Ariel Durant wrote in The Lessons of History (Simon & Schuster, 1968): “Democracy is the most difficult of all forms of government, since it requires the widest spread of intelligence, Ignorance, lends itself to manipulation by the forces that mold public opinion.”

Public opinion in ancient Greece was molded by the speaking technique of rhetoric, using ethos, logos, and pathos to persuade citizens. Public opinion was also molded by the Greek invention of theater, with comedies, tragedies and satires. Plays ridiculed certain points of view and honored others. From that time till now, media and entertainment have always been political in a country where it is the people who make the decisions. “Polités,” or “citizens,” ruled themselves, governing as co-rulers, co-sovereigns, co-kings.

Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defined “KING” as: “The chief or SOVEREIGN of a nation; a man invested with supreme authority over a nation, tribe or country; a monarch. Kings are absolute.”

Where kings have “subjects” who are subjected to the king’s will, democracies and republics have “citizens” who rule themselves.

The Greek city-state of Athens had about 6,000 citizens, who were called out of their homes to gather in the market place, called “agora,” to discuss city business. The gathering of citizens was called “ekklesia” – “ek” means “out of” and “klesia” means “calling.” Jesus used this word when he said in Matthew 16:18, “upon this rock I will build my ekklesia or congreation.”

What is the difference between a democracy and a republic? Where a democracy could only get as large as a city, as every citizen had to be present everyday, a “republic” could grow larger, as citizens could take care of their families and farms, and send a representative in their place to the marketplace to talk politics everyday.

A “republican” form of government is a “representative” form of government. Where in a “democracy” citizens rule themselves directly — being physically present at every meeting, a “republic” is where citizens rule indirectly through representatives.

The United States is a constitutional republic, with democratically-elected representatives. Representatives are limited by rules set forth in the constitution. Most importantly, the purpose of America’s constitutional republic is to guarantee to each citizen their Creator-given rights, as acknowledged in the Declaration of Independence.

Jefferson wrote to the citizens of South Carolina, March 23, 1801: “The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of our government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object.”

America’s constitutional republic was an unprecedented experiment.

President Theodore Roosevelt stated in 1903: “In NO other place and at NO other time has the experiment of government of the PEOPLE, by the PEOPLE, for the PEOPLE, been tried on so vast a scale as here in our own country.”

Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1801 to Joseph Priestley (ME 10:229): “We can no longer say there is nothing new under the sun. For this whole chapter in the history of man is new. The great extent of our republic is new. Its sparse habitation is new. The mighty wave of public opinion which has rolled over it is new.”

Americans “pledge allegiance to the flag, and to the republic for which it stands.” We are basically pledging allegiance to us being in charge of ourselves. When someone protests the flag, what they are effectively saying is, “I don’t want to be king anymore.  I protest this system where I participate in ruling myself.”

So, then the subject comes up: “Should churches be involved in politics?” Well, in America, it was actually the churches that created the politics! Nearly a century before Europe’s “Age of Enlightenment,” while most of the world was still ruled by kings, tsars, sultans, emperors, and chieftains, Pilgrims and Puritans fled from the King of England to settle New England. They adapted the ancient Hebrew Republic’s “covenant” government into the congregational church structure which was then adapted into their civil government structure.

Most of the history that we have preserved of the politics of the firt colonies in New England are the sermons that were preached in their churches where the pastors were instructing the congregations on who to vote for.

In 1636, Congregational minister, Rev. Thomas Hooker, and his whole church, left Massachusetts to found Hartford, Connecticut. When they got there, the church members wanted to know what kind of government they should set up. His church members asked him to preach a sermon on how they should set up their government.

Rev. Hooker began his sermon, May 31, 1638, citing the Bible verse: “Deuteronomy 1:13 ‘CHOOSE YOU wise men and understanding and known among your tribes and I will make them heads over you captains over thousands, captains over hundreds, fifties, tens ‘”

Rev. Hooker continued: “The choice of public magistrates belongs unto THE PEOPLE by Gods own allowance. The privilege of election ,belongs to THE PEOPLE, according to the blessed will and law of God. They who have power to appoint officers and magistrates it is in their power also to set the bounds and limits of the power and places unto which they call them. The foundation of authority is laid firstly in the free consent of THE PEOPLE.”

In Hartford’s Travelers Square there is a bronze statue of Connecticut’s first settlers with a plaque which reads: “In June of 1635, about one hundred members of Thomas Hooker’s congregation arrived safely in this vicinity with one hundred and sixty cattle. They followed old Indian trails from Massachusetts Bay Colony to the Connecticut River to build a community. Here they established the form of government upon which the present Constitution of the United States is modeled.”

Yes, the Constitution of the United States was modeled on that famous sermom of Rev. Thomas Hooker.

President Gerald Ford stated at Southern Methodist University, September 13, 1975: “Never forget that in America our SOVEREIGN is the CITIZEN. The State is a servant of the individual. It must never become an anonymous monstrosity that masters everyone.”

President Calvin Coolidge stated in July of 1926, at the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence: “It can scarcely be imagined that Jefferson was unacquainted when he took up the task of drafting the Declaration of Independence, the sermons of these early pastors. Coolidge wrote: ‘The end of all good government is to cultivate humanity and promote the happiness of all and the good of every man in all his rights, his life, liberty, estate, honor, and so forth.’

Again Coolidge stated: ‘Democracy is Christ’s government in church and state. Here was the doctrine of equality, popular sovereignty, and the substance of the theory of inalienable rights clearly asserted by these early pastors at the opening of the eighteenth century, just as we have the principle of the consent of the governed stated by Rev. Hooker as early as 1638.”

Coolidge concluded: “This was their theory of democracy. In those days such doctrines would scarcely have been permitted to flourish and spread in any other country. In order that they might have freedom to express these thoughts and opportunity to put them into action, whole congregations with their pastors had migrated to the colonies.”

Ronald Reagan opened the John Ashbrook Center in 1983, stating of America’s founders: “The Founding Fathers understood that only by making government the servant, not the master, only by positing SOVEREIGNTY in THE PEOPLE and not the state can we hope to protect freedom.”

The History of Canals & The Panama Canal

They say that the treaty that was signed when Jimmy Carter gave away the Panama Canal has been violated. And President Trump is now advocating that we sieze it back since China controls both entrances to it. I think it is pertinent that you understand the history of this important American asset. Following is the history of canals and especially that of the Panama Canal for you to review:

Ron

Canal construction has spanned history:

  • Mesopotamia and India had the oldest canals for irrigation, circa 3,000 B.C.;
  • China’s Grand Canal, begun in the 5th century B.C., is almost 1,100 miles, linking the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, being the longest canal in the world;
  • Greeks engineered canals, circa 400 B.C.;
  • Romans built an enormous system of canals, pipes, tunnels, aqueducts and bridges, 312 B.C.-226 A.D.;

Notable European canals include:

  • Charlemagne oversaw in 793 A.D. the first artificial canal in Western Europe at Fossa Carolina, from the Rhine River basin to the Danube River basin;
  • Britain’s Glastonbury Canal was built in the 10th century;
  • Italy’s Naviglio Canal, from the Ticino River to Milan, took over a century to complete, 1157-1258;
  • England’s Exeter Canal was constructed in the 1560s;
  • Netherlands, Flanders and Belgium constructed a dense system of canals, mostly in the 1600s;
  • France’s Canal de Briare, connecting the Loire and Seine Valleys, was completed in 1642;
  • Germany built canals in the 18th century, on the rivers Spree, Elbe, Havel, Ems, Elster, Dahme, Oder, and Weser;
  • Russia’s canals were pioneered by Peter the Great, who built the Vyshny Volochyok Waterway, 1703-1722, connecting Saint Petersburg with the Baltic Sea, and later expanded in the 19th century to the White Sea.

Some early canals in the United States included:

  • Cut River, 1636, connecting Plymouth Harbor with Marshfield on Green Harbor;
  • South Hadley Canal, opened in 1795, bypassing Great Falls at South Hadley, Massachusetts, on the Connecticut River;
  • Santee Canal, opened in 1800, 22 miles between Charleston and Columbia, South Carolina;
  • Dismal Swamp Canal, opened in 1805, 22 miles between Virginia and North Carolina;
  • Erie Canal, opened in 1825, was 363 miles from Albany, New York, on the Hudson River, to Buffalo on Lake Erie. At the time, it was the second longest canal in the world after China’s Grand Canal.
  • Wabash and Erie Canal, opened in 1843, was 497 miles, the longest canal in North America. It connected the Great Lakes to the Ohio River, which then flowed into the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico.
  • Idaho Irrigation Canals, begun by the Milner and Minidoka Dams along the Snake River, 1906-1910, quickly transformed the sagebrush landscape, once crossed by settlers on the California and Oregon Trails, into a fertile agricultural “Magic Valley.” Together with canals along the Boise River, Idaho produces one-third of the nation’s potatoes.

The history of the Panama Canal began when Columbus first landed in Panama on October 6, 1502, during his fourth and final voyage.

In 1534, the King of Spain, Charles the Fifth, who ruled the first global empire, ordered a survey of the Isthmus of Panama to assess the feasibility of a canal.

Such a canal would save explorers and merchants from having to sail the long, dangerous route around South America, passing through the Strait of Magellan, first traversed by Ferdinand Magellan in 1520.

A canal across Panama was again suggested in 1658 by England’s Sir Thomas Browne.

In 1698, the Kingdom of Scotland attempted the Darien scheme, a trade colony in Panama to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Unfortunately for them, it was financially suppressed by the British East India Company and obstructed by a Spanish blockade.

Thomas Jefferson suggested a canal there in 1788.

Alessandro Malaspina, a Spanish naval officer sailed around the world and explored the Pacific, 1788 to 1793, proposed an outline for construction plans for a canal in Panama.

In 1827, Simón Bolívar, President of La Gran Colombia – modern-day Venezuela, Ecuador, Panama, and Colombia, studied the feasibility of a railway across the Isthmus, as did U.S. President Andrew Jackson in 1836.

In 1838, a French company attempted to build a railroad and canal route, but it failed for lack of funding and technology.

In 1846, the U.S. signed a treaty with New Granada – Colombia for rights to build a rail or canal route.

After the Mexican-American War, 1848, and the California Gold Rush, 1849, Captain Ulysses S. Grant and the 4th Infantry were ordered to relocate to San Francisco, traveling by way of Panama in 1852. While crossing the Isthmus, a cholera epidemic killed so many soldiers that Grant organized a field hospital and cared for the ill himself, writing: “The horrors of the road in the rainy season are beyond description.”

The Panama Railroad Company, formed by New York businessmen, began building the first transcontinental railroad from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Construction workers were English, Irish, Germans, Africans, Caribbean, Indian, and Chinese. Completed in 1855, the nearly 50 mile railroad across muddy insect-infested, disease-ridden swamps, cost over 5,000 lives.

Mark Twain wrote a Special Correspondence of the Chicago Republican, New York, August 17, 1868: “The Panama railroad was an American project. We took the train at Panama, clattered for two or three hours through a tangled wilderness of tropical vegetation, and discharged ourselves in Aspinwall – Colón. It is only forty-five miles. That little road has carried about 100,000 passengers for the California steamers during the past twelve months. It was a hard road to build. The tropical fevers slaughtered the laborers by wholesale. It is a popular saying, that every railroad tie from Panama to Aspinwall rests upon a corpse. It is claimed that this small railroad enterprise cost the lives of 10,000 men. It is possible.”

The idea for the Panama Canal gained momentum when the French finished the 120-mile-long Suez Canal in 1869. The construction of the 120 mile long canal was led by builder Ferdinand de Lesseps. It roughly followed the path of an ancient canal built by King Darius of Persia in the 5th century BC. The Suez Canal enabled ships from the Far East and the Indian Ocean to reach the Mediterranean Sea without having to sail around the continent of Africa.

French sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi spent two years designing an earlier version of the Statue of Liberty to stand as a lighthouse to guide ships to the entrance of the Suez Canal, but Ismail Pasha, the Khedive – Viceroy of Egypt and Sudan, could not afford it.

In 1880, France’s Ferdinand de Lesseps began building a sea-level canal across the Isthmus of Panama. France’s efforts were hindered by torrential seasonal rains which caused massive landslides. France eventually abandoned the project due to the tropical diseases of malaria and yellow fever, which killed 25,000.

In 1899, a U.S. Army physician, Dr. Walter Reed, went to Cuba after the Spanish-American War do research. He scientifically confirmed the previous discovery of Dr. Carlos Finlay, that malaria and yellow fever were carried by mosquitoes. This knowledge led to efforts of public sanitation and the development of insecticides which saved thousands of lives and made construction of a canal in Panama possible. Walter Reed Army Medical Center, founded in 1909, was named for him.

On February 23, 1904, the United States purchased the Canal Zone from Panama for ten million dollars on February 23, 1904, plus annual payments of $250,000.

The Panama Canal was planned by President William McKinley, with the actual construction beginning under President Theodore Roosevelt.

Instead of a straight sea-level canal, Roosevelt favored a set of three locks rising from sea-level to Gatun Lake, then on the other side of the lake, to have three locks going back down to sea level.

On December 17, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt addressed Congress: “The Isthmus had been a by-word for deadly unhealthfulness. Now, after two years of our occupation the conditions as regards sickness and the death rate compare with reasonably healthy localities in the United States. Special care has been devoted to minimizing the risk due to the presence of those species of mosquitoes which have been found to propagate malarial and yellow fevers.”

Advances in pesticides helped save millions of lives, with 5 of the 11 Nobel Prizes awarded between 1939 and 1952 going to scientists who made advances in controlling the spread of diseases.

Similar to the modern Space program giving birth to new technologies, the construction of the Panama Canal birthed many new inventions, such as:

  • railroad innovations;
  • steam shovels;
  • steam-powered cranes;
  • hydraulic rock crushers;
  • cement mixers;
  • dredges;
  • drilling machinery;
  • pneumatic power drills; and
  • massive electric motors.

These inventions were largely developed and built in the United States. They were used to create Panama’s Gatun Lake — the largest dam and man-made lake in the world at that time.

On December 6, 1912, President William Taft addressed Congress: “Our defense of the Panama Canal, together with our enormous world trade and our missionary outposts on the frontiers of civilization, require us to recognize our position as one of the foremost in the family of nations, and to clothe ourselves with sufficient naval power to give force to our reasonable demands, and to give weight to our influence in those directions of progress that a powerful Christian nation should advocate.”

On October 23, 1913, President Woodrow Wilson stated in his Thanksgiving Proclamation: “We have seen the practical completion of a great work at the Isthmus of Panama which not only exemplifies the nation’s abundant capacity of its public servants but also promises the beginning of a new age of co-operation and peace. ‘Righteousness exalteth a nation’ and ‘peace on earth, good will towards men’ furnish the only foundation upon which can be built the lasting achievements of the human spirit.”

The Panama Canal was opened August 15, 1914, the same year World War One began. Within 10 years, more than 5,000 ships a year were passing through the Panama Canal. The largest American engineering project to that date, it had cost the United States $375,000,000 over $12 billion today.In addition, America built the Panama Canal at a cost of 5,600 lives. That is over 100 lives per mile of the 50-mile-wide Isthmus.

On March 31, 1976, California Governor Ronald Reagan stated: “Well, the Canal Zone is not a colonial possession. It is not a long-term lease. It is sovereign United States Territory every bit the same as Alaska and all the states that were carved from the Louisiana Purchase. We bought it, we paid for it, we built it, and we intend to keep it.”

After contentious public debate, Democrat President Jimmy Carter gave away the Panama Canal in 1977.

Concern arose as to what international influences would fill the vacuum once the United States transferred control.

Such concerns were voiced by Admiral Thomas Moorer, commander of the U.S. Pacific and Atlantic fleets and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1970 to 1974, who stated in The New American, March 29, 1999:

“Chinese are poised to effectively take control of the Panama Canal. The Panama Canal is very close to home and is one of our most vital commercial and military assets. In 1996, while China was illegally pouring millions of dollars into Clinton’s reelection effort, it was also funneling huge amounts of cash to Panamanian politicians to ensure that one of its front companies, Hutchison Whampoa of Hong Kong, could move in when we vacate.”

Moorer continued:

“In 1997, Panama secretly turned over the American-built port facility at Balboa, which controls shipping on the Pacific side, and at Cristobal, which controls shipping on the Atlantic side, to Hutchison.

We are scheduled to turn over Rodman Naval Station, Howard Air Force Base, and other important military facilities to Panama, which has given Hutchison an option on these bases.”

Admiral Moorer concluded:

“President Clinton may say that they are our friends and allies, but the Chinese military and Communist Party literature refer to the United States as ‘the main enemy.’ And despite what Henry Kissinger, and the media may tell you about ‘reform’ in China, it is still run by a brutal, totalitarian, Communist regime that will do us harm if and when it thinks it can get the better of us.”

China’s Hutchinson Ports (CK Hutchinson Holdings) is the world’s largest seaport operator. In addition to controlling U.S. built anchor ports on either end of the Panama Canal – Balboa and Cristobal, it controls strategic ports all around the globe.

Since the mid-1970s, Panama, along with other Central and South American countries, has experienced increased Muslim immigration, with El Centro Cultural Islámico de Colón being dedicated on January 15, 1982. Thepublication CRITICA reported, September 16, 2015, “ISIS Amenaza a Panama” – ISIS Threat to Panama.

An American-built canal, President Theodore Roosevelt wrote in his Autobiography:

“By far the most important action I took in foreign affairs during the time I was President was related to the Panama Canal.”

Battle Of The Bulge

In the last few days, the U.S. has experienced an unusual cold spell. Even New Orleans had a historic major show. So I thought it would be a good time to record for you a time in WW II when our forces experienced a cold spell that was more intense than any in modern European history. It was after Normandy and the Allied Forces were advancing toward Gemany. In a “last ditch effort” Hitlor decided to throw all his forces, even all their Panzer Divisions, on the Eastern Front against The Allies to break their lines. In a desperate effort the U.S. rushed in the 101st Airborne to try to stop the German advance befor they broke our lines and moved on to a great victory. Those troops did not even have the necessary clothing and footwear to cope with such an intense cold spell. So, here is what happened:

The Battle of the Bulge

On the Western Front, Nazi forces commenced their last major offensive of the war in the bitter cold winter of 1944 – the Battle of the Bulge.  

It is considered one of the largest and bloodiest battles the United States fought in during the war.

The Battle of the Bulge involved 610,000 Americans, 55,000 British, and 72,000 Free French. There were 89,500 American casualties and over 100,000 German casualties.

Beginning with a Nazi surprise attack on December 16, 1944, it lasted nearly 40 days, until January 25, 1945. Leading up to it was D-DAY, JUNE 6, 1944, and the advance of the Allies into Europe, pushing back Nazi forces.Six months after D-Day, Nazis were running short on fuel for their tanks and trucks. Adolf Hitler personally devised the plan to send his remaining forces in a last-ditch effort to break through the Allies’ line. Adolf Hitler personally devised the plan to send his remaining forces in a last-ditch effort to break through the Allies’ line. His intention was to recapture the sea port of Antwerp, Belgium, to have access to its shipping and oil.

On December 16, 1944, three Nazi armies were amassed, consisting of 13 Panzer and Infantry divisions, made up of an estimated 300,000 men. They executed their enormous surprise “Blitzkrieg” lightning attack against the Allies in the Ardennes Forest of Belgium, France, and Luxembourg.

Being caught off-guard, the Allies were hard-pressed to keep their lines from breaking under the intense assault. Allies’ lines “bulged,” but did not break.

General Eisenhower integrated the military. Over 2,000 black American soldiers volunteered to be sent to the front lines, over 700 of whom were killed in combat. Eisenhower stated in his order, DECEMBER 22, 1944: “By rushing out from his fixed defenses the enemy may give us the chance to turn his great gamble into his worst defeat. So I call upon every man of all the Allies, to rise now to new heights of courage … with unshakable faith in the cause for which we fight, we will, with God’s help, go forward to our greatest victory.”

Bastogne was a small town in Southern Belgium of immense strategic importance as eight roads crossed there. Six Nazi Panzer divisions were on a mad rush to occupy it, but the night before, in freezing sub-zero temperature, American troops of the 101st Airborne were trucked in to hold it. Also defending Bastogne were the U.S. 10th Armored Division and the African American 969th Artillery Battalion.

The German commander Heinrich Freiherr von Luttwitz sent a demand for American troops to surrender: “To the U.S.A. Commander of the encircled town of Bastogne. The fortune of war is changing. This time the U.S.A. forces in and near Bastogne have been encircled by strong German armored units. More German armored units have crossed the River Our near Ortheuville, have taken Marche and reached St. Hubert by passing through Hompre-Sibret-Tillet. Libramont is in German hands. There is only one possibility to save the encircled U.S.A. troops from total annihilation: that is the honorable surrender of the encircled town. In order to think it over a term of two hours will be granted beginning with the presentation of this note. If this proposal should be rejected one German Artillery Corps and six heavy A.A. Battalions are ready to annihilate the U.S.A. troops in and near Bastogne. The order for firing will be given immediately after this two hours term. All the serious civilian losses caused by this artillery fire would not correspond with the well-known American humanity. ——- The German Commander.”

On December 22, 1944, U.S. Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe answered: “To the German Commander. NUTS! —–The American Commander.”

This unusual response caused the Nazi commander to hesitate. Then the Nazis attacked — over 50,000 Nazis assaulted the 15,000 Americans.

General McAuliffe wrote to his troops, December 24, 1944: “What’s Merry about all this, you ask? We’re fighting — it’s cold, we aren’t home. All true but what has the proud Eagle Division accomplished with its worthy comrades the 10th Armored Division, the 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion and all the rest? Just this: We have stopped cold everything that has been thrown at us from the North, East, South and West. We have identifications from four German Panzer Divisions, two German Infantry Divisions and one German Parachute Division. These units, spearheading the last desperate German lunge, were headed straight west for key points when the Eagle Division was hurriedly ordered to stem the advance. How effectively this was done will be written in history; not alone in our Division’s glorious history but in World history.”

McAuliffe added: “Allied Troops are counterattacking in force. We continue to hold Bastogne. By holding Bastogne we assure the success of the Allied Armies. We know that our Division Commander, General Taylor, will say: ‘Well Done!’ We are giving our country and our loved ones at home a worthy Christmas present and being privileged to take part in this gallant feat of arms are truly making for ourselves a Merry Christmas.”

After eight days, the Americans were nearly out of ammunition. Marching to their rescue was General George Patton and the U.S. Third Army.

Unfortunately, the Third Army was pinned down due to foul weather which prevented planes from flying to give air cover.

General Patton directed Chaplain Fr. James O’Neill to compose a prayer, which was printed on cards and distributed to the 250,000 troops to pray: “Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee, of Thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate rains with which we have had to contend. Grant us fair weather for Battle. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers who call Thee that, armed with Thy power, we may advance from victory to victory, and crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies, and establish Thy justice among men and nations. Amen.”

The reverse of the card had General Patton’s Christmas Greeting: “To each officer and soldier in the Third United States Army, I wish a Merry Christmas. I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle. We march in our might to complete victory. May God’s blessings rest upon each of you on this Christmas Day. –G.S. Patton, Jr., Lieutenant General Commanding, Third United States Army.”

Miraculously, the next day the weather cleared and the planes gave air support. General Patton’s troops punched through the Nazi lines to rescue the exhausted 101st Airborne and thwart the Nazi advance. Running out of fuel, Nazi tanks ground to a halt.

The Battle of the Bulge ended January 16, 1945. Less than four months later, Hitler was reported to have committed suicide, the Nazis surrendered, and the world was saved from the iron-fisted totalitarian rule of national socialism.

A popular Christmas carol during World War II was “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas,” written in 1942 by Irving Berlin. Berlin, a Russian Jewish immigrant to America, had served in the U.S. infantry during World War I. He wrote some of the country’s most popular songs, including “God Bless America.”

Irving Berlin’s “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” was featured in the 1954 movie White Christmas, starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Vera-Ellen, and Rosemary Clooney–aunt of actor George Clooney.

“I’m dreaming of a white Christmas Just like the ones I used to know Where the treetops glisten, and children listen To hear sleigh bells in the snow. I’m dreaming of a white Christmas With every Christmas card I write. May your days be merry and bright, And may all your Christmases be white.”

On CHRISTMAS EVE, December 24, 1944, President Franklin Roosevelt told the American people: “It is not easy to say ‘Merry Christmas’ to you, my fellow Americans, in this time of destructive war. We will celebrate this Christmas Day in our traditional American way, because the teachings of Christ are fundamental in our lives, the story of the coming of the immortal Prince of Peace.”

The End

The Amazing William Shakespeare

Yes, he was an amazing writer and poet, but you would probably never guess that he added over 1,500 words to the English language, ones that you and I use today. Below, I have documented 20 that he coined and added. Ron

William Shakespeare was an incredible writer and poet, but did you know he also single-handedly added more than 1,700 words to the English language? 

Shakespeare’s use of language was unmatched 450 years ago with his sonnets and plays frequently debuting new English words he created. It didn’t take long for these terms to be adopted into the language and many of them are still in use today. 

Here are 20 words and phrases you didn’t know Shakespeare invented — next time you use them, know you’re following in the footsteps of a true linguistic legend. 

1. Addiction

While the concept of addiction has been around for centuries, the word “addiction” itself didn’t exist until Shakespeare coined it in his play, Othello.

2. All the world’s a stage

It means that life is like a performance, and that we all play a different role and was spoken by Jacques in As You Like.

3. Bedazzled 

Shakespeare uses the word “bedazzled” to describe someone who is overwhelmed by something that is sparkling or shining in his play, The Taming of the Shrew.

4. Brave new world

This phrase is often used to suggest a sense of wonder and amazement at the possibilities of the future and was spoken by the character Miranda in The Tempest. 

5. Critic

Although the concept of a critic had existed for centuries, the word “critic” wasn’t used in its modern sense until Shakespeare used it in his play, Love’s Labour’s Lost.

6. Eventful

In As You Like It, Shakespeare coined the word “eventful” to describe something that is full of events or occurrences.

7. Eyeball

While the concept of an eyeball had obviously existed for centuries, Shakespeare was the first to use the word “eyeball” in his play, The Tempest.

8. Generous

Shakespeare used the word “generous” in its modern sense to describe someone who is kind and giving in his play, Julius Caesar.

9. Good riddance

The phrase “good riddance” is frequently used to suggest relief at the departure of someone or something unpleasant. It is spoken in Troilus and Cressida.

10. In a pickle

This phrase is used to suggest being in a difficult or uncomfortable situation. In The Tempest: This phrase is spoken by the character Alonso in Act V, Scene I. 

11. It’s Greek to me

Used to suggest a lack of understanding or confusion about something, this phrase is spoken by the character Casca in Julius Caesar.

12. Lonely

Although the concept of loneliness had existed for centuries, Shakespeare was the first to use the word “lonely” in his play, Coriolanus.

13. Majestic

Shakespeare used the word “majestic” to describe something that is grand and impressive in his play, Henry VIII.

14. Manager

The word “manager” had been used in other languages before Shakespeare’s time, but he was the first to use it in English in his play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

15. Radiance

Shakespeare used the word “radiance” to describe something that is shining or glowing in his play, The Two Gentlemen of Verona.

16. Star-crossed lovers

This saying describes two people who are destined to be together despite the obstacles in their way and was first used in Romeo and Juliet in the Prologue. 

17. Swagger

In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare used the word “swagger” to describe someone who walks with an arrogant or pompous attitude.

18. Undress

In The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare used the word “undress” to describe the act of removing clothing.

19. Wild-goose chase

This one is used to describe a pointless or fruitless pursuit. In Romeo and Juliet: This phrase is spoken by the character Mercutio in Act II, Scene IV. 

20. To thine own self be true 

Used to suggest the importance of being true to one’s own beliefs and values, this phrase was spoken by Polonius in Hamlet.

There are so many other wonderful words Shakespeare invented or was the first known person to use. Here are some more to inspire you.

The First Thanksgiving in America

On NOVEMBER 21, 1620 (NS), the Pilgrims signed the Mayflower Compact and
began their Plymouth Colony. Of the 102 Pilgrims, only 47 survived till Spring. At one point, only a half dozen were healthy enough to care for the rest.

In the Spring of 1621, the Indian Squanto came among them, and showed them how to catch fish, plant corn, trap beaver, and was their interpreter with the other Indian tribes.

Governor William Bradford described Squanto as “a special instrument sent of God for their good beyond their expectation.”

“The settlers began to plant their corn, in which service Squanto helped them greatly. In the middle of April plenty of fish would come up the brook  and (he) taught them how to catch them.”

Pilgrim Edward Winslow recorded in Mourt’s Relation that in the Fall of 1621: “God be praised we had a good increase. Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. These four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our Governor, and upon the Captain and others. And although it be not always be so plentiful, as it was at this time, with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want, that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.”

Bradford described the same event: “And besides waterfowl there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison, etc. Besides, they had about a peck a meal a week to a person, or now since harvest, Indian corn to that proportion.”

Historian Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs explained how Pilgrims thanked God: “Our knowledge of the 1621 Thanksgiving comes from the Pilgrim leaders, Winslow and Bradford. Winslow’s choice of words, understood by his contemporaries, implies to us that the Pilgrims gave thanks to God for their preservation and for the plenty that gave hope for the future. Winslow specifically tells us that the colonists sat down with their native neighbors and enjoyed several days of peaceful rejoicing together. It is a history with potent symbolism, and it needs neither apology nor distortion.”

Bangs added: “When Winslow described the Pilgrims’ intention, ‘after a more special manner to rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruit of our labors,’ he was alluding to John 4: 36 and to Psalm 33. The first is, ‘And he that reapeth, receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal, that both he that soweth, and he that reapeth, might rejoice together.'”

In 1622, the friendly Indian Chief Massasoit became ill. Pilgrim leader Edward Winslow visited and doctored him. He thankfully regained health, which contributed to a peace which lasted over 50 years.

Edward Winslow was especially grateful, because the Indian tradition was, if a person doctored a chief and the chief died, that person died too.

Ben Franklin wrote of the Pilgrims’ Thanksgiving (The Compleated Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin, editors Mark & Jo Ann Skousen, Regnery, 2006, p. 331): “There is a tradition that in the planting of New England, the first settlers met with many difficulties and hardships, as is generally the case when a civiliz’d people attempt to establish themselves in a wilderness country. Being so piously dispos’d, they sought relief from heaven by laying their wants and distresses before the Lord in frequent set days of fasting and prayer.

Constant meditation and discourse on these subjects kept their minds gloomy and discontented, and like the children of Israel there were many dispos’d to return to the Egypt which persecution had induc’d them to abandon.”

Franklin continued:

“At length, when it was proposed in the Assembly to proclaim another fast, a farmer of plain sense rose and remark’d that the inconveniences they suffer’d, and concerning which they had so often weary’d heaven with their complaints, were not so great as they might have expected, and were diminishing every day as the colony strengthen’d; that the earth began to reward their labour and furnish liberally for their subsistence; that their seas and rivers were full of fish, the air sweet, the climate healthy, and above all, they were in the full enjoyment of liberty, civil and religious. He therefore thought that reflecting and conversing on these subjects would be more comfortable and lead more to make them contented with their situation; and that it would be more becoming the gratitude they ow’d to the divine being, if instead of a fast they should proclaim a thanksgiving.

His advice was taken, and from that day to this, they have in every year observ’d circumstances of public felicity sufficient to furnish employment for a Thanksgiving Day, which is therefore constantly ordered and religiously observed.”

The Real Story of Hanukkah

At this time of year we hear a lot about Hanukkah. However, few really know its history or even where it came from. If you would like to know its real story and history, do read the following:

Ron

The origin of lights at this season can be traced back to the Jewish Festival of Lights, or Feast of the Dedication, in Hebrew called “Hanukkah.”

Solomon’s week-long dedication of the First Temple began on the 1st day of the Hebrew month Tishri, in the 10th century B.C., ending on the 8th day of Tishrei.  First Kings 8; Second Chronicles 7.

Beginning in 597 B.C., the army of Babylon surrounded Jerusalem, deposed King Jehoiachin, and deported the first group of Jews. Babylonian’s army returned and destroyed the First Temple on the 9th day of the month of Av, circa 587 B.C., and made a second deportation of Jews.

The prophet Jeremiah wrote in chapter 25: “And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord.”

And Jeremiah wrote in chapter 29: “For thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.”

The prophet Daniel read Jeremiah’s prophecy and wrote in chapter 9: “In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.”

In 539 B.C., Cyrus of Persia captured Babylon, the ancient world’s largest city. Shortly after, Cyrus let Jews return to Jerusalem after 70 years of captivity.

The Book of Ezra, chapter 6, recorded how Jews built the Second Temple and dedicated it circa 516 B.C.

Around 334 B.C., Alexander the Great invaded from the west and speedily conquered the Medo-Persian Empire.

The prophet Daniel foretold in chapter 8: “The male goat was coming from the west over the surface of the whole earth without touching the ground; and the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. He came up to the ram that had the two horns, which I had seen standing in front of the canal, and rushed at him in his mighty wrath and he struck the ram and shattered his two horns. (Reference to Alexander)

At the height of his power, Alexander the Great suddenly died and his four generals divided up his empire.

Daniel had foretold: “The male goat magnified himself exceedingly. But as soon as he was mighty, the large horn was broken; and in its place there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven.”

The common understanding is that Alexander’s Empire, after numerous “Diadochi” battles, was divided up thus among his four generals:

  • Lysimachus ruled Thrace & Asia Minor;
  • Cassander ruled Macedonia and Greece;
  • Ptolemy ruled Egypt and into the Middle East;
  • Seleucus ruled the rest of the Middle East, Syria, Babylon, Persia, and parts of India, collectively known as the “Seleucid Empire”.

Daniel wrote further: Around 167 B.C., out of the Seleucid Empire, there arose an aggressive king, Antiochus the Fourth Epiphanes.

And as expressed by Daniel: “Out of one of them came forth a rather small horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Beautiful Land.”

Antiochus attacked Jerusalem, as reported in 2nd Book of Maccabees 5:11-14: “The king thought that Judea was in revolt. Raging like a wild animal, he set out from Egypt and took Jerusalem by storm. He ordered his soldiers to cut down without mercy those whom they met and to slay those who took refuge in their houses. There was a massacre of young and old, a killing of women and children, a slaughter of virgins and infants. In the space of three days, eighty thousand were lost, forty thousand meeting a violent death, and the same number being sold into slavery.”

The prophet Daniel foretold in chapter 11:22-27: “While returning to his land with great riches, his heart shall be moved against the holy covenant and return in rage against the holy covenant, and do damage. And forces shall be mustered by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation.”

Antiochus the Fourth Epiphanes tried to force the Jews to abandon their beliefs and adopt the Greek culture, as recorded in 2 Maccabees 5:11-14: “Not long after this the king sent an Athenian senator to force the Jews to abandon the customs of their ancestors and live no longer by the laws of God; also to profane the temple in Jerusalem and dedicate it to Olympian Zeus. They also brought into the temple things that were forbidden, so that the altar was covered with abominable offerings prohibited by the laws. A man could not keep the sabbath or celebrate the traditional feasts, nor even admit that he was a Jew.

Women arrested for having circumcised their children were publicly paraded about the city with their babies hanging at their breasts and then thrown down from the top of the city wall. Others, who had assembled in nearby caves to observe the sabbath in secret, were betrayed and all burned to death.”

Though they were persecuted, Daniel prophesied: “But the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.”

Around 167 B.C., Mattathias and his sons began the Maccabean Revolt against Antiochus Epiphanes. Judas Maccabaeus was finally successful in driving the enemy out circa 164 B.C. When the Second Temple was cleansed of all pagan defilement, a week long re-dedication began on the 25th day of Kislev, circa 164 B.C.

There was a problem though, there wasonly found enough holy olive oil to light the golden lamp stand, the menorah, for one day, and it would take a week before more could be made. The decision was made to relight it anyway, and miraculously, the light burned for eight days.

This is celebrated annually as the Feast of Dedication, also known as the Festival of Lights, or HANUKKAH, which is the Hebrew word for “dedication.”

Flavius Josephus wrote in the Jewish Antiquities (12.7.6-7 316-325) that circa 164 BC: “The generals of Antiochus’ armies having been defeated, Judah Maccabee assembled the people and told them that after the many victories which God had given them they ought to go up to Jerusalem and purify the Temple. But when he with the whole multitude came to Jerusalem and found he Temple deserted, its gates burned down, and plants growing in the Temple of their own accord because of the desolation, he and those with him began to lament.”

Josephus continued: “When he had carefully purged it he brought in new vessels, the menorah, the table and the incense altar, which were made of gold. And on the 25th day of the month Kislev, which the Macedonians call Apellaios, they lighted the lights that were on the menorah, and offered incense upon the altar, and laid the loaves upon the table, and offered whole burnt offerings upon the new altar.  As it happened, these things took place on the very same day on which, three years before, the divine worship had been reduced to an impure and profane form of worship; for the Temple had remained desolate for three years after being made so by Antiochus.”

Josephus concluded: “And so Judah and his fellow citizens celebrated the festival of the restoration of the sacrifices of the Temple for eight days. They honored God, and delighted themselves with psalms of praise and the playing of harps. Indeed, they were so very glad at the revival of their customs and, after so long a time, having unexpectedly regained their right to worship, that they made it a law for their posterity that they should keep a festival celebrating the restoration of their Temple worship for eight days.”

The New Testament Book of John, chapter 10:22-23, recorded that even Jesus observed the Feast of Dedication: “At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem; it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon. The Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, ‘How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.'”

The many centuries of Hanukkah candles being lit during the winter might have been an inspiration for the Christian tradition of putting lights in tree branches to depict the sky above Bethlehem.

Various U.S. Presidents acknowledged Hanukkah:

Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote to Samuel I. Rosenman, President of the Jewish Education Committee in New York, December 16, 1940: “Dear Sam, Please convey my best wishes to your co-workers in the Jewish Education Committee of New York, at the annual Hanukkah Dinner. Our modern democratic way of life has its deepest roots in our great common religious tradition, which for ages past has taught to civilized mankind the dignity of the human being, his equality before God, and his responsibility in the making of a better and fairer world. The world is engaged in a great spiritual struggle to test whether that ancient wisdom is to endure, or whether some few men shall dominate multitudes of others and dictate to them their thinking, their religion, their living. We need the sustaining, buttressing aid of those great ethical religious teachings which are the heritage of our modern civilization. For not upon strength nor upon power, but upon the spirit of God’ shall our democracy be founded.”

President Ronald Reagan stated in his Hanukkah Message, 1983: “Whether we be Americans or Israelis, we are all children of Abraham, children of the same God. The bonds between our two peoples are growing stronger, and they must not and will never be broken.

President George H.W. Bush stated in his Hanukkah Message, 1991: “When Judah Maccabee and his followers prepared to rededicate the Temple in Jerusalem, they found only enough oil to light the menorah for one night. Miraculously, it lasted eight.”

President Donald J. Trump remarked on Hanukkah, December 12, 2017: “The miracle of Hanukkah began more than 2,000 years ago, when the practice of Judaism was made punishable by death. A small band of Jewish patriots rose up and reclaimed their Jewish identity by vanquishing a mighty army. In their pursuit to rededicate their holy temple, the Jewish heroes found only enough oil to light the temple’s menorah for one night. However, a miracle occurred and with God’s grace the oil lasted for eight days. On this holiday, we are proud to stand with the Jewish people who shine as a light to all nations. We also stand with the people of Israel, the Jewish State, which has itself a miraculous history of overcoming the tallest of odds. We hope that those observing the holiday here, in Israel, and around the world have a wonderful holiday.”

The end, and asking Jesus’ blessing on the new year.

The Amazing History of Santa Claus

St. Nicholas is the most renowned saint in Greek Orthodox tradition.

He was the Bishop of Myra in 4th century in Asia Minor, imprisoned by Romans; preached against immorality and exposure of infants; defended the Trinity; confronted corrupt politicians; and was generous to the poor.  But how did Saint Nicholas turn into our Santa Clause? Please read the following and you will know. Ron

St. Nicholas died December 6, 343 AD.

In the 5th century a church was named for him in the city of Myra, modern-day Demre, Turkey.  When it was damaged in an earthquake in 529 A.D., Emperor Justinian rebuilt it.

In 988 AD, Vladimir the Great of Russia converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity and adopted Nicholas as the “patron saint” of Russia.

In the 11th century, Islamist Seljuks Turks, invaded Asia Minor, killing Christians. All seven churches mentioned in the Book of Revelation were destroyed. Graves were desecrated.

Islamic Hadith Sahih Muslim (Book 4, No. 2115) stated: “Do not leave an image without obliterating it, or a high grave without leveling it.”

There was concern that the grave of St. Nicholas would be desecrated, as years earlier, in 846 A.D., 10,000 Muslim Saracens sailed up the Tiber River and sacked Rome, desecrating the remains of St. Peter and St. Paul.

In a panic, Christians in Myra, Asia Minor, shipped the remains of St. Nicholas in 1087 to the south east coast of Italy, to the town of Bari.

Pope Urban the Second dedicated the church there, naming it after St. Nicholas — Basilica di San Nicola de Bari.

This officially introduced the Greek St. Nicholas to Western Europe.

Turks intensified their invasion, causing so many Greek Christians to flee that Pope Urban the Second went to the Council of Claremont in 1095 and begged European monarchs to send help. Europe sent help — it was called the First Crusade.

In a backwards sense, Western Europe might not have had St. Nicholas traditions if it had not been for Islamists invading Eastern Europe.

Once St. Nicholas’ remains were in Italy, western Europeans quickly embraced the gift-giving traditions associated with him. By 1223, so much attention was given to gift-giving during the Christmas season that pious St. Francis of Assisi, sort of in protest, created the first creche or nativity scene, with Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus.

He wanted to get back to the real reason for the season: Jesus, the Son of God, was born in a manager. John 1:14 declared: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Isaiah 7:14 foretold: “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel.” Emmanuel means God with us!

In 1517, Martin Luther began the Reformation.

Luther considered “saints days” a distraction from Christ, so he effectively ended them in Protestant countries, including the popular December 6th “St. Nicholas Day.” Since Germans like the gift-giving, Martin Luther moved the giving to December 25th to emphasize that all gifts come from the Christ Child.

The German pronunciation of Christ Child was “Christkindl,” which over the centuries became pronounced “Kris Kringle.”

Britain used to be a Roman colony since Julius Caesar first invaded in 55 B.C. Saturn was the Roman god of feasting, plenty, and merriment. If you remember the Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, the Ghost of Christmas Present is depicted as a big guy with robes, a wreath on his head, and a goblet of wine. Looking at him, you are asking yourself, who is this guy? He sort of looks like Santa, but he also looks like a Roman god. Well, that was Saturn, but they Christianized him and called him Father Christmas. They could not call him St. Nicholas because he was outlawed by England’s Reformation.

During Henry the Eighth’s reign, Christmas in England became a party time, like Mardi Gras. People forget that Mardi Gras originally was a religious day. It was the day before Lent, when people fasted 40 days before Easter to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus. But over time Mardi Gras became a lewd party in New Orleans.

Puritans viewed Christmas as having become too worldly. Puritan leader, Rev. Cotton Mather told his congregation, December 25, 1712: “Can you in your conscience think, that our Holy Savior is honored, by Mad Mirth, by long Eating, by hard Drinking, by lewd Gaming, by rude Reveling; by a Mass fit for none but a Saturn or a Bacchus, or the Night of a Mahometan Ramadan? You cannot possibly think so! A Multitude of the Heavenly Host was heard Praising of God. But shall it be said, That at the Birth of our Saviour for which we owe as high Praises to God as they can do, we take the Time to Please the Hellish Legions, and to do Actions that have much more of Hell than of Heaven in them?”

“Puritans took over England in 1642.

Puritans passed an ordinance, December 1643: “Sins of our forefathers have turned this feast of Christ, into an extreme forgetfulness of him, by giving liberty to carnal and sensual delights.

In 1647, Puritans in England outlawed Christmas.

When Pilgrims first disembarked the Mayflower, the ship master Christopher Jones wrote in his log, December 25, 1620:

“At anchor in Plymouth harbor, Christmas Day, but not observed by these colonists, they being opposed to all saints’ days.

A year later, at the end of 1621, Pilgrim Governor William Bradford recorded in Of Plymouth Plantation, of another boatload arriving with more settlers: “Herewith I shall end this year – except to recall one more incident, rather amusing than serious. On Christmas Day the Governor called the people out to work as usual; but most of the new company excused themselves, and said it went against their consciences to work on that day. So the Governor told them, if they made it a matter of conscience, he would spare them till they were better informed.”

Bradford continued: “So he went with the rest, and left them; but on returning from work at noon he found them at play in the street, some pitching the bar, some at stool-ball, and such like sports. So he went to them and took away their games, and told them that it was against his conscience that they should play and others work. If they made the keeping of the day a matter of devotion, let them remain in their houses; but there should be no gaming and reveling in the streets.”

Where Pilgrims, Puritans and most Presbyterians did not celebrate Christmas, other immigrants did celebrate Christmas, such as Germans, French, Swedes, English, Welsh, and especially the Dutch.  

When they read……Revelation 19:14, the saint will ride with Him dressed in ” fine linen, clean and white is the righteousness of the saints. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.”

The reasoning went, that since St. Nicholas was a saint, he would certainly be one of multitude riding white horses returning with Jesus.

But since St. Nicholas was such a special saint, the Dutch had him coming back once a year for a mini-judgement day, to check up on the children, to see if they are on the right track before the real Judgement Day.

Over the centuries the story evolved. The Books of Works and the Lamb’s Book of Life were turned into the Book of the Naughty and Nice. The angels turned into elves. Saints came from Heaven, the New Jerusalem, the Celestial City — which turned into the North Pole.

The North Pole is not far from Finnish Lapland near the Arctic Circle in the northern Scandinavian Peninsula. Since there were few horses there, St. Nicholas rode a reindeer, which then became riding in a sleigh.

The Dutch holiday tradition is that St. Nicholas comes once a year to give presents to good children. But the naughty children had something else to look forward to.

Beginning in 1624, Dutch immigrants brought St. Nicholas traditions to New Amsterdam, which became New York in 1664. Dutch called Saint Nicholas – “Sant Nikolaus” or “Sinter Klass,” which became pronounced “Santa Claus.” “Santa Claus” is simply the Dutch pronunciation of Saint Nicholas.

In New York, Washington Irving, considered the Father of American Literature, wrote Legend of Sleepy Hallow and Rip Van Winkle. He coined the name “Gotham” for New York City.” Irving was also a founding member of the St. Nicholas Society of the City of New York, 1835, to celebrate the city’s heritage. In it, he described St. Nicholas visiting once a year, but no longer wearing a bishop’s outfit, but a typical Dutch outfit of long-trunk hose, leather belt, boots, a hat, and a pipe: Washington Irving wrote further: “So we are told, in the sylvan days of New Amsterdam, the good St. Nicholas would often make his appearance in his beloved city, of a holiday afternoon, riding jollily among the treetops, or over the roofs of houses, now and then drawing forth magnificent presents from his breeches pockets, and dropping them down the chimneys of his favorites.

Irving wrote how Dutch settlers continued the tradition of hanging stockings by the fireplace: “At this early period was instituted that pious ceremony, still religiously observed in all our ancient families of the right breed, of hanging up a stocking in the chimney on St. Nicholas Eve;  which stocking is always found in the morning miraculously filled; for the good St. Nicholas has ever been a great giver of gifts, particularly to children. Nor was the day of St. Nicholas suffered to pass by without making presents, hanging the stocking in the chimney, and complying with all its other ceremonies.”

Clement Clarke Moore Park is located at the corner of 10th Avenue and 22nd Street.  Moore helped Trinity Church establish a new church on Hudson Street – St. Luke in the Fields.

In 1823, Clement Moore wrote a poem for his six children titled “A Visit From St. Nicholas”:

‘TWAS the night before Christmas, when all through the houseNot a creature was stirring,not even a mouse; The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that ST. NICHOLAS soon would be there.”

“When, what to my wondering eyes should appear, But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer, With a little old driver, so lively and quick, I knew in a moment it must be ST. NICK.”

“So up to the house-top the coursers they flew, With the sleigh full of Toys, and ST. NICHOLAS too.”

“As I drew in my head, and was turning around, Down the chimney ST. NICHOLAS came with a bound.”

Clement Moore described St. Nicholas as smaller: “He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf, And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself.”

Though much has been added on to the story throughout the centuries, underneath it all, there really was a godly, courageous Christian Bishop who lived in 4th century Asia Minor, named Nicholas.

  • Nicholas was a Christian;
  • he loved Jesus enough go into the ministry;
  • he chose being imprisoned by the Romans rather than deny his Christian faith;
  • he stood for the doctrine of the Trinity;
  • he preached against sexually immoral pagan temples and the killing of innocent babies;
  • he confronted corrupt politicians; and
  • most notably of all, St. Nicholas was very generous, giving away all his money to help the poor in their time of need, and doing it anonymously, as he wanted the credit to go, not to himself, but to God alone!

The Great Battle of Christmas

On Christmas Eve Genaeral Washington’s little army was camped there in the snow by the Deleware river.  Congress had not provided them with any provisions, or clothing, or even shoes.  Many were barefoot in the snow and leaving blood upon it.  It was a desperate situation.  A big army of brutal, highly trained Hessians, employed by the British was camped across the river.  General Washington got on his knees and asked God what to do……..the answer was “attack or die”.  And that is what he told his men. Do read what happened then in the following narrative:

Catherine the Great of Russia, who reigned 1762-1796, rebuffed King George III’s requests and bribes to have Russia side with Britain during the Revolutionary War.

Instead, Russia continued trading with the American colonies, providing much needed supplies. Other countries that helped supply Americans with arms. supplies, and personnel, both overtly and covertly, were France, the Netherlands, and Spain. Courageous individuals, acting in their own private capacity, also came to help America from Ireland, Prussia, Bavaria, Poland-Lithuania, and Hungary.

Russia’s Catherine the Great even attempted to negotiate a peace with France and Britain to bring an early end to the war in America’s favor. Catherine had earlier deposed her husband, Tsar Peter III, in a coup. She then fought the Russo-Turkish War (1768-1774), against the Muslim Ottoman Turkish Empire.

Her General, Alexei Grigoryevich Orlov destroyed the Ottoman navy at the Battle of Chesma, July 5-7, 1770 — it was the worst defeat for Ottoman navy since the Battle of Lepanto in 1571.

The same time, 38,000 Russians defeated 80,000 Muslim Tatar cavalry and infantry at the Battle of Larga, July 7, 1770.

Two weeks later, Russia defeated another 175,000 Turks at the Battle of Kagul.

These defeats shocked the Ottoman Empire.

When Sultan Mustfa III (1717-1774), who had given himself the title Cihangir “World Conqueror,” heard the news he reportedly had a heart attack, from which he died.

Russian military leaders began talk of a campaign to emancipate oppressed Christians under Ottoman rule, and free Constantinople, which had been the capital of the Christian world for nearly a thousand years. Their plans, though, were interrupted by the French Revolution.

America’s first minister to the Russian Court of Catherine the Great was Francis Dana, a member of the Continental Congress, being assisted 1781-1783 by the young John Quincy Adams — the future 6th US President.

Back in America, during the Revolutionary War, British troops defeated the Continental Army at the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, August 27, 1776. Thus, General Washington was forced to retreat. The Continental Army was then driven out of New York, across New Jersey and into Pennsylvania.

In the following six months, despite Congress approving the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Army’s ranks dwindled from a high of 20,000 down to just 2,000 as of December of 1776. Most of the remaining soldiers were planning on leaving at the end of year, as they had only volunteered for a six-month enlistment, needing to get back home to care for their neglected farms, shops and families. General Washington rallied his troops to stay by having Thomas Paine’s “The American Crisis” read to them.

It began: “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country.”

Philadelphia fell into a panic as fear set in that British troops would invade and occupy the city, which they did later the next year.

Congress’ last instruction to General Washington, December 12, 1776, was: “Until Congress shall otherwise order, General Washington shall be possessed of full power to order and direct all things relative to the operations of the war.”

Washington proposed a daring military operation, but insisted his officers keep it under strictest secrecy, as the British were paying spies in gold for information.

Washington made the password for his operation “Victory or Death.”

This reflected Washington’s General Orders, which he had issued months before on July 2, 1776: “The time is now near at hand which must probably determine whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their houses and farms are to be pillaged and destroyed, and themselves consigned to a state of wretchedness from which no human efforts will deliver them. The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army. Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us no choice but a brave resistance, or the most abject submission. We have, therefore to resolve to conquer or die.”

On Christmas Day evening,1776, Washington’s troops quietly crossed the dangerous, ice-filled Delaware River in a freezing blizzard.

In the iconic painting of the Delaware Crossing, the black soldier rowing next to George Washington is thought to be his bodyguard, freed slave Toby Gilmore. After the War, Toby Gilmore was given a cannon in recognition of his valuable service, which, according to tradition, he kept on his farm in Raynham, Massachusetts, and publicly fired every Fourth of July. Today it is in the Old Colony Historical Society Museum in Taunton, Massachusetts.

After crossing the Delaware, the army trudged through blinding snow in strict silence. Two soldiers froze to death on the march.

Washington’s army attacked the German Hessian troops stationed at Trenton, New Jersey, at daybreak, December 26, 1776.

Though King George III was unsuccessful in getting Russian troops, he arranged to hire the feared, brutal Hessian mercenaries.

One of Washington’s aides-de-camp, the Irish Catholic Colonel John Fitzgerald, made note of his opinion that Hessians might be vulnerable on Christmas Day, as: “They make a great deal of Christmas in Germany, and no doubt the Hessians will drink a great deal of beer and have a dance tonight.”

Hessians were skilled in European warfare where enemies faced off opposite of each other in an open field. They were not prepared for Americans firing from behind trees, walls, and fence posts.

American captain Alexander Hamilton maneuvered his six-pound cannons into position and fired them down King Street, tearing into the Hessian ranks.

Hessian colonel Johann Rall was shot. Without him, the Hessian troops soon surrendered. Americans captured nearly a thousand Hessians in just over an hour.

Of the Americans who were wounded were: William Washington, a cousin of General Washington; and the young Lieutenant James Monroe, the future 5th U.S. President, who was struck by a musket ball in the arm and bleeding badly. Doctor John Riker clamped the artery and saved his life.

Yale President Ezra Stiles stated in an Election Address to the Connecticut General Assembly, May 8, 1783: “In our lowest and most dangerous estate, in 1776 and 1777, we sustained ourselves against the British Army of 60,000 troops commanded by the ablest generals Britain could procure throughout Europe, with a naval force of 22,000 seamen in above 80 men-of-war.

Heaven inspired us with resolution to cut the Gordian knot in the glorious act of Independence sealed and confirmed by God Almighty in the victory of General Washington at Trenton. Who does not see the indubitable interposition and energetic influence of Divine Providence in these great and illustrious events?”

Ezra Stiles continued: “Who but a Washington, inspired by Heaven, could have struck out the great movement and maneuver of Princeton, that Christmas (Day) eve when Washington and his army crossed the Delaware? The United States are under peculiar obligations to become a holy people unto the Lord our God.”

Washington wrote August 20, 1778:  “The Hand of Providence has been so conspicuous in the course of the war that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more wicked that has not gratitude to acknowledge his obligations to God”