Lincoln's Birthday

Born in Kentucky in 1809, our 16th president.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow, this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.  - Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address (Bliss copy)

Thomas Paine's Birthday

Born on this date in 1737, Thomas Paine was one of the great voices of the American Revolution, stirring patriots to action with his words in Common Sense (1776) and The American Crisis (a series published 1776-1783). He later was involved in the French Revolution in the 1790's. Paine's words concerning the American Revolution continue to resound today.
　
Not a man lives on the continent but fully believes that a separation must some time or other finally take place, and a generous parent should have said, "If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace;" and this single reflection, well applied, is sufficient to awaken every man to duty.
-The American Crisis No. I

Ronald Reagan's Birthday

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.
-Ronald Reagan

George Washington Elected

February 4th marks the anniversary of the first meeting of the United States Electoral College in 1789, which voted unanimously to elect George Washington as first President of the United States.

The Four Chaplains

February 3rd is remembered in honor of The Four Chaplains. On February 3, 1943, the USAT Dorchester was torpedoed while transporting approxomately 900 men across the Atlantic. The Four Chaplains - Methodist Reverend George L. Fox, Reform-Rabbi Dr. Alexander D. Goode, Father John P. Washington and Reformed Church Reverend Clark V. Poling - helped organize the evacuation of the ship, then gave up their life vests when the crew ran out of vests for the men. They were reportedly seen praying, arm in arm, as the ship went down. 230 men were eventually rescued from the frigid water that night.

Gouverneur Morris

 
Today is the birthday of Gouverneur Morris, patriot and Founding Father who is said to have been one of the chief authors of the United States Constitution as it reads today, witnessed the French Revolution, then later served as senator from New York and chairman of the Erie Canal Commission. We raise the New York state flag (his state of birth) in his honor.

USS Monitor

On January 30, 1862, the first Union ironclad warship, the USS Monitor, was launched for the first time. She would be officially commissioned in February, then join in battle against the CSS Virginia on March 9th in the world's first battle between ironclad vessels. The battle, which ended in a draw at the entrance to the James River, changed the strategies of naval warfare from that point on.

Kansas Joins The Union

Today is the anniversary of Kansas statehood, joining the Union in 1861 as the 34th state. Years of contention between pro-slave and pro-free groups, sometimes coming to violence, culminated in Kansas joining the United States as a free state just prior to the beginning of the Civil War. We raise the Kansas flag and the 34-star United States flag today, the country's standard through the first two years of the Civil War.

George Washington

Let us therefore animate and encourage each other, and show the whole world that a Freeman, contending for liberty on his own ground, is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth.
-George Washington, 1776

The Noble Train Of Artillery

On this date in 1776, Henry Knox reported to General George Washington that cannon he had transported from forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point in upstate New York had finally arrived at besieged Boston. The move had taken six weeks to accomplish, involving men and oxen moving 60 tons of cannons and other supplies approxomately 300 miles in the middle of winter. Once the cannons were deployed at Dorchester Heights, the British withdrew their fleet from Boston Harbor, ending the siege. Knox would continue to serve under Washington through the Revolutionary War, eventually becoming the United States' first Secretary of War in 1789.

Michigan Statehood

 

On this date in 1837, Michigan became the 26th state in the United States. The star was added later in the year, and the 26-star flag remained the standard for the next 8 years until Florida's star was added in 1845. We raise both the 26-star flag and Michigan's flag today.

Abraham Lincoln

Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well-wisher to his posterity swear by the blood of the Revolution never to violate in the least particular the laws of the country, and never to tolerate their violation by others. As the patriots of seventy-six did to the support of the Declaration of Independence, so to the support of the Constitution and laws let every American pledge his life, his property, and his sacred honor—let every man remember that to violate the law is to trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the charter of his own and his children's liberty.
-Abraham Lincoln

Wisdom Of Jefferson

Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government; that whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights.

-Thomas Jefferson

The Strenuous Life

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in that grey twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.
-Theodore Roosevelt, The Strenuous Life

Ethan Allen

Today is the birthdate of Ethan Allen in 1738, patriot and hero who (with Benedict Arnold) captured Fort Ticonderoga and was one of the founders of the state of Vermont. In his honor, we raise the flag of the Green Mountain Boys, a group of militia who Allen helped form and also was their first commander.

Richard Henry Lee

 

Today we honor the birthdate of Richard Henry Lee, born in 1732, a statesman in the Continental Congress as well as a senator from Virginia following the adoption of the Constitution, and the man who presented the Continental Congress in 1776 with a resolution from Virginia:

"Resolved: That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved."

Daniel Webster Birthday

Today we celebrate the birthdate of Daniel Webster, born in 1782 in New Hampshire. One of the great oraters of his time, Webster was a member of the House of Representatives (representing both New Hampshire and Massachusetts in his career), a Senator and Secretary of State to three presidents. In his honor we raise the New Hampshire and Massachusetts flags today.

　

"Let our object be, our country, our whole country, and nothing but our country. And, by the blessing of God, may that country itself become a vast and splendid monument, not of oppression and terror, but of Wisdom, of Peace, and of Liberty, upon which the world may gaze with admiration for ever!"

-Webster, from his address on Laying The Cornerstone Of The Bunker Hill Monument (1825)

The Battle Of Cowpens

Today marks the anniversary of the Battle of Cowpens in 1781, a victory for the Continental Army in South Carolina. To mark the day, we raise the Cowpens Flag, the United States flag which was flown during the battle, designed much like the Betsy Ross 13-star flag except for the one star in the middle of the circle. Independence Forever!

Words Of Daniel Webster

It is my living sentiment, and by the blessing of God it shall be my dying sentiment,—Independence now and Independence forever.
-Daniel Webster, Discourse in Commemoration of Adams and Jefferson

Davy Crockett

I leave this rule for others when I'm dead
Be always sure you're right - THEN GO AHEAD!
-Motto of Davy Crockett