The Founding Fathers
2009-07-04 · Guest: Jerry Hurwitz (American Revolution Historian) · 59:56
Providential Moments and Principles of the American Revolution
Bob Zadek celebrates the Fourth of July by discussing the founding of the United States and the unique ideological principles contained within the Declaration of Independence. He is joined by attorney and military historian Jerry Hurwitz to explore the “accidents” of history that allowed the Revolution to succeed and the essential liberties established by the Founders.
Topics: Declaration of Independence, American Revolution, Revolutionary War, Founding Fathers, Essential Liberty, Princeton Battlefield
Speakers: Bob Zadek, Jerry Hurwitz
The Principles of the Founding [05:32]
Bob Zadek: This is Bob Zadek—lawyer, lecturer, libertarian—on Talk 910 KNEW. Welcome to The Bob Zadek Show. Hello, everybody, on this happy birthday to America, Fourth of July weekend.
Today’s show will be a celebration—a celebration of the signing and the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. We’re going to reminisce about the founding of the country. We’re going to share our favorite Revolutionary War stories, and I’m going to share with you, as best that I can, my favorite anecdotes about the American Revolution, especially these a few small, insignificant events, which, if they hadn’t happened, we wouldn’t have a country.
In this celebration of the Declaration of Independence, I invited a special guest to join me for today. I invited Jerry Hurwitz, who’s on the line with me now. Hello, Jerry.
Jerry Hurwitz: How are you, Bob?
Bob Zadek: Jerry, thanks for joining me. Let me introduce you, Jerry, to my listeners. Jerry has a very important role in my life. Jerry’s an attorney; he practices on the East Coast, in New Jersey and in Pennsylvania. But Jerry is quite special to me. Jerry and I met years and years and years ago—although Jerry’s not that old. We met many years ago at a lawyers’ meeting. And what made the meeting special was I had just discovered, in 1993, my interest in the American Revolution and the founding of our country. I’ll tell you in a second how I discovered it, how I stumbled upon it, if you will.
And there I was, enthusiastic with this discovery, and I met Jerry. Jerry and I were buddies, and I met Jerry at a lawyers’ meeting and I shared that with Jerry. And Jerry, who has been a student of American history and Revolutionary War battles for a very long time, knew, as far as I was concerned, everything there was to know about the American Revolution and about the battles. Jerry was good enough to give me a reading list to get me started and to share his love with the American Revolution. Jerry got me started. So thanks a lot, Jerry. Your introduction to American history started in 1993 or 1994, and it’s continued to this day. So I owe you a lot, Jerry.
Now let me tell you about Jerry. Jerry is an attorney. Jerry is a reenactor. He’s an avid military historian. He specializes in the study of the American Revolution. He’s president of the Princeton Battlefield Area Preservation Society. I visited the Princeton Battlefield with Jerry, and it was the site of Washington’s first victory over the British and the site where the first Marine was killed on a battlefield. Jerry’s a member of the Washington Crossing Revolutionary War Roundtable and the recreated Revolutionary War units, 43rd Regiment of Foot and 2nd Pennsylvania Regiment. So Jerry is a reenactor. He’s got all the gear; he’s got the uniform, the musket, and he frequently speaks about American history. So Jerry’s going to join me today to share in this celebration of the Revolution and the battles that brought us America. Jerry, thanks so much for joining me.
Jerry Hurwitz: Well, thank you for having me.
Bob Zadek: Now, this show, I’m going to share with you folks out there—and Jerry perhaps will share as well—what the American Revolution, what are the ideals, what are the principles that the Founders have given us? Because libertarian doctrine—libertarians start first and foremost with principles. And from the principles, a country was built and we live our, at least our political lives.
The United States is unique in the world. It’s unique because it is the only country ever—the only country ever—to be built around, created around, a set of ideals. All other countries were formed geographically; they were formed because people happened to live there and they united to fight off invaders. America was formed based upon principles. And this is the weekend to celebrate those principles.
I invite you listeners out there to share with me the principles that you see in the founding of our country. What principles did Adams and Washington and Jefferson and Hancock and Hamilton—what principles would they want us to follow today, and are we following them? And the second theme of this show is, as I said, there were in early American history accidents. Some Jerry will share with you, some I will share with you. They changed about 25% of it. And the last line, which Jefferson wrote, they preserved. And the last line of the Declaration is one of the themes of today’s show.
Reenacting the Revolution [11:51]
Bob Zadek: The Declaration closes with, “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance upon the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.” You can’t pledge much more than that. The point is they asked for the protection of divine providence. And as you will see today, that protection was afforded.
So we’re going to discuss the principles of the American Revolution, the accidents, the divine providential intervention that gave us our country. And what does the American Revolution mean to us today and are we following it? Jerry, tell us a bit about the your participation in reenactment battles.
Jerry Hurwitz: Well, Bob, I’ve been doing it since 1977. During the—I started during the bicentennial. I—I belong to a unit that represents both the—uh—British and the Americans. We do—we play different roles depending upon the—uh—the event that we are commemorating. We do Valley Forge; we will do it as 2nd Pennsylvania. When we do a lot of the battle reenactments, we do them as British. They just simply need to have—uh—uh—people representing—uh—the British more often, since obviously most—uh—most Americans prefer to represent—uh—the American side.
Bob Zadek: Do you represent a particular soldier?
Jerry Hurwitz: W—I—I have represented a—not a particular named soldier, but I have been a private, I’ve been a corporal—uh—in—uh—the 43rd Regiment of Foot, which is—uh—the British unit actually that was stationed in Boston, was at Bunker Hill, had representatives—uh—at Lexington and Concord, and was—uh—ultimately was captured at Yorktown. So it was there from the beginning of the war till the end of the war.
And the 2nd Pennsylvania Regiment, which—uh—was—uh—reorganized at the end of ‘76, 1776, and was around until—also was at Yorktown. Uh—so—uh—both these—uh—these units are, I guess, good representative units of—uh—uh—of the—uh—units that served during the American Revolution. And I also now play an ensign, which means I am now finally, after 30 years, promoted to a commissioned officer, so I carry the flag.
Bob Zadek: Congratulations. Uh—I welcome you folks out there to join Jerry and I and to share your thoughts on the American Revolution, your questions on the founding of our country at 1-800-345-5639, 1-800-345-KNEW, or if you choose, anywhere in the country, Bob@BobZadek.com. Go to my website, email to Bob Zadek. We’ll get the email right away.
We’d love to learn from you: what does the American Revolution mean to you? What are the principles that you take away from studying the American Revolution? Most folks don’t know that early in the war, General Washington came very, very close to being killed. Now, Washington, throughout the battle, had unbelievable heroism and courage. He never showed fear. He was, of course, one of the tallest men in the colonies, a commanding figure. He never showed fear. He was always in the front.
There was a moment when Washington could have been killed. I think it is documented. When we come back, Jerry will tell us that moment in New Jersey when we almost lost our first president during the Revolutionary War. This is Bob Zadek, Talk 910 KNEW, 1-800-345-5639, Bob@BobZadek.com. We’ll be right back to learn about General Washington from Jerry Hurwitz.
Libertarian Principles and the Founding [17:42]
Bob Zadek: Welcome back to the Bob Zadek Show. I’m your host, Bob Zadek, on this birthday of our country weekend—my favorite holiday of the year, of course. This is libertarian talk radio in the Bay Area and around the world. I’m joined today to celebrate the Declaration of Independence, the founding of our country. I’m joined by Jerry Hurwitz, Revolutionary War reenactor and avid American history historian.
This is my favorite weekend, and what I’m driven by is—and I always look to solidify and to firm in my own head—the principles that the founders hoped that we would follow, the principles that were in their head as they worked for and ultimately built our country. It’s the principles that are important. And the principles are especially important to me as a libertarian because I find the current political parties, the Democrats and the Republicans, totally devoid of any core principles. Those political parties are nothing more than marketing machines. There are no core principles except “reelect us,” whether you’re Democrats or Republicans.
So if you look for principles, you have to look elsewhere. You have to look into libertarian thought to find the principles of our country. What principles—what do those principles mean to you? What principles do you find in a study of American history and the founding of our republic? 1-800-345-5639, Bob@BobZadek.com.
Jerry, before the break, I asked that you share with us that story early in the Revolution when we almost lost General Washington. Tell us about it.
Jerry Hurwitz: Actually there are actually two incidences.
Providential Escapes of George Washington [21:34]
Jerry Hurwitz: One was at the Battle of Princeton when Washington was rallying two brigades of American soldiers which had been routed off the field, and he brought them back in. And he rode between the lines, and these lines were only divided by what they said was thirty paces, approximately fifty yards. And they actually fired a volley. He was right there in the middle when they were firing a volley at each other. And there’s a story about American soldiers covering their eyes, you know, because they were afraid to see Washington being killed. And of course, he didn’t. But it just shows you his tremendous bravery. And of course, it helped that the weapons back then were smoothbore weapons; they were not very accurate.
But the other incident is at Brandywine, where a British officer had invented a special rifle.
Bob Zadek: Brandywine was another battle in New Jersey, correct?
Jerry Hurwitz: Actually, Pennsylvania. Sorry, Pennsylvania. And Washington was out, you know, riding and trying to scout out the British lines. And this elite group of British riflemen—again, these are armed with a revolutionary type of weapon, a breech-loading rifle—had Washington in their sights. And these were marksmen. And the officer in charge of that elite group of British riflemen forbade those soldiers from shooting at Washington because it was considered kind of ungentlemanly in the eighteenth century to actually aim at an officer. It was fine if an officer was killed in a volley—you weren’t specifically aiming at him—but it was really ungentlemanly to actually aim at an officer. And it’s fair to assume that had they overcome that behavior, that sense of honor—you don’t fire at an officer to kill them—Washington could very well have been killed.
Bob Zadek: Absolutely. It could have changed American history. By the way, American soldiers didn’t have any such compunction. The American riflemen did; they aimed at officers, they aimed at the generals. In fact, they did kill several generals. But they revolutionized warfare because after the Revolution, the British adopted the rifle as a weapon, and they no longer had such hesitations when they went against the French in the Napoleonic Wars.
There’s another story involving Washington and what I’ll call divine intervention, as was hoped for when the Declaration was signed. And that, Jerry—and you can help me fill in the details—involved Washington’s attack on the Hessians on Christmas Eve of 1775. When he crossed the Delaware River with the aid of the Gloucester fishermen, and he crossed, and his hope was—he needed, Washington desperately needed a victory. The enlistments of his men were going to be up in six days. They were unlikely to re-enlist. He had been defeated in New York, defeated in Brooklyn. He crossed New Jersey in defeat, and he was in Pennsylvania, and the British gave him up for dead—not actually dead, but gave his army up for lost. And the British retreated or left to go back to New York to winter.
And Washington had these defeats and these retreats, and he needed a victory. So Washington, of course, in that famous painting, Washington Crossing the Delaware—Washington put together a plan to attack the Hessians on Christmas Eve while they were celebrating in Trenton. For Washington to succeed with his 2,600 men, he needed the element of surprise. Without surprise, he was a goner. And he did his best to preserve secrecy, but a spy, a Tory, if I’m not mistaken, learned what Washington was doing and rode to the Hessian headquarters in Trenton and knocked on the door where General Rahl, the Hessian general, was partying and said, as I remember the story, “I must speak with General Rahl. I must speak with him.”
And the officer didn’t want to bother the general because the general was partying and drinking heavily. And so he wouldn’t let this Tory speak to General Rahl. So this Tory, the spy, wrote a note to General Rahl, telling him, “Washington is coming. You better get ready.” Washington gets to Trenton a little bit later than he thought. He, in fact, totally surprised the Hessians. He didn’t lose one man, captured a lot of weapons, a lot of cannon, and killed a lot of Hessians, including General Rahl. General Rahl was mortally wounded. When he died, in the pocket of his coat was the note, unopened. Had that note been opened, had he opened and read the note, the surprise would have been lost, and probably Washington’s attempt at attacking the Hessians would have failed. The enlistees would have gone home. The war would have ended in 1775. Is that a fair depiction of the story, Jerry?
Jerry Hurwitz: Well, actually, it’s a bit more—a bit more when I say a bit more involved. von Rahl was actually out looking for Washington that night. He had been—because he had been told Washington was coming. Mind you, they had been hearing these rumors every single day for the couple of weeks they were there: “Washington is coming, Washington’s coming.” Of course, they said, “Because so is Christmas,” right? But in other words, they just didn’t know when. And they had been looking, and they had actually had men up on alarms.
And that evening, that very evening, there had been an alarm that they had seen some American militiamen north of Trenton, and he took his units out, and they were looking for Washington. They were looking for it, and they found nothing. It was like 9:00 p.m., 10:00 p.m., and they went back to the barracks. They said, “The weather is getting bad. He’s not coming. I mean, we’ve been looking for him for days and days. He’s not coming. And the weather’s bad; he’s not going to come.” And so, you know, I’m sure when that message was delivered, he said, “Oh, yeah, I’m going to hear another story. Washington’s coming. Right. Sure.” And of course, there was a snowstorm. They did not expect that the American Army would cross the Delaware in a snowstorm. So that weather really did help.
Bob Zadek: And that was thanks to the lobster fishermen who rowed Washington across the Delaware, those heavy ore-carrying boats.
Jerry Hurwitz: That’s right, the Marbleheaders.
Bob Zadek: Absolutely, the Marblehead fishermen, right.
Jerry Hurwitz: Right. So there’s actually—unfortunately, they left the army after that campaign, and they went back up to Massachusetts to serve on the privateers, because there was more money to be made on the privateers. But they did what they needed to do at that time. And they moved 2,600 men and their horses across the Delaware.
Bob Zadek: To haul cannon and cannon. And there were 2,600 men, if I’m not mistaken.
Jerry Hurwitz: Yes.
Bob Zadek: So there are these events, these providential events that are little known, which would have altered the course of the Revolution. And so when the Founders asked for help, they got it. They got help in these accidents. Another story which I would love to share after we come back from break involves none other than Benedict Arnold and West Point, which was an important fort controlling the Hudson River. There, but for three militiamen intercepting a British general, probably the war would have been lost. Probably. It’s only speculation.
I’m talking with Jerry Hurwitz, Revolutionary War historian, reenactor. We’re talking about the accidents that gave us our country and what does the Revolution mean to us? 800-345-5639. Bob@BobZadek.com. We’ll be right back.
Bob Zadek: Welcome back to the Bob Zadek Show. I’m your host, Bob Zadek, on this Fourth of July Independence Day weekend, celebrating the founding of our country, our favorite American revolutionary founders, favorite stories about them, and why I love studying American history so much and why I am a libertarian.
My personal journey—I I discovered the American Revolution. I discovered this, my life’s commitment, in 1993. I can tell you the date: it was October of 1993. I was watching a program called Booknotes, hosted by Brian Lamb on C-SPAN, where he interviews then-contemporary nonfiction authors. And he interviewed Joseph Ellis, a wonderful contemporary historian on the American Revolution. And Joseph Ellis had just written the book called Passionate Sage, which I commend to you—Passionate Sage—about the retirement years of John Adams from 1800 to his death in 1826.
And I watched the interview and it struck—I had no real background in American history, but the book seemed interesting. So I went out and I bought the book, and I couldn’t put it down. And I was learning American history, I’m embarrassed to say, for the first time. I’d never really learned it or paid attention. Well, I read the book. I had goosebumps. I couldn’t put it down.
And I then shared that with Jerry, who’s on the line with me today. And Jerry recommended—Jerry, you’re not going to remember the book you recommended, I don’t think—but what I told Jerry, I said, “Jerry, I love this stuff. Can you give me a reading list?” Jerry’s next recommendation—and Jerry, you may not remember this—was Patriots.
Jerry Hurwitz: I have it. I have it right with me.
Bob Zadek: I do too. And Jerry said, “That’s a great book. It’s—it’s like a starter book.” I said, “Cool.” So I read Patriots, which is a brief discussion of all of the patriots and why they were important. Well, I couldn’t put that book down. And I was off. And from those—from that first reading of Passionate Sage, from reading Patriots, which Jerry recommended, I was hooked.
And my view of government changed. My love of American history was kindled. And I’ve been an avid reader of American history since that Booknotes program in October of 1993. And it’s been a wonderful, wonderful journey. And what you find is, when you study this and when you go back to our—the principles that are at the roots of our country, at the founding of our country, you find yourself for the first time—you have a set of principles by which to measure and to evaluate your relationship to your government and your government’s relationship to you. It’s just—it seems pure and healthy, and most importantly, it seems right. And you can put yourself to some degree into the head of the founders, and you can feel yourself to some small degree living your political life the way the founders would have liked it.
And that’s the purity for me that comes from studying American history. It’s in a way—it’s reading the Talmud. It’s reading this—the roots, the intellectual, psychological, and political roots, and learning what your relationship should be to your government. And I’m just—I’m hooked, and I commend—I commend the study to the folks out there. And what does government—as you study American history, as you read libertarian thought, what are your principles? What do you take from those—that study, from that commitment to libertarian principles? What do you take away? And how do you see your relationship to government and government’s relationship to you? 800-345-5639, bob@bobzadek.com.
The Treason of Benedict Arnold [38:45]
Bob Zadek: Now, Jerry, before—before we went to break, um, I wanted to—I invited you to share with me a discussion of this seminal military event, which clearly altered the course of the Revolution, and it involved Benedict Arnold. Benedict Arnold, whose very name has become “traitor” in American history.
Benedict Arnold was one of Washington’s somewhat adopted sons. Washington had no children—one of the few presidents with no children—and Washington would adopt young military men to be his surrogate sons. Alexander Hamilton was one, and Benedict Arnold for sure was one because he was brave and smart and aggressive and ambitious.
Well, Benedict Arnold turned on Washington, probably under the spell of his Tory wife, Peggy Shippen. And Benedict Arnold was commandant of West Point. West Point was a crucial fort which controlled the Hudson. Without control of the Hudson, the British would divide the colonies and the—and the col—and the founders would have a tough time of it with—with the Hudson controlled by the British.
Benedict Arnold concocted a plan to turn over West Point to the British in exchange for being appointed a military general and money and serving with honor in the British—the British Army. And Arnold’s plan involved meeting with a British general named John André. And André met Benedict Arnold at West Point in 1780, if I’m not mistaken, and Arnold handed John André the map of West Point to take to General Clinton, who is a British general in New York.
Had André been successful, and had Clinton been successful in taking West Point, the war could very well have been lost in 1780. And André, having left Benedict Arnold, is on his way to New York, riding down the Hudson, and he is accosted by three militiamen—American militiamen—who captured John André, and who search him and find this map in Benedict Arnold’s handwriting. They’re not sure what it means, but they know it’s important.
And they take André back to West Point. Benedict Arnold is not there. He’s out. But General Washington is there, who’s paying a surprise visit on his surrogate son, Benedict Arnold. And Washington immediately catches on that Benedict Arnold has turned. Washington accused him of being a spy because he was dressed in civilian clothing. André knew he was going to be executed, pled, “Please, General Washington, let me die as a soldier with a firing squad.” Washington was so angry, and contrary to the instructions of his men, Washington had André hung like a criminal in disgrace.
The British tried to negotiate for André’s release, offering to trade any American prisoner for André in a prisoner-of-war exchange. Washington said, “The only man I will accept is Benedict Arnold.” The British would not turn over Benedict Arnold, and André was executed. But for those militiamen who quite by chance intercepted John André, the war could very well have been lost. Jerry, what’d I leave out?
Jerry Hurwitz: I—well, simply that I—I think, uh, part of the problem was with André was he was supposed to go back on ship. I mean, everything—he—they’d constantly met, uh, you know, along the Hudson. That was the—had a ship that was halfway up the Hudson and they would meet. And—and they got delayed, and there was a—uh, and basically, uh, Arnold’s—uh, you know, said to André, “You have to go overland, unfortunately. Sorry, it’s too bad for you, but you should be all right, don’t worry about it.” And, uh, André, you know, was not really prepared for this, but he was kind of left—he had it—you know, had his—make his, um, his own way back and he didn’t—you know, he wasn’t prepared for it. So, um, uh, that’s what, you know, befell him.
Bob Zadek: And military historians, what do they imagine would have happened had André been successful?
Jerry Hurwitz: Well, of course it would have been an enormous blow. I mean, this was the American Gibraltar. Uh, West Point controlled the—uh, you know, the crossing points, uh, to—connected New England with the mid-Atlantic colonies and, uh, gave major garrison up there and, uh, a major strategic, uh, you know, fort.
Would you like the summary of the next chapter?
Washington’s Faith and the French and Indian War [42:39]
Bob Zadek: Not only that, though, but but I’m gonna tell you, Arnold had almost also planned if he could—you know, if Washington had gotten up there—and he would have surrendered the whole thing, he would have taken Washington with him. Um, but as I said, it it Washington uh caught on thanks to those three militiamen. Jerry, I’d like to hear from Martin on line one. Martin, welcome to The Bob Zadek Show.
Martin: Good afternoon, Bob Zadek, and your guest there. Good afternoon. I appreciate uh having the time to talk about the subject. I got interested in the American Revolution long after I was out of high school. I um started taking interest in faith and uh had a a religious kind of uh change in my life in the Bible, and that kind of gave me some uh kind of a basis for values and understanding where we came from. And it’s something uh revolutionary—uh, all history, especially American history, was really boring the way it was presented in high school. It didn’t have seemed to have any kind of um rhyme or reason; there was just names and dates, names and dates.
And then I st—I stumbled on this place called the John Birch Society bookstore in Santa Rosa. I lived in Sonoma County for twenty years and uh the people—you know, there’s some old people there—but they had some great great literature that I that told you about, like you were talking about, along the lines of George Washington. I remember uh one of the vignettes, and there was a movie that I rented later—I even found a one at Blockbuster—was really good. It was an obscure kind of movie about the the Washington Revolutionary War and how how many miraculous events uh coincided.
And then and um one of them was where George Washington was aiding the British army in the French and Indian War and how the Indians, the Indian chiefs, had told their braves to hit the officers, and George Washington was a British officer at the time. He was one of—I think he was the only one or one of the only ones to survive in that in that uh conflagration, and the Indian chief tracked him down for years. He had to find out how he was preserved. Because the guy, George Washington, was—his jacket took several bullet holes. He lost a horse—several horses, I think—out from under him, and he still survived. He didn’t die; he didn’t get even mortal wounds. And he—I don’t even know if he was even nicked.
And uh the the Indian caught up with him years later. He said, “I know it was a Great Spirit that preserved you,” and uh and they had a chance to actually meet later on. And George Washington was a praying man. He prayed several hours a day; it was noted by many people independently of each other. That he—they they were there passing the library, they noticed George Washington would be there and on his knees praying every day. Two hours. So there was a faith involved. I believe that he had a strong faith. I don’t know what his uh—he never told us exactly what he was doing. He’s probably a deist. But um it’s interesting, all these uh all these things that culminated: the strong faith of people, like the Minutemen, who were very religious. They were involved with church and they would go to church, worship, and then we go outside and do these drills. And how how intimately faith was involved in the founding of the country. There were very few atrocities, you know, to in the American Revolutionary War on both sides, and that had a lot to do with the revivals that were going on, I believe, on both sides of the Atlantic.
Bob Zadek: Well, there were there were atrocities. Uh, Tarleton committed atrocities, Jerry, um uh down in the Southern campaign. Uh, when we come back, when we come back to The Bob Zadek Show after break, I’m going to share with you the second time—after the revolu—after the battles were over—the second time George Washington saved our country, and it involved his vision. This is Bob Zadek, Talk 910 KNEW. 800-345-5639. Bob@BobZadek.com. I’ll be right back.
The 50th Anniversary of Independence [49:15]
Bob Zadek: Welcome back to The Bob Zadek Show. I’m your host, Bob Zadek. I’m joined today by Jerry Hurwitz. Jerry is a Revolutionary War reenactor, avid American historian, and a student of military history, especially the American Revolution. We are celebrating Independence Day weekend, July 4th. July 4th, of course, is not the date the Declaration was drafted. The Declaration was drafted, and the resolution adopting it was July 2nd. In fact, John Adams felt that July 2nd would be Independence Day. But the resolution, the Declaration itself, was accepted on July 4th, and it wasn’t signed until later that summer, sometime early in August.
July 4th is important in another—is very significant for another reason. On July 4th, 1826, it was the 50th anniversary of the signing. There were three remaining signers still alive on July 4th, 1826: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Charles Carroll of Carrollton, I believe. He was the third. Adams was 91. The second, by the way, the second longest living president, I think behind Ronald Reagan, if I’m not mistaken, but maybe the longest living president. He was 91. Jefferson was eight years younger. They had been corresponding since 1812. They wrote 154 letters back and forth. And they were both—these two great men were holding on by a thread. Determined, determined to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, which these two men had signed.
There’s a wonderful story about John Adams. On June 30th, 1826, John Adams was living in retirement in Quincy. He was failing very fast, but determined to hold on. On June 30th, the town fathers of Quincy, Massachusetts, visited President Adams and asked him if he would give them a toast which they could read for him at the celebration of the signing on July 4th, 1826, in Quincy. And John Adams thought for a moment and he said, “I will give you: Independence forever.” He was asked by the town fathers if there was one—if he wanted to add something more. Adams said, “Not a word.” And he died early in the afternoon of July 4th, 1826.
The Newburgh Conspiracy [53:38]
Bob Zadek: Jefferson also died on the same day, July 4th, 1826. Adams’ last words before he died were, “Jefferson still survives.” He lived longer than me because they were rivals, or it’s okay for me to die—Jefferson is around to look after things. Death of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, July 4th, 1826.
Now, Jerry, before the break—that’s my favorite, by the way, favorite John Adams story. Before the break, Jerry, we talked about, or I raised the topic of President Washington and his—he was not then president—and his glasses. There was a story about a rebellion in, I think it was 1782 in Newburgh, New York, if I’m not mistaken, Jerry. No, I’m talking about when his—when there was a—oh, it was March of 1783.
And Washington and his men—the war was essentially over, and now they were preserving the peace. And his officers hadn’t been paid, and they felt abandoned by Congress. And they were going to mutiny. And his officers were going to mutiny, and they were meeting in secret to mutiny. And Washington got wind of it.
And Washington, who had fought with these men for seven years side by side—they loved him, they respected him, but they were going to mutiny. And they felt they weren’t being paid, they weren’t given land, and they had a secret meeting in Newburgh to mutiny. And Washington found out about it. And he played a surprise visit to these officers who adored him. And he begged them, “Don’t mutiny, preserve the peace. We fought so hard.”
And Washington, in front of these men, he reached into his pocket and he said, “I have a letter from a congressman that will prove the good faith of the government. Trust me.” And it was written on parchment, and he took it out of his pocket and he unfolded it. And it was very dark in the tavern, and he couldn’t really read the letter. And then Washington’s hands were trembling as he fumbled for these glasses that he wore, but never in public. He never wanted to show any sign of weakness. So he never took his glasses out. But now he did, so he can read the letter.
And he was mortified. And he said to the men, “Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have not only grown gray, but almost blind in the service of my country.” He started to read the letter. His voice was trembling, and he couldn’t do it. He left the room without saying a word. All of these hardened soldiers started to weep. They cried openly. The mutiny was over. The country was saved once again. General Washington had the respect of his men, and that saved the country from a mutiny of the generals, of his officers. It’s my favorite George Washington story. And it shows just the greatness of the man.
Franklin’s Rising Sun [58:15]
Bob Zadek: The last story. He was the oldest man, he was 70 years old. And he sat there during the convention, hearing the debates, not knowing if it was going to succeed or fail. And on the back of the president’s chair was a rising or a setting sun. He couldn’t tell which. And he stood before the men. Once they crashed over the hurdle, and they knew they were going to have a constitution, Ben Franklin said, “Often and often in the course of this session and the vicissitudes of my hopes and fears as to this issue, I looked behind the president’s chair without being able to tell whether it was a rising sun or a setting sun. But now at length I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun.”
Ben Franklin was right. Our country was a rising sun. We have survived for 233 years. Thank you so much for joining me today on the Bob Zadek Show and my host, Jerry Hurwitz. I’ll be back next week. Bob at BobZadek.com, 1-800-345-5639. Thanks for listening.