The Birth Of Our Nation

The twelve-hour Ken Burns history of the Revolutionary War on PBS is not only a documentary; it is a document. In his unique way using paintings, voiceover, commentary, letters, diaries, sound effects and music, the stills come alive. This series should be seen by every American as part of our heritage.

Viewers are shown how our war for independence fit in a global context. What started as a redress of grievances grew to a full revolution against the most powerful empire at that time. To a great extent ours was a proxy war between Great Britain and France. Without French finance and materiel we would have likely been known as lower Canada, a dominion of the Crown.

Our battles with the British were just a part of the conflict. At the same time there were a dozen skirmishes with Native Americans and between tribes, slave uprisings and ongoing bitter combat between the loyalists and patriots; that was basically a civil war between families and friends. There were also divisions between New Englanders and those in states with plantations, a preview of what was to follow 85 years later. Implicit in that division were the seeds of an anti-government sentiment, particularly in the Scots-Irish of the South.

Even George Washington is shown with several military blunders yet he emerges as the heroic figure who deserves credit for holding the rag-tag army together.

It calls into question the motives of some of our Founders. John Hancock was a smuggler whose ships brought in goods from Caribbean islands eluded the British navy. John Paul Jones was a pirate and Washington, himself, a land speculator on Indian territory.

Women were dispossessed and endured terrible hardships during the six years of fighting. The letters of Abigail Adams are heartfelt and beautifully crafted works of literature. The hand-to-hand battles were largely fought by unpropertied men who were denied the vote at the end of it.

My guess is that most Americans don’t know much more than a few images of the Boston Tea Party, Washington crossing the Delaware River and Valley Forge. After watching this series one gets the full canvas with an understanding of the complex forces intersecting at the birth of our nation.

It was Emerson who wrote the phrase, The shot heard 'round the world. He had the vision to recognize those first shots at Lexington as the opening salvos which would resound among subjugated people everywhere, leading eventually to overthrow their domination by imperial powers. 

The question today is whether that new experiment called Democracy from 250 years ago can endure against the monarchial forces in our midst.