This commentary originally appeared in the North Dallas Gazette on July 4, 2015.
In 1843, a young man named Mellen Chamberlain had the opportunity to speak with a Captain Levi Preston of Danvers, Massachusetts. Captain Preston was no ordinary neighbor: the old man of 91 years was in fact one of the last surviving veterans of the Battle of Concord — the desperate fight of the American militia against the British Redcoats on April 19th, 1775, that marked the opening of the American Revolution. Chamberlain, born two generations following American Independence, seized the opportunity to ask a soldier of the Revolution why he fought:
“Captain Preston” — asked Chamberlain — “what made you go to the Concord Fight?”
“What did I go for?” replied the old man.
“Were you oppressed by the Stamp Act?”
“I never saw any stamps, and I always understood that none were ever sold.”
“Well, what about the tea tax?”
“Tea-tax! I never drank a drop of the stuff, the boys threw it all overboard.”
“But I suppose you had been reading Harrington, Sidney, and Locke about the eternal principle of liberty?”
“Never heard of ‘em. The only books we had were the Bible, the Catechism, Watts’ Psalms and Hymns, and the Almanack.”
Chamberlain was perplexed. “Well, then,” he finally asked the aged Captain Preston, “what was the matter?”
Captain Levi Preston, 91 years old, looked upon young Mellen Chamberlain as if having to explain the most basic imaginable thing. Finally, he said:
“Young man, what we meant in going for those Redcoats was this: we always had governed ourselves, and we always meant to. They didn’t mean we should.”
Today, July 4th, 2015, marks the 239th year of American Independence. It was won by men and women like Levi Preston, who saw men who meant to govern him — and fought for the right to govern himself instead. It was the same fight waged by the Texas Revolutionaries exactly six decades later. And it is the same fight that we who love liberty, the Constitution, and our rights advance today.
We are honored to serve in that tradition. We are privileged to inherit that legacy. And as we mark this July 4th, we at the Texas Public Policy Foundation remember that first generation of Americans who risked all …
— from the stand at Lexington and Concord …
— to the rout at Long Island …
— to the ferocity of the New Jersey forage war …
— to the desperate gamble at Trenton …
— to the bitter suffering at Valley Forge …
— to the final triumph at Yorktown …
… and won.