We encourage our readers to take in the many events, which will become more frequent, being held in connection with the upcoming semiquincentennial.
That’s right. Next year, our nation celebrates its 250th birthday, the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
Unrest was already building in the colonies in 1775.
Our ancestors, by this point of 1775, were digesting Patrick Henry’s speech, the battles of Lexington and Concord, and Lord Dunmore’s seizure of powder from the magazine in Williamsburg. What did it all mean? Where would it lead? Which side would they support?
How many of these ancestors, in fact, could envision what would happen? They had no idea. Signers of the Declaration, in 1776, pledged themselves, their lives, their fortunes, and their “sacred honor” to the effort for independence.
That’s a commitment almost written in blood. We must continue to honor it. They knew not where their efforts would lead. They knew not if they would be killed, bankrupted, or thrown...