1776 – HOW DID THEY DO IT?
In 1776, America was a land of forests, rivers, mountains and coastlines. There were a handful of communities large enough to think of themselves as cities (Philadelphia had a population of about 40,000, New York had about 25,000, Boston had around 16,000, and Charleston had maybe 12,000, half of whom were enslaved). But it was mostly a land of wilderness, small farms carved out of the wilderness, and small towns and villages. The inhabitants were farmers, merchants, ship owners, blacksmiths, butchers, bakers, ministers, seamstresses, housewives, and free and enslaved Africans. Life was precarious. Disease, famine, weather, and accident took enormous tolls.
The colonists had come as immigrants seeking escape from religious persecution, or as merchants, or as indentured servants, or seeking a chance to own land. But almost all had come to find a better future than they could in Europe or other parts of the world. In 1776, many were descendants of early colonists and others were newly arrived, like Thomas Paine.
So how did they do it?
How did they convince a mostly rural population to come together and choose to cast off English rule, and choose freedom, and create a democratic form of government? Something they had never really heard of before.
How did they spark the idea of Freedom and Democracy across 13 young colonies spread out along 2,000 miles of British North America? How did they convince 13 competing colonies to act as one and take on one of the most powerful nations in the world?
So, how did they do it?
There was no TV. There were no cell phones. There was no internet. In fact, there were no telephones at all. The telegraph had not been invented. No such thing as electricity. No radio. Barely any roads; mostly dirt (mud) tracts. No cars. No trains. No planes. Not even bicycles. Power came from a damned river, or a horse, or an ox, or a man. Transportation was by foot, or horseback, boat, or bone-cracking wagon.
So, how did they do it?
What they did have was the printing press. The first printing press was brought to America in 1638 to Cambridge, Massachusetts and began to print the next year. Benjamin Franklin’s older brother, James (aged 21), acquired a printing press in 1718 and set up shop in Boston* (and was arrested for some of the things he printed). There were already 3 other printers in Boston. By 1776, there were probably about 100 master printers in 25 towns in the 13 colonies.
So, how did they do it?
How did they convince the widely separated population of 13 colonies, covering a vast distance, to come together and throw off the tyrannical rule of England?
They did it with IDEAS. They did it with WORDS. They did it with the PRINTING PRESS. That’s really all they had. And they threw off the tyranny of King George. They crafted a government “Of The People, By The People, For The People”. And 250 years later, we still enjoy the freedoms guaranteed in that government that they created. With words, and ideas, and the printing press.
Pamphlets like Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” were printed and sold hundreds of thousands of copies in 4 months. Caricatures of George III were drawn, and people like Paul Revere did engravings of events like “The Boston Massacre”. ** Word spread from neighbor to neighbor, and from the pulpit on Sundays, and in taverns, and in front of the village shop.
So, it seems to me, that we should be able to defeat the tyranny growing in Washington DC right now. We have far more powerful tools, better communication, better transportation, and a framework of democracy. And we have Ideas, and Words and the Printing Press.
So, as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of our country, how will we do it?
It is up to us, The People, to do the hard work of maintaining and defending our democracy. Talk to your neighbor. Listen to them. Have a respectful conversation. Ask for 5 minutes to stand up in church. Tell your book club or your fishing buddies, that you have something you want to ask them and talk to them about. Bring it up at a school board meeting. Ask what their most cherished Freedom is, of all the freedoms granted to us by the Constitution drafted by the Founding Fathers. Write a letter to the editor. Join a pro-democracy group. Make a plan. Commit. Because now is the time for us, not some of us, but all of us to stand up and speak out loud about the lies. About the corruption. About the attack on the rule of law. About the crushing of the economy for the average American. About the cruelty. About the tyranny. You can do it. Share an article that you think is important. Or share this letter. Or write one of your own.
We, The People, have the power. We just have to use it.
We are citizens, not subjects.
We just have to choose FREEDOM.
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Have a happy, safe, fun-filled celebration on this most special Fourth of July. Marilyn Lagrow
**For a fascinating, fast-paced, read on the beginnings of the revolutionary movement and James and Ben Franklin’s part in it, I highly recommend “The Fever of 1721” by Stephen Coss. It is also a fascinating look at the emergence of the science of “innoculation”, which I admit was a brilliant thing to read during the height of the Covid pandemic.
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