Posts

Colonel William Prescott Bunker Hill

On this day in 1775, the Battle of Bunker Hill (and Breed’s Hill) begins in Boston. Legend has it that it was during this battle that Patriot Colonel William Prescott gave soldiers this famous order: “Do not fire until you see the whites of their eyes!”
This was in order to conserve limited ammunition supplies.

“Be of one heart…”

It is with certainty, however, in August of 1774, in the wake of the Boston Tea Party and the subsequent Boston Port Bill blockading the harbor, that William Prescott wrote the people of the city this note of encouragement:

“Be not dismayed nor disheartened, in this great day of trials. We heartily sympathize with you, and are always ready to do all in our power for your support, comfort and relief; knowing that Providence has placed you where you must stand the first shock. We consider we are all embarked in (the same ship) and must sink or swim together. We think if we submit to these regulations, all is gone. Our forefathers passed the vast Atlantic, spent their blood and treasure, that they might enjoy their liberties, both civil and religious, and transmit them to their posterity. … Now if we should give them up, can our children rise up and call us blessed? … Let us all be of one heart, and stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free; and may he, of his infinite mercy grant us deliverance out of all our troubles.” (emphasis added)

Indeed, as Americans, whether we “sink or swim together” largely depends in how we collectively regard our lost founding.

Colonel William Prescott Bunker Hill

 

Boston Tea Party

On this day in 1773, a large group of the Sons of Liberty, led by patriot Samuel Adams, board three British tea ships and dump 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor. Of course, their nighttime raid became known as the “Boston Tea Party,” and was witnessed by thousands.

The Sons disguised themselves as Mohawk Indians to signal an end to their British subjection. The “Party” was, in fact, a protest of the Tea Act of 1773. This tyrannical Act of taxation was designed to allow the East India Company to undercut the rest of the tea market. Samuel Adams saw this British tea monopoly as identical to a tax, and ultimately, taxation without representation.

The ninety thousand pounds of dumped tea was worth more well over one million of today’s dollars.

Patriotic Protest

It is especially noteworthy that no damage was done to any ships, nor were any crew members injured. In fact, the next day, the ‘partiers’ replaced the lone padlock they broke. Now that’s why the Boston Tea Party was a patriotic protest.

Wear Our Samuel Adams shirt to your next party, or your next protest, for that matter:

 

Boston Tea Party

John Adams USS Boston

On this day in 1778, two future presidents of the United States, John Adams and his 10-year-old son John Quincy Adams, sit on board the frigate, Boston, off the coast of Massachusetts.
The warship will take them to France, where Adams will join Benjamin Franklin in securing France as an ally in the war against Great Britain.
Mr. Adams had to be smuggled because of British spies in Boston and British warships just off the coast.

On July 1, 1776, John Adams declared this before the Continental Congress:
“Before God, I believe the hour has come. My judgement approves this measure, and my whole heart is in it. All that I have, and all that I am, and all that I hope in this life, I am now ready here to stake upon it. And I leave off as I began, that live or die, survive or perish, I am for the Declaration. It is my living sentiment, and by the blessing of God it shall be my dying sentiment. Independence now, and Independence for ever!”

John Adams USS Boston

Benjamin Franklin Epitaph

On this day in 1706, Benjamin Franklin, the renowned Founding Father and prolific printer, patriot, scientist, statesman, etc. is born in Boston. He was the fifteenth of seventeen children.

Franklin lived until the ripe old age of 84, and died in his adopted home of Philadelphia, where he is buried.

Even in his early twenties, his wit and wisdom was on full display. Of note, in 1728 he wrote his own epitaph, revising and sharing it with friends throughout his life. Here is one such version, with a copy below:

The Body
of
Ben Franklin Printer,

Like the Cover of an old Book
Its contents torn out
And stript of its Lettering & Gilding,
Lies here Food for the Worms,
yet the Work shall not be lost:
For it will, as he believed, appear once more
In a new & most beautiful Edition,
Corrected and Amended
By
the Author.

Benjamin Franklin Epitaph

“I have lived a long time…”

At age 81, as the elder statesman at the Constitution Convention in his adopted home, Franklin urged the Assembly toward morning “prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on [their] deliberations.” In so doing, he made this famous quote, which inspired Our Benjamin Franklin shirt:

Samuel Adams Paul Revere artwork

On this day in 1775, the famous ride of American patriots Paul Revere and William Dawes helps Samuel Adams and John Hancock evade capture by British troops.

British troops marched out of Boston on a mission to confiscate American weapons and gunpowder at Concord. They are also determined to capture Patriot leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock at Lexington.

So, Paul Revere and William Dawes set out on horseback from Boston to warn Adams and Hancock. They also alerted the Minutemen, who had armed themselves and were prepared for the British.

The American Revolution begins early in the morning of the following day, with the “shot heard around the world.”

As Illustrated By…

Below is a side-by-side of the engraved bust portrait of Samuel Adams by Paul Revere and the Our Lost Founding shirt inspired by it. Thankfully, they sold well leading up to the November 2016 election, and beyond. These Founding Fathers continue to remind us all that when we vote we are “accountable to God and… Country.”

Find yours in the shop, HERE.

Samuel Adams Paul Revere artwork