The Force of 1776 Enlightens Graduates Choosing New Paths

Bookmark and Share
1776 Enlightenment

This is a high-resolution image of the United States Declaration of Independence. This image is a version of the 1823 William Stone facsimile — Stone may well have used a wet pressing process (that removed ink from the original document onto a contact sheet for the purpose of making the engraving). via Wikimedia Commons

To the Class of 2025: Congratulations, you’ve just inherited the most powerful force in human history! As we celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, let us also honor your passage into self-determination. Like our Founding Fathers in 1776, Enlightenment principles guide you.

Of course, you might not think the Enlightenment is particularly relevant today, or to you personally. The dazzling philosophy that once sparked revolutions seems dated by today’s standards. However, your enlightenment is real, very personal, and no less profound.

Consider those graduating with you. The moment you share isn’t just about the diploma a school administrator hands you. It’s about the door that’s opening to reveal a brilliant light, beaming with a sudden surge of knowledge, freedom, and potential.

Sound familiar? It should.

The Light Side of 1776 Enlightenment

If you see why America’s 250th excites us, you’ll recognize the same ideals that powered our Continue Reading “The Force of 1776 Enlightens Graduates Choosing New Paths”

The Flame of Duty: U.S. Army Celebrates 250 Years of Enduring Spirit, Service, and Unity

Bookmark and Share

U.S. ArmyWhat makes a farmer grab a musket and risk it all?

Before the sun set on April 19, 1775, the rag-tag ruffians couldn’t believe what they had just accomplished. The British, that well-trained army of international fame, had retreated to Boston. Soon, thousands of militiamen from all the New England colonies would surround what John Winthrop had called 145 years earlier “the city on the hill.” The Revolutionary War had begun.

But it wasn’t that simple.

Two-and-a-half centuries ago, if we had remained divided, we would have fallen. The rag-tag ruffians may have won the day in Lexington and Concord, but they could not have sustained an extended military campaign. Our nation’s Founding Fathers knew that winning the Continue Reading “The Flame of Duty: U.S. Army Celebrates 250 Years of Enduring Spirit, Service, and Unity”

The Red Jacket Medal Mystery: Lost. Found? Still Unsolved.

Bookmark and Share
Red Jacket

Red Jacket, lithograph by Corbould from 1835 painting by C.B. King, printed by C. Hallmandel, via Wikipedia Commons

“Against Red Jacket Club,” blared the 1910 headline.1 Marking the beginning of the end, it referred to the exclusive Canandaigua social club that defined elite prestige in grand, well-appointed fashion for two decades. Everyone who was anyone sought an invitation to its annual party, which the group limited to 100 guests.

By 1910, its days were numbered. Unlike the earlier move to disband in 1908, this would be the final nail in the organization that had formed in 1888. The financial burden of operating with dwindling membership and maintaining the nearly century-old Federal-style mansion on the corner of Main and Gorham proved to be too heavy.2 Trustees representing the bondholders had no choice but to sell everything.

“All of the personal property of the famous Red Jacket Club, once the ‘swell’ organization of this village, was sold at auction… the club possesses among its relics a silver medal presented by President George Washington to the famous Indian chief, Red Jacket…”3

But the story of that shiny token goes back much further, well before the Club first laid eyes Continue Reading “The Red Jacket Medal Mystery: Lost. Found? Still Unsolved.”

Media Literacy Will Destroy Civilization

Bookmark and Share

A long time ago, in a galaxy not so far away, the idea of bringing computers into classrooms emerged as a real possibility. More than a possibility, it presented a strong controversy. “The kids lack the media literacy to judge what is real and what is make believe,” cried concerned citizens.

This was back in the 1990s. I was on what was then called the HF-L Technology Committee because of my computer background (and also because, as Town Board school liaison, I had to be on some committee). Today, those complaints seem naïve. And they were. But not for reasons you think.

It turns out secondary school students aren’t the only perpetrators of media illiteracy. We all Continue Reading “Media Literacy Will Destroy Civilization”

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Bigotry Cannot Defeat A Good And Honorable Man

Bookmark and Share

Previous: Wowed Waterloo Overcomes Tragedy To Welcome Hero

Dirck. C. Lansing, after his coal black hair turned white with age. Source: Adams, John Quincy, A History of Auburn Theological Seminary, 1818-1918, Auburn Seminary Press, Auburn, 1918

Why are people so mean? What prompts them to violate the rules of decorum just to get a dig in? How many good men do we lose because of this?

It turns out the Era of Good Feelings was less universal than we think. Or, rather, within those good feelings lay dormant seeds of discord that only needed time, and a good trigger, to flower into tension and, unfortunately, eventually into conflict.

But let’s not go there yet. Let’s harken back to the source of the unity that the Era of Good Feelings recalled.

While the Revolutionary War can be aptly described as a civil war, its aftermath brought harmony through the commonality of men who served in its victory. Not only did they share the wounds of war, but they also shared within the fellowship of it.

No better manifestation of the fraternity of commonness was the proliferation of Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Bigotry Cannot Defeat A Good And Honorable Man”

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: How Commonality Saved Captain Charles Williamson And Western New York

Bookmark and Share

Previous: Canandaigua Anxiously Waits Before Jubilation And An Elegant Supper

Captain Charles Williamson was responsible for developing much of the Genesee Country between Preemption Line and the Genesee River. Source: Main, William, Charles Williamson, Cowan & Co., Ltd., Perth, 1899, frontpiece

He was a proud Tory and Captain in the British army who volunteered to fight for King George III against the rebellious colonists. She was a proud Patriot whose father graciously saw in this prisoner of war a common human element.

Before we get into this backstory, let’s review why it’s so important.

In December 1786, the states of New York and Massachusetts agreed to resolve a conflict started by the kings of England. Those monarchs made a royal mess of Western New York, at one time or another granting rights to all or portions of it to no less than five colonies.

By the end of the American Revolution, three states had claims to the Greater Western New York region: New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut (a sliver along the southern tier). With Connecticut quickly quitting its claim, New York and Massachusetts stood nose-to-nose. With the Articles of Confederation dissolving, the two states decided to circumvent that ineffective parchment and meet in neutral territory. Ironically, this meeting took place in the state of Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: How Commonality Saved Captain Charles Williamson And Western New York”

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Timothy Barnard, A Soldier’s Story

Bookmark and Share

Previous: Competing Memories Turn Lafayette’s Rochester Visit From History To Mystery

Siege of Yorktown (1781), by Auguste Couder (1789–1873) Rochambeau (center L), Washington (center R), Marquis de La Fayette (behind Washington, L), Marquis de Saint Simon (behind Washington, R), Duke of Lauzun (L, mounted) and Comte de Ménonville (R of Washington). Source: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

“Another Revolutionary Patriot Gone.” That was the lead, buried at the very bottom of the third of seven dense columns on page two in the Tuesday, April 13, 1847, edition of the Geneva Courier. Three perfunctory sentences followed.

“Hon. TIMOTHY BARNARD, father of Hon. DANIEL D. BARNARD, the distinguished ex-member of Congress of the Albany district, died at Mendon on the 29th inst. Judge Barnard took an active part in the revolutionary struggle, and for his services he drew a pension until his death. For many years judge Barnard was associate judge of the old county of Ontario, and after Monroe county was set off; he held the same office in the latter county.”1

That was it. That was the sum total of nearly 91 years of life.

But there was more to Timothy Barnard. He represented all that made America great; that first generation of rebels turned heroes turned pioneers turned nation-builders. In a way, Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Timothy Barnard, A Soldier’s Story”

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: The Making Of The Buffalo And Erie Road

Bookmark and Share

Previous: Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: The State Of Greater Western New York In 1825

At the turn of the 19th century, a dense forest covered the southwest corner of New York State—what is now Chautauqua County. A rough trail that followed the Lake Erie shore represented the only visible evidence of human occupation. Except for what appeared to be remnants of a chimney right on the lake.1 The trail was brutal. Settlers journeying to Connecticut’s lands in the future state of Ohio preferred to take the water route over Lake Erie from Black Rock, just off Buffalo Creek.2

That chimney might well have been the ruins of what Sir William Johnson described as a Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: The Making Of The Buffalo And Erie Road”

Lafayette On The Folly Of Tolerance

Bookmark and Share

James Madison served as the fourth President of the United States from 1809 to 1817, immediately preceding James Monroe. History textbooks refer to him as the “Father of the Constitution” as he acted as the driving force in drafting both the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

A short three years prior to that seminal event, Madison traveled from Baltimore to Fort Stanwix to negotiate with the Iroquois Confederacy. Accompanying him was a young French general and a protégé of George Washington. That would be the Marquis de Lafayette.

This chance meeting formed what would become a lifelong bond between the two men. Very early on, Madison recognized Lafayette’s affinity with the American Indians, as well as Continue Reading “Lafayette On The Folly Of Tolerance”

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Lafayette Prepares To Enter The Greater Western New York Region

Bookmark and Share

Previous: Overview Of His 1824-1825 American Visit (Part II)

The sun rose the morning of Friday, June 3, 1825, at 4:05am local time in Waterford, Pennsylvania.1 Lafayette had two weeks—14 days—to travel 550 miles and visit almost two dozen towns and villages before the June 17th dedication of the Bunker Hill Monument in Boston. He was determined to meet every community he promised to visit. Speed was of the essence.

But he couldn’t show it. At least not in a too obvious way.

Roughly three hours after the break of dawn, at about 7 o’clock, Lafayette’s party left Waterford for the seat of the County, Erie, Pennsylvania.2 Though technically still in the Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Lafayette Prepares To Enter The Greater Western New York Region”

You cannot copy content of this page

Skip to content