Captain Preston, what made you go to the Concord Fight?“We always had governed ourselves, and we always meant to.” That was the bottom line for the entire Revolutionary War. They were not going to let an increasingly oppressive authority in some distant capitol that was not responsive to the will of the people dictate to them how they were going to live their lives.
What did I go for?
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?
I never heard of these men. The only books we had were the Bible, the Catechism, Watts’ psalms and hymns and the almanacs.
Well, then, what was the matter?
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.
Something to remember as we celebrate Independence Day.
