Patrick Henry stood in front of Virginia’s capitol building and read aloud the Declaration of Independence, reminding the gathered crowd of the litany of abuses committed by George III as catalogued by fellow Virginian Thomas Jefferson: … He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by… Read More Two Days in Williamsburg (and a Night in Jamestown)
Say “Fredericksburg” and most people think of Civil War history. That’s understandable. The Virginia town was home to one of that conflict’s bloody battles. And the Confederates’ victory probably lengthened the War. But first settled in 1607, Fredericksburg’s history goes far further back. After the Battle of Yorktown, George Washington held a “great reception” at his brother Charles’… Read More Fredericksburg: From Revolution to Civil War
The polished wood gleams in the glow of flickering candles. It’s nighttime, and little moonlight breaks through the circular window panes in their cream-colored frames. Several dozen visitors have gathered in the courtroom of Colonial Williamsburg‘s dull-red brick Capitol building to serve as the jury in a recreated trial of Grace Sherwood, the “Virginia witch”.… Read More Cry Witch!
America is a nation built on the foundation of great ideas. But great ideas can be difficult to live out. This is true today, as we move further and further from the time when ideas like individual liberty and limited government were debated and developed from Congresses to coffeehouses. But it was also true then.… Read More War in the West