The Road To Victory & The Indispensable George Washington: The Story of America [Ep. 7]

And we return to Our American Stories. Up next, another story from our series about us, The Story of America. Here to tell the story is Hillsdale College Professor Bill Maclay, author of the terrific book, Land of Hope.

If you know or have young people in your life, check out his remarkable young readers edition too. After the Declaration of Independence was signed, the question became, what's next? Let's get into the story.

Take it away, Bill. The Declaration of Independence was a massive, amazing, world-changing achievement. But in a way, it was the easy part. It did not take a miracle to produce ringing words celebrating the cause of independence. It wasn't hard to have a few scattered military victories against an enemy that wasn't fully prepared for war and that had the bulk of its power across the seas. But the admonitions of people like John Dickinson began almost immediately to have some resonance. Dickinson said that the Declaration was a skiff made of paper. It was not destined to sail for long.

So it's the morning after a sort of a Hollywood moment where the camera moves through the crowd and everyone's cheering and bumping their fists in the air and feeling great inspiration. But at the same time, the very day on which the Continental Congress voted on independence, the British landed a force with no resistance on Staten Island. By August, they had in place a force of 30,000. This all happened immediately after the Declaration. And remember, the colonists were divided in their sentiments. You had a lot of people who were loyalists, wanted to stick with the king. Obviously, the bitterness between the Patriot cause and the Loyalist cause was only bound to grow. So many disadvantages that the Americans had coming into this, the lack of armed forces, the lack of trained armed forces, the lack of funds to provide for a reasonable and competent, let alone formidable armed forces to prosecute a war.

All of these things were lacking, throwing a shadow of doubt over the whole enterprise. Now, it's also true that Americans had, they were playing with a homefield advantage, a big dispersed home field. The British couldn't be everywhere at once. We were perhaps more motivated. The British regulars were supplemented by mercenaries, German speaking mercenaries, the Hessians and others that were basically soldiers for hire. They didn't have the passionate commitment, the cause that the colonists, the former colonists had. So there was motivation.

There was home field advantage. Another advantage was that the British were the chief power of the world, chief power of Europe. The French in particular were still kind of rubbing their wounds over the loss of their North American empire to the British. What fun it would be to come in on the side of the rebellious colonists and deal a blow to dethrone them from their dominance, almost all the rest of other countries of Europe, particularly those with imperial aspirations, would love to see Britain taken down several notches. So if France could be persuaded to join in, that would even the odds a bit.

That would compensate. So playing for French alliance support, whatever could be had, is always in the minds of the revolutionaries. And indeed, I think the Declaration of Independence was certainly written the places where you can almost see the appeal to the French popping out of the tech. And the Americans had one other great advantage. George Washington.

You know, there's a lot of efforts to debunk the founders. George Washington is just undebunkable. He was a truly great man. The more you know about him, the more you admire him. Just a fine character, a patriot. He strongly supported the patriot cause to oppose the British Parliament. He would have loved to retire to his beautiful estate in Mount Vernon.

Beautiful place, beautiful, restful place. But time and again, he came back into public life in trying situations, sort of do or die situations, and gave his blood, sweat, and tears for the sake of the national prospect and the national honor. He was virtually incorruptible, natural leader, big guy, tall, mousieur, big shoulders. He looked like a leader. And everybody respected him. The revolution was full of intrigue and backbiting.

The things you always have in human affairs is nothing out of the ordinary. Without a leader that everyone could agree on, everyone could look to, everyone could trust, regard with a sense of his dignity, bordering on awe. Without all of those things, it's hard to see that it would have all held together, particularly during the very, very difficult times. So without Washington's leadership, it's very hard to see how success could have occurred. One of the things he had to do was to raise an army and hold it together.

And that was a constantly shifting phenomenon. He didn't know from day to day how many soldiers he had. In August of 1776, he had 28,000 men under his command, a considerable number. By December of that year, he had 3,000. Desertions, deaths, defeats, militiamen who just went home. He faced this all the time.

When the army's morale went down, the army's numbers went down. Washington had to master the art of keeping people involved, keeping them on board, promising a better tomorrow, inspiring them with the sense of to suffer without griping and complaining and moaning and rebellion for the sake of a cause higher than yourself was what it was to be a man. He was very influenced by the great Romans, particularly Cicero, Cato, Cincinnatus. It may or may not actually have existed, but Cincinnatus was a citizen who was brought out of his private life as a farmer to be the dictator of Rome during a period to deal with a sticky situation and lead the military, which he did. And then he went back to his plan, back to his farm.

He did not choose to use the tremendous power at his disposal to install himself as a permanent leader. Anyway, Washington was often called the American Cincinnatus because he continually returned to his plow whenever he could. Cato the Younger, who opposed the tyranny of Julius Caesar and represented the Republic, was also a hero of Washington's. He had a play based on a famous play by Joseph Addison called Cato a Tragedy. He had it performed for the troops. He used it to inspire his own troops to take the route of nobility and self-sacrifice for a cause greater than oneself. So we couldn't have done better if we Americans could not have done better than to have Washington as our president.

And in addition to all that I've said, he was a pretty darn good militarian. And when we return, more of this remarkable story, and it is so true, without George Washington, the indispensable man, as so many historians call him, absolutely none of this is possible. The story continues with Bill McClay here on Our American Stories. And we return to The Story of Us, the Story of America series here on Our American Stories with Hillsdale College Professor Bill McClay. When we left off, Bill was telling us about George Washington and the early days of the American Revolution. Let's return to the story.

Here again is Bill McClay. The winner of 1776-77 was maybe the low point of the whole enterprise. Just a matter of months after that glorious, fist-bumping, cheering, triumphant declaration of independence, he faced this gloomy valley of despond. And what came to his rescue was Thomas Paine.

Thomas Paine wrote another document, in some ways even better than common sense. This was called The Crisis. It was a call to action. These are the times that try men's souls. What a beautiful sentence that is. It's poetry. These are the times that try men's souls.

There's so much there. One of the implications is that men will encounter times in which their souls will be tried. They'll be go through a trial faced with the possibility of defeat. The possibility of defeat. These are the times that try men's souls. We're in one of those times.

The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis shrink from the service of their country. But he that stands by it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny like hell is not easily conquered, yet we have this consolation with us that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly. It is dearness only that gives everything its value.

Heaven knows how to put a proper price on its goods. And it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated. Britain with an army to enforce her tyranny is declared she has a right not only to tax but to bind us in all cases whatsoever.

And if being bound in that matter is not slavery, then there is not such a thing as slavery upon earth. This rhetoric is much more powerful, much more incendiary, much more down to earth. The words are much more direct. These are the times that try men's souls. That's, wow, that's a powerful phrase. Tyranny like hell is not easily conquered.

Very punchy, powerful prose. Paine then goes on to address any self-doubt the colonists might have been feeling about the battle of the head and they sure were feeling it. Look at all those desertions. I have as little superstition in me as any man living, but my secret opinion has ever been and still is that God Almighty will not give up a people to military destruction or leave them unsupported to perish who have so earnestly and so repeatedly sought to avoid the calamities of war by every decent method which wisdom could invent. Neither have I so much of the infidel in me as to suppose that He, God, has relinquished the government of the world and given us up the care of devils.

And as I do not, I cannot see on what grounds the king of Britain can look up to heaven for help against us. Common murderer, a highwayman, or a housebreaker has as good a pretense as he. So he gives a field report to those who are not in the field, although eventually Washington would read these words to the men in the field. Our new army at both ends of the continent is recruiting fast and we shall be able to open the next campaign with 60,000 men well armed and clothed. This is our situation and who will may know it. By perseverance and fortitude we have the prospect of a glorious issue, a cowardice and submission, the sad choice of a variety of evils, a ravaged country, a depopulated city. Our homes turn into barracks and body houses for Hessians. Look on this picture and weep over it.