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

Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we returned 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 McClay,
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 two. After the Declaration of(00:32):
Independence was signed, the question became, what’s next. Let’s get
into the story.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Take it away, Bill, The Declaration of Independence was a massive, amazing,
world changing achievement.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
But in a way, it was the easy part. It
did not take a miracle.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
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

(01:24):
to have some residents.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
Dickinson said that the declaration was a skiff made of paper.
It was not destined to sail for long.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
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.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
But at the same time, the very day on which.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
The Continental Congress voted on independence, the British landed a
force with no resistance on Staten Island. By August they
had in place of force of thirty thousand.

Speaker 3 (02:11):
This all happened to immediately have for the declaration.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
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,

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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 enterprons. Now it’s also true that Americans

(03:02):
had they were playing with the home field advantage, a big,
dispersed home field.

Speaker 3 (03:07):
The British couldn’t be everywhere at once.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
We were perhaps more motivate the British regulars were supplemented
by mercenaries, German speaking mercenaries, the Haitians and others that
were basically soldiers for hire. They didn’t have the passionate
commitment the cost that the colonists the former colonists had,

(03:31):
so there was motivation, There was home field advantage.

Speaker 3 (03:35):
Another advantage was that.

Speaker 2 (03:36):
The British were the chief power of the world, chief
power of bureau. The French in particular were still kind
of rubbing their wounds over the loss of.

Speaker 3 (03:48):
Their North American Empire.

Speaker 2 (03:50):
To the British, what fun it would be to come
in on the side of the rebellious colonists and deal
a blow to throw them from their dominance. Almost all
the other countries of Europe, particularly those with imperial aspirations,
would love to see Britain taken down several notches. So

(04:13):
if France could be persuaded to join in.

Speaker 3 (04:16):
That would even the odds of it. That would compensate.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
So playing for French alliance support whatever could be had
as always in the minds of the revolutionaries, and indeed,
I think the Decoration of Independence was certainly written the
places where you can almost see the appeal to the
French popping out of the tech.

Speaker 3 (04:38):
And the Americans had one other great advantage, George Washington.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
You know, there’s a lot of efforts to debunk the founders.
George Washington’s 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 pose the British Parliament.

Speaker 3 (05:04):
He would have loved to retire to his.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
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 situation, and
gave his blood, sweat and tears for the sake of
the national prospect, of the national honor. He was virtually incorruptible,

(05:32):
natural leader, big guy, tall, mousyar, big shoulders.

Speaker 3 (05:36):
He looked like a leader, and everybody respected him.

Speaker 2 (05:40):
The revolution was full of intrigue and backbiting, the things
you always have in human affairs.

Speaker 3 (05:48):
It was nothing out of the ordinary.

Speaker 2 (05:51):
Without a leader that everyone could agree on, everyone could
look to, everyone could trust, regard with as 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,

(06:12):
it’s very hard to see how success could have occurred.

Speaker 3 (06:25):
One of the things he had to do was to raise.

Speaker 2 (06:27):
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 seventeen seventy six,
he had twenty eight thousand men under his command, a
considerable number.

Speaker 3 (06:45):
By December of that year.

Speaker 2 (06:48):
He had three thousand desertions, deaths, defeats, militiaman who just
went home.

Speaker 3 (06:55):
He faced this all the time.

Speaker 2 (06:58):
When the army’s morale went down, the army’s numbers went down.

Speaker 3 (07:03):
Washington had to master the art of keeping people.

Speaker 2 (07:09):
Involved, keeping them on board, promising a better tomorrow, Inspiring
them with the sense of to suffer without 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,

(07:34):
particularly Cicero, Cato Cincinnatis. It may or may not actually
have existed that 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,

(07:55):
and then he.

Speaker 3 (07:55):
Went back to his plot, back to his farm.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
He did not choose see us the tremendous power at
his disposal to install himself as a permanent leader.

Speaker 3 (08:06):
Ayway.

Speaker 2 (08:06):
Washington was often called the American Cincinnatus because he continually
returned to his plow whenever he could. Kato, the Younger
who opposed the tyranny of Julius Caesar and represented the Republic,
was also a hero of Washington. He had a play
based on a famous play by Joseph Addison called Kato

(08:28):
a Tragedy.

Speaker 3 (08:29):
He had it performed for the troops.

Speaker 2 (08:31):
He used it to inspire his own troops to take
the route of nobility and self sacrifice.

Speaker 3 (08:38):
For a cause greater than one’s self.

Speaker 2 (08:49):
So we couldn’t have done better, The Americans could not
have done better than to have.

Speaker 3 (08:55):
Washington as our president.

Speaker 2 (08:57):
And in addition to all of that, I said, pretty darn
good military.

Speaker 1 (09:07):
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 returned to the Story of

(09:41):
Us the Story of America series here on Our American
Stories with Hillsdale College professor Bill McLay. When we left off,
Bill was telling us about George Washington in the early
days of the American Revolution. Let’s return to the story.
Here again is Bill McLay.

Speaker 2 (10:12):
The winner of seventy seventy six. Seventy seven was made
the low point of the whole enterprise. It’s a matter
of months after that glorious, fist bumping, cheering, triumphant declaration
of Independence, he faced this gloomy valley of this bond.

Speaker 3 (10:31):
And what came to his rescue was Thomas Paine.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
Thomas Paine wrote another document in some ways even better
than common sense, and 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
is poetry. These are the times that try men’s souls.

Speaker 3 (11:00):
There’s so much there.

Speaker 2 (11:01):
One of the implications is that men will encounter times
in which their souls will be tried. They’ll go through
a trial based with the possibility of defeat. These are
the times that try men’s souls. The we are in
one of those times. The summer soldier and the sunshine

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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.

Speaker 3 (11:34):
Caring me like Hell is not easily conquered.

Speaker 2 (11:37):
Yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder
the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.

Speaker 3 (11:44):
What we have gained too cheap, we esteem too lightly.

Speaker 2 (11:48):
It is dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven
knows how to put a proper price upon its goods, and.

Speaker 3 (11:58):
It would be strange, indeed so celestial.

Speaker 2 (12:01):
An article is freedom should not be highly readed britten
with an army to enforce her Tyrannies declared she has
a right not only the text, but to bind us
in all cases whatsoever.

Speaker 3 (12:13):
And it being bound in that matter is not slavery.
Then there is not such a thing as slavery upon earth.

Speaker 2 (12:20):
This rhetoric is much more powerful, much more incendiary.

Speaker 3 (12:24):
Much more down to earth.

Speaker 2 (12:27):
The words are much more direct, These are the times
that tribe in souls that that’s wow, that’s a powerful phrase.
Tyranny like hell is not easily conquered. Very punchy, powerful prose.
Pain then goes on to address any self doubt the
colon this might have been feeling about the battle of

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the head, and they sure we’re 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 unsupportedly to perish,
who have so earnestly and so repeatedly sought to avoid

(13:11):
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

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see on what grounds the King of Britain can look
up to Heaven for help against us.

Speaker 3 (13:39):
Common murderer, a highwayman.

Speaker 2 (13:42):
Or a housebreaker has as good a pretense as he
who 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 content of this recruiting fast,

(14:04):
and we shall be able to open the next campaign
with sixty thousand men, well armed and clothed.

Speaker 3 (14:12):
This is our situation, and who will may know it?

Speaker 2 (14:16):
By perseverance and fortitude, we have the prospect of a
glorious issue I cowardice and submission, the sad choice of
a variety of evils, a ravaged country, a depopulated city.

Speaker 3 (14:31):
Our home is turned into barracks, same body houses.

Speaker 2 (14:34):
For Hesshianists look on this picture and weep over it,
and that there yet remains one thoughtless wretch who believes
it not let him suffer it unlamented. So this was
a great gift to the colonial cause, and the timing

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could not have been better, because on Christmas nine eight
in seventeen seventy six, Washington struck back and a letter
force across the icy Delaware and surprised at dawn a
sleeping force of Hessians mercenaries at Trenton.

Speaker 3 (15:16):
A week later he had a similar tribe in Princeton.
These were two small victories, but they were a token
of a more hopeful future.

Speaker 2 (15:26):
Maybe there would be a big victory to solidify the
colony of cause and maybe induce the French to support
the colonists.

Speaker 3 (15:36):
And indeed they got that victory.

Speaker 2 (15:39):
The British general Johnny Burgoyne had a plan to slice
New England off from the rest of the colonies, New
England being the biggest trouble makers of course, coming down
from Canada towards Albany, New York, American forces came in
and surrounded them. He got bogged down in the woods

(16:00):
because of his immense baggage train with thirty carts carrying
clothing and supplies of champagne. They called him gentlemen Johnny
not for nothing, and he was surrounded for to surrender.
On October seventeenth, fifty seven hundred British troops were taken prisoner.

Speaker 3 (16:20):
This was a big, big win.

Speaker 2 (16:23):
It was an indication of Americans they were up to
the fight at short and that the French would not
be backing a losing cause if they backed the American.

Speaker 3 (16:33):
And concluded a treaty of alliance. More immediately, the.

Speaker 2 (16:39):
Winter of seventeen seventy six to seventy eight loomed ahead,
and this was arguably the lowest point of Washington’s army.
They were encamped at Valley Forge, exposed to disease, to
the elements, ill supplied, ed ill clad.

Speaker 3 (17:03):
The fates of the army hung like a thread.

Speaker 2 (17:07):
Twenty five hundred soldiers died, another thousand deserted, another seven
thousand were too ill for duty. Washington’s army was decimated.
This indeed was a time that try Ben’s soul. But
things started to improve. A Prussian general, drawn to the

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colonial cause arrived and started training the army and made
them into a competent military force, and the Continental Army
was restored.

Speaker 3 (17:36):
By summer seventeen seventy eight, Washington’s.

Speaker 2 (17:39):
Force was strong enough to go after the British forces
in New Jersey.

Speaker 3 (17:43):
Things were going well.

Speaker 2 (17:45):
They didn’t go so well in the American South until,
with the help of the French, British general Charles Cornwall
made the mistake of bringing his force.

Speaker 3 (17:56):
Of seventy two hundred men down.

Speaker 2 (17:58):
The peninsula leading to York Town. He thought he’d be
safe there because the Americans didn’t have a navy. French
adderal called de Grasse came up from the Caribbean blockaded
the coast. Meanwhile, varying in troops, they affected a pincer

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move on Cornwallis, and he had no choice but to surrender,
and this was in effect the end of the British
military effort. On the day he surrendered, it said, the
British military band played a song familiar to the English
titled the World that Turned Upside Down. We don’t know

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for sure, but it makes a good story because it
conveys how Cornwallis and his men must have felt. This
surrender meant that this war was over the world hadn’t
turned upside then the colonists had become not subjects anymore,

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but citizens of their own self governing entity. This was
all in seventeen eighty one. It took a couple of
years to sign the Treaty of Paris, which confirmed American
independence for the independence that had been declared in seventeen
seventy six and had been fought.

Speaker 3 (19:24):
For ensuing seven years of struggle.

Speaker 2 (19:31):
So now the greatest struggle of all remained, the struggle
of making American independence into an effectual fact, a country
that could stand among the nations of.

Speaker 3 (19:44):
The world.

Speaker 1 (19:50):
And a terrific job on the production, storytelling and editing
by our own Monty Montgomery in SLF of Hillsdale Graduate
and a special thanks to McClay, professor of History at
Hillsdale College, author of the fantastic book Land of Hope,
The Story of Us, The Story of America. Here on
our American Story.