Show it s the anniversary of three famous revolutionary figures 1 by ay ELMO SCOTT WATSON a january 1737 13 ir to the majority of the citizens of the J english colonies in north america that month meant the t h e beginning af pf of a new year nothing more they could not have realized that it was to be made significant for them because of the births of three boys during its 31 days in that year these citizens were loyal subjects of his majesty king george II 11 of england but by the time another 50 years had passed they and their sons were to be engaged in an armed rebellion against his so son n and outstanding among the rebel leaders would be these three boys born in the first month of 1737 the first had made his appearance on january 10 the place was a farm home near the town of litchfield conn and he was the first born of 14 children in a bold domineering and clever family he was given the name of ethan a hebrew name signifying strong and strong he grew to be for this boy was ethan allen alien who was later to be characterized as the rob roy of a wilderness commonwealth the robin hood of new england and the strong boy of the revolution two days later in the home of a clergyman in quincy mass was born another boy who was to bear the name of his father and his grandfather also a clergyman this boy however would not follow in the pious footsteps of his elders instead he would be taken into the counting house of his uncle be adopted by that relative fall heir to a large fortune and become a great and wealthy merchant of boston and on a july day in 1776 he would be the first to sign his name to an immortal document of human liberties and sign it so large that king george could read it without his spectacles that name would be john hancock the scene changes now from new england to old england on january 29 in the home of a quaker stay maker in the little town of thetford in norfolk another boy is born he will become a preacher and a dissenter a writer of verse and prose a republican and a radical and a severe critic of the government and political customs of his native land As such he will be welcomed to the british colonies in america as the dispute between them and the crown grows more bitter and in 1776 he will issue a pamphlet bearing the name common sense in that pamphlet he will advocate absolute independence of the coljohn 71 X HANCOCK onies from the mother country the effect of this pamphlet is so powerful instantaneous and general that john hancock will soon have his chance to flourish his pen and write his bold signature to the document which incorporates corp orates the sentiments expressed in common sense for the author of it was that third boy born bom in january 1737 thomas paine so these were 0 th tathree the three famous revolutionary figures whose two hundredth birthday anniversaries we celebrate this month ethan allen alien the frontiersman john hancock the merchant and thomas paine the pamphleteer their backgrounds their characters their careers were all as different as those of three men could possibly be but they had more in common than the tact fact that all were born in the same month of the same year all were patriots all labored mightily in the same cause though their motives for doing so differed widely and au all risked their lives and everything else that man holds dear to bring about a new order of life liberty and pursuit of happiness in a new world men not statues their names aie are familiar to most americans who have read of their deeds in the school his lories but lack of space plus the inclination of most school book historians to make revolutionary war heroes pieces of statuary rather than flesh and blood human beings has prevented our learning there many other interesting details about the men themselves we know that ethan allen alien thundered on the portal of all earthly kings at ticonderoga and demanded its surrender in the name of the great jehovah and the continental congress we know how john hancock warned by paul revere fled from lexington that april night in in 1775 before the british redcoats arrived thereby making it possible for him to write his signature with its historic flourish a year later we know that thomas paine wrote common sense and the crisis and some of us have recited those thunderous words from the latter at these are the times that try mens souls but what else did they do to distinguish them from other men what of their subsequent J THOMAS PAINE careers were those incidents mci dents which are preserved in the school books the only ones worthy of mention in partial answer to those questions are offered these footnotes to history to help you recall on this the two hundredth anniversary of their birth these three notables in the history of americas struggle for liberty 0 0 when ethan the strong grew into young manhood he found connecticut too narrow a sphere of action for his tremendous energies after farming a bit mining a bit and wandering from place to place he finally landed in the region into which he fitted so perfectly it was the frontier country between new hampshire and new york known as the new hampshire grants there he acquired nearly acres of wilderness lands by grants from the new hampshire provincial government but this territory was also claimed by the province of new york who tried in vain to colonize it for it was already held by squatters called the green mountain boys A name of terror before long the name of ethan allen alien was a name of terror to settlers who dared come there with their new york grants and to the officials whom governor colden sent to survey the lands and try to enforce new yorks title cabins were offered as burnt sacrifices to the gods of the world and the settlers driven out with instructions to go your way now and complain to to that Darr damned ined scoundrel your governor damn your governor laws king council and assembly in despair the officials of new york proclaimed ethan allen alien an outlaw and placed a price or on his head ethan retaliated with a similar proclamation against the governor of new york so the war of words and from time to time a more serious war of action continued then came the outbreak of the revolution and ethan allen alien embarking upon what was ostensibly a patriotic expedition but what was in reality a move to safeguard the frontiers of his wilderness commonwealth in case of war between canada and the united colonies marched with his green mountain boys and with benedict arnold against ticonderoga conde roga there on the early morning of may 10 1775 he uttered the phrase which won him an imperishable place in american history an anticlimax anti climax the capture of ticonderoga was a brilliant achievement but unfortunately for allens aliens future fame the remainder of his revolutionary lutio nary war career was a sad anticlimax anti climax later he organized a filibustering expedition into canada with the object of capturing montreal but after a short and almost farcical campaign he was captured by the british kept as a prisoner of war until 1778 he then returned to his wilderness commonwealth by now organized under the name of vermont but still not a member of the colonial family there he rose to even greater power as a sort of an uncrowned king his hatred for new york was as strong as ever for new hampshire he be had an aversion almost as great as tor for the other colony and for the continental congress in whose name he had sworn at ticonderoga he had profound contempt this congress refusing to deal with allens aliens outlaw administration steadfastly declined to consider adding vermont to the united colonies so allen alien began negotiations with the british for annexation of vermont to canada under british dominion with a certain measure of independence reserved for this he has been branded by some historians as a traitor although his treason is doubtful in light of the fact that the congress had cast vermont loose to shift for its own independent existence ethan allens aliens turbulent career came to an end in the roistering manner in which he had lived in february 1789 he died on a load of hay while returning from a joyous drinking party on an island in lake champlain A year later new york gave up its claim to the vermont lands and recognized the independence of that colony in 1791 it was taken into the united states as the first to be admitted after the 13 original colonies and when vermont came to honor her two greatest men by placing their monuments in statuary hall in the national capitol in washington the first one chosen was ethan allen alien in striking contrast to the career of that frontier roughneck was the career of john hancock scion of two generations of clergymen a graduate of harvard college a cultured polished gentleman whose heritage and training assured him a leading place in the affairs of the colony choosing a business career instead of the ministry he showed a conscientious devotion to his work which would have assured his success even if he had not inherited a fortune from the uncle who adopted him for seven in the morning found young john hancock at his desk in his foster fathers countin counting t house and even after he became the great boston merchant he still observed those early hours some of the modern school of debunking historians have made much of the fact that just before the revolution hancock was engaged in smuggling goods into the country to evade the british excise taxes they have pointed out that there were indictments against him for this offense and that if convicted the penalties would have been pounds twice the value of all his property in this fact they see the motive for his encouraging the revolt against the crown but it might also be pointed out that when the best method of driving the british from boston was under discussion at a patriotic club in that city he declared burn boston and make john hancock a beggar if the public good requires it furthermore in in the autumn of 1776 when congress gave washington instructions to destroy boston if it should be necessary to do it in order to dislodge the enemy hancock wrote to the commander of the continental army saying that although he was probably the largest property owner in the city he was anxious the thing should be done it if it would benefit the the cause certainly that does not sound like a man whose main concern was private gain A soldiering statesman As for hancocks other services after the outbreak of the revolution and especially after he had become famous as the first and only signer of the draft of the declaration of independence which was first published he was a member of the continental congress from 1775 to 1780 and again from 1785 to 1786 serving as president from may 1775 to october 1777 we do not ordinarily dina rily think of him as a soldier yet the fact is that as major general of the massachusetts militia he commanded the contingent from that state and served valiantly in the expedition against the british in rhode island in 1773 1778 after the close ot the revolution he was a member of the massachusetts constitutional convention and in 1780 he became the first governor of the new state of massachusetts he held that office until 1785 when james bowdoin was elected in his place but Bowd weakness in handling the famous shays rebellion made the people of the state the change of chief executives and in 1787 ilan iian cock was again elected he soon improved the conditions in regard to taxes and seizure of property for debt which had been responsible for the rebellion and until his death in 1793 he was reelected governor regularly pach year the importance of thomas paine and his pamphlets to the patriot cause is too well known to need much comment here it will be remembered that the first number of the crisis that one which begins with the immortal these are the times that try mens souls etc was read by orders to each regiment in the continental army and they did much to relieve the despair that was so prevalent in the army during the trying winter of 1776 paynes other services but writing these pamphlets important though they were was not the only contribution which paine made to the cause of american liberty after serving a short time in the army as aide to gen nathanael greene he became secretary of the congressional committee of foreign affairs but lost this position in 1779 through charges made against him by silas deane commissioner lioner to france then paine became clerk of the pennsylvania yania legislature and while holding this place made an urgent appeal to the people for money to relieve the distress of the ragged starving continentals Continent als in army moreover he subscribed his entire years salary to the fund that was thus raised in 1781 paine was associated with col henry laurens in a successful effort to obtain loans from france and holland and a grateful nation voted him the sum of the state of new york gave him a large farm in westchester county and pennsylvania again made him clerk of the legislature but paine was not yet ready to settle down to the quiet enjoyment of life in the new nation which he had helped found the fight for human liberty was still being waged in in other parts of the world he went back to england and in 1791 published his rights of man alan in reply to burkes reflections on the french revolution for this he was outlawed by the court of the kings bench so he went to france where the revolution had overthrown the bourbons and where he was hailed as a hero in fact he was elected to the national convention but his republicanism was not strong enough to please the jacobins so when he opposed the execution of king louis XVI and urged instead that the monarch be exiled to america the jacobins expelled him from the convention saved by chance when came into power paine was thrown into prison where he was kept for a year in constant fear of death V 1 1 1 nil I F I 1 avlo 6 Z ETHAN ALLEN listed among those who were to mount the steps of the guillotine he escaped that fate by a strange freak of chance one morning the keeper of the prison went along the corridor placing chalk marks on the doors of those who were to be executed that day it so happened that the door to paines cell was open and pushed back flat against the wall of the corridor in the darkness of the gloomy old prison the keeper failed to notice this and put his chalk mark on the inside of paines door thus when the door was finally closed the guards passed it by when they came to lead the other prisoners to their doom paine was finally released through the efforts of james monroe united states minister to france and resumed his seat in the convention eventually he returned to the united states and died in new york in 1809 ile ho was first buried on his farm al new rochelle but a few years later william cobbett the english radical removed his bones to england with the hope of increasing enthusiasm for the republican ideas of which paine had been the principal exponent but that hope tailed failed to materialize and eventually the bones 0 of this english american french revolutionist found their last resting place in france oc union |