| Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. "Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" OCW Wave Will Become A Tsunami – Wall Street Beware
| The 125th Anniversary of the Statue of Liberty: START OF A NEW AMERICAN REVOLUTION?
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| On October 14, 1780, George Washington chose Nathanael Greene to be commander of the Southern Department of the Continental forces.[6] Greene's task was not an easy one. The Carolinas had seen a long string of disasters in 1780, the worst being the capture of one American army at the Siege of Charleston and the destruction of another at the Battle of Camden. A victory of Patriot militia over their Loyalist counterparts at the Battle of Kings Mountain in October had bought time, but most of South Carolina was still under British occupation. When Greene took command the southern army numbered only 2307 men (on paper, 1482 present), of whom just 949 were Continental regulars. [7] On December 3, Daniel Morgan reported for duty to Greene's headquarters at Charlotte, North Carolina.[8] At the start of the Revolution, Morgan, whose military experience dated back to the French and Indian War, had served at the Siege of Boston.[9] Later he participated in the 1775 invasion of Canada and its climactic battle, the Battle of Quebec. That battle, on December 31, 1775, ended in defeat and Morgan's capture by the British.[10] Morgan was exchanged in January 1777 and placed by George Washington in command of a picked force of 500 trained riflemen, known as Morgan's Riflemen. Morgan and his men played a key role in the victory at Saratoga that proved to be a turning point of the entire war.[11] Bitter after being passed over for promotion and plagued by severe attacks of sciatica, Morgan left the army in 1779, but a year later he was promoted to Brigadier General and returned to service in the Southern Department.[12] Greene decided that his weak army was unable to meet the British in a standup fight. He then made the unconventional decision to divide his army, sending a detachment west of the Catawba River to raise the morale of the locals and find supplies beyond the limited amounts available around Charlotte.[13] Greene gave Morgan command of this wing and instructed him to join with the militia west of the big Catawba and take command of them.[14] Morgan headed west on December 21, charged with taking position between the Broad River and Pacolet River and protecting the civilians in that area. He had 600 men, some 400 of which were Continentals, the rest being Virginia militia with experience as Continentals.[15] By Christmas Day Morgan had reached the Pacolet River. There he was joined by 60 South Carolina militia led by the experienced partisan Andrew Pickens.[16] Other militia from Georgia and the Carolinas joined Morgan's camp.[17] Meanwhile, Lord Cornwallis was planning to return to North Carolina and conduct the invasion that he had postponed after the defeat at Kings Mountain.[18] Morgan's force represented a threat to his left. Additionally, Cornwallis received incorrect intelligence claiming that Morgan was going to attack the important British fort at Ninety Six, South Carolina. Seeking to save the fort and defeat Morgan's command, Cornwallis on January 2 ordered Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton west.[citation needed] Tarleton was only 26 years old but had enjoyed a spectacular career that began when he and a small party surprised and captured Patriot Gen. Charles Lee in New Jersey in December 1776. He served with distinction at the Siege of Charleston and the Battle of Camden. Commanding the British Legion, a mixed infantry/cavalry force that constituted some of the best British troops in the Carolinas, Tarleton won decisive victories at Monck's Corner and Fishing Creek. He became infamous amongst Patriots after his victory at the Battle of Waxhaws, when his men killed American soldiers after they had surrendered.[citation needed] Tarleton and the Legion marched to Ninety Six and found that Morgan was not there, but Tarleton decided to pursue Morgan anyway. Tarleton asked for reinforcements of British regulars, which Cornwallis sent. Tarleton then set out with his enlarged command to drive Morgan across the Broad River.[19] On January 12 he received accurate news of Morgan's location and continued with hard marching, building boats to cross rivers that were flooding with winter rains.[20] Morgan, receiving word that Tarleton was in hot pursuit, retreated north, attempting to avoid being trapped between Tarleton and Cornwallis.[21] By the afternoon of the 16th Morgan was approaching the Broad River, which was high with flood waters and reported difficult to cross. He knew Tarleton was close behind. By nightfall he had reached a place called the Cowpens, a well-known grazing area for local cattle. Pickens, who had been patrolling, arrived that night with a large body of militia. Morgan then decided to stand and fight rather than continue to retreat and risk being caught by Tarleton while fording the Broad River. Tarleton, for his part, received word of Morgan's location and made haste, marching at 3 a.m. instead of camping for the night. |
| America is an idea, or so I was told as a child, established by men like Jefferson and Adams, Washington, a Statue of Liberty in New York harbor welcoming the poor and hungry of the world, not a handful of what are mistaken for bigots. The world is being torn apart as part of a plan, once originating among the powerful of the world, New York, Washington, Tel Aviv and Zurich, a plan to set nation on nation, religion on religion and set Mitt Romney, a sociopath in the garb of a hapless buffoon, who was chosen to assume the mantle of “Conqueror in Thief,” reassuming the crown left vacant after the departure of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Court Jester, Tony Blair. American’s don’t think they are responsible for the wave of hatred across the world, focused on a blasphemous Google/Youtube video, meant to be spread like a virus through nation after nation though similar offensive material attacking any other group would be removed under “terms of service” or blocked immediately as a violation of law. Nations, Canada, Britain, Australia, France, Austria, Germany, Italy and more have warmed to Islamophobia though they have imprisoned critics of Israeli persecution of Palestinians as “hate mongers.” Though the US government has requested that Google review its “rules,” the United States has failed to use existing laws against corporations, and it is corporations we are discussing, being involved in supporting terrorism, interference in other nations and openly advocating violent acts against the United States. Laws on the books in the United States would allow the immediate arrests without warrant of the Reverend Terry Jones, the entire management of Google and YouTube would allow the detention of all members of the CATO foundation along with others under legitimate suspicion of what are clearly criminal activities. That list includes about a third of the “dual passport” Israelis billionaires that are, at times, “Americans of convenience.” No, the protestors are more right than many of them know, that hatred and bigotry are not “protected free speech” when their actions are designed to foster violence, threaten rule of law and bring about killings. Then others laws come to plan and the mantle of “free speech” is subjected to laws that limit the use of the media as a weapon. The adage use most often by the Supreme Court is that of the individual who yells; “Fire!” in a crowded theatre. Those killed during the rush to the exits are murder victims. As of now we have identified some of the corporations responsible but there has yet to be a real investigation. The techniques used against tens of thousands of Muslims, accepted techniques, “American” techniques of sexual humiliation, waterboarding, “stress” positions, sleep deprivation, starvation and thirst, the standard conditions at, let’s say, Bagram Air Force Base’s prison, these things can be used. They are legal, they are in accordance with legal decisions from two US Attorney Generals, Ashcroft and Gonzales, they were done with the full approval of 5 Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States and with 85% approval of the Evangelical Christian community of the United States. I want to so much to believe I am part of a nation innocent and wronged but truthfully I have made my bed with a pack of thugs. A majority of Americans feel they no longer can be held responsible for their own government though most will vote this November, they feel the candidates were chosen for them and real freedom is like a dream. There is reason for followers of Islam to be angry at America. Two years ago, President Obama promised to make things different, to balance American policy. Those who envisioned a real change instead saw only paralysis in America. I could lecture on American politics and perhaps should. I would start by stating what few are willing to admit and most in their hearts know, the world is ruled by international cartels and the US government is incapable of free action when those who make up much of the legislature are paid stooges of what can only be described as an international criminal conspiracy. When Americans learned of their government’s complicity in crime, most Americans remained silent. When our news and media demonstrated enthusiastic complicity in criminality, we again remained silent. Then 2007 came and it was time for Americans to pay, banks emptied, wars no longer seemed so amusing and all of it took on an unavoidable aspect of Israeli involvement. America’s undercurrent of distrust of those who set themselves separate, be they Catholic or Mormon or Jewish or, too often those of “color” reentered the public’s notice. Did America regress to “anti-semitism” as some claim or reach awareness that a few thousand of America’s 14 million Jewish citizens may well have plotted to destroy the American economy? Historians can dissect each of these eras and the prejudices of each, the reasons and rationales for years. A favorite author, Gilad Atzmon, who writes on Jewish identity, already has a wonderful treatise in print, “The Wandering Who.” Gilad has made many evil people very angry. Such acts are the works of heroes today, Atzmon or Mark Siljander and his “A Deadly Misunderstanding,” those who turn the mirror on those who most need to take responsibility. Atzmon is hounded but fighting back, Siljander is in prison for “criminal truthfulness.” There have been great changes in the people. Many fell into the trap of “9/11,” willing to see Islam as a threat and everyone with a “Middle Eastern look” as someone waiting to break into your home and kill everyone inside. It was a sick time to be an American, one mostly gone, even in entertainment with some exceptions. American television, for years, showed little else, insane rambling and childish propaganda orchestrated by Israeli Americans and poisoning the minds of a nation looking for others to blame for its own problems. You see, America had begun to die economically under President Reagan, his misguided ideas that only the rich can rule and the poor should starve and pay led to a landslide of disaster. Tens of millions of real jobs left America from then on, moving to China, while the wealth of America’s highly paid workers was surgically removed through a series of manufactured economic crises, the Reagan “Savings and Loan scandal” and the Bush 43 “total collapse” which we are seeing the continuing momentum of today. So much debt was created by Reagan and the Bush family that the interest on that debt has destroyed the world’s currencies. Not only did the world enter a period of economic hysteria driven by financial institutions allowed to operate as “pirate potentates” under “financial deregulation,” but the US went “unilateral.” “Unilateral” to Bush meant doing the will of Israel without restraint or legal pretense. I would award him an Israeli passport. The decision was made, I believe tied to those who actually planned and executed the 9/11 attacks, to spent the remaining borrowing capability of the United States to seize control of the world’s resources through a phony “Global War on Terror.” The real war, when seen by military and intelligence analysts, was a “deception and cover” operation for a return to colonialism around the world and “feudalism” in the “homeland.” “Homeland.” That is what “they” began calling America, a translation from the German term, “Reich.” A nation told, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, that “evil Arabs” are planning to steal your baby will willingly give up its rights, pass laws eliminating political guarantees of legal due process, equality and freedom of expression and quickly become a police state. Critical to this was the exploitation of America’s most backward areas. America had to be driven to the edge of civil war through a form of radicalization and extremism. Thus, America may well have a second civil war someday; one based on heavily armed extremist with low intelligence against what may someday be an informed and responsible citizenry. “Occupy” is the first sign of such a return to sanity and self-realization. The “dark side” is there too. The “Tea Party” is one of those organizations, owned and controlled by extremist billionaires tied to Israel. Even with no viable candidates, their willingness to engage in false flag terrorism for political gain requires continual watchfulness. America’s Christian community became equally “infected,” willing to support oligarchical economic policies, to throw away long earned freedoms, to support kidnapping and torture, to blindly push for war after war. Even the rural and highly independent Americans, gun owners, the generations that settled the frontier, became mindless stooges addicted to propaganda from Rupert Murdoch, master manipulator of the weak minded and perverse. By “weak minded and perverse,” I am referring to “government.” Sadly, however, on the very eve of victory America is showing signs of fatigue, signs of apathy, and sure signs of moral decline. America shows signs of going the way the Roman Empire did centuries ago. Today the major threat is no longer an external one. There are, however, new enemies on the horizon, deadly enemies. Tyrants and greedy Wall Street. The greater the difficulty, the more the glory in surmounting it. – Epicurus There is something glorious in the people led Occupy Wall Street movement for it is rooted in the moral imperatives of justice, self-sacrifice and social responsibility. The New York Times reports that a recent poll shows that 54% of Americans have a favorable impression of the Occupy Wall Street movement, which is twice the 27% who have a favorable impression of the Tea Party movement. The apparent reason is the Tea Party sees itself as stressing only individual responsibility ~ whereas the Occupation Wall Street Movement is stressing both individual and social responsibility. Chris Hedges calls it non historical values ~ “values closer to Martin Luther King than Abby Hoffman … the movement eschews the hedonism of the New Left; indeed it does not permit drugs or alcohol in Zuccotti Park. It denounces the consumer culture and every evening shares its food with the homeless, who also often sleep in the park. But, most important, it eschews, through a nonhierarchical system of self-governance, the deadly leadership cults that plagued and ultimately destroyed the movements of the 1960s.” And therein lays its magnificence ~ OCW is rooted in truth, fairness and social responsibility which were once the underpinnings of our once great Republic. We have obviously forgotten the words of Benjamin Franklin ~ ” Wise and good men are, in my opinion, the strength of the state; much more so than riches and arms.” ~ Occupy Wall Street will soon become Occupy America and any politician that does not heed its call for real moral and economic change, including President Obama, will be left in its wake. Occupy Wall Street is also the global elites’ greatest nightmare for their dreams of a new world order cemented in debt and controlled by the IMF and secretive Federal Reserve will also be cast aside by ripped off taxpayers as is apparently now happening in Greece ~ which could soon become Occupy Greece. This should sound familiar ~ First, there’s the media story and hymns of self-congratulations by the EU politicians. Then there are the numbers and the details of the bail out deal.The gap is big enough to drive a Mack truck through…and Max Keiser does. As Robert Reich recently wrote ~ “You don’t have to be an occupier of Wall Street to conclude the Street is still out of control. And that’s dangerous for all of us.” Michael Moore correctly reports on the immensity of this OCW movement from Occupy Oakland, California ~ where he obviously grasps the collective anger of millions of Americans who are getting off the couch and making their presence felt; Here’s Michael Moore on the Anderson Cooper Show Live from Occupy Oakland. Six minute must see video on what OCW is really all about Get off the couch ~ there is no change without action and action always involves risk or difficulty ~ which makes the resultant change, as Epicurus wrote, far more glorious. As such, this is change we can finally believe in In the moment of triumph of democracy throughout the world, we find America in a moral crisis. These things are happening because we are departing from fundamental American principles, the founding spirit of the nation. The question of whether this nation will endure and prosper depends upon what action we take at this crossroads of history. Our task is to rekindle the true American spirit. The foundation is there. We simply need to rebuild it. Can we do it? Certainly we can. In western movies, John Wayne always comes on the scene at the bleakest hour. What should we do today to launch such a great awakening? We simply need to follow the successful model of our Founding Fathers. What did they do? First, they had faith in Almighty God. This was their common bond. They believed in the firm protection of Divine Providence. Second, they took action. They firmly pledged to each other their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to accomplish this goal. To me, this is most inspiring, and this is the secret of the success of the First American Revolution. Today, in launching the Second American Revolution, I know we can do no less. This is America's destiny. We Americans are doers. We are the new Washingtons, Jeffersons, and Madisons. If we can emerge from this protes OWS spiritually and intellectually enriched, with a new and greater sense of commitment to America and to our freedom under God, then I feel that we will have accomplished our mission. End of Liberty exposes from a real life perspective how the U.S. is headed for a complete societal collapse. All Americans are now experiencing countless warning signs on a daily basis that a societal collapse is near. Unfortunately, most Americans don’t understand the significance of these warning signs. Each warning sign by itself doesn’t appear to have a lot of meaning, but together these warning signs present a very detailed picture of the current state of the U.S. economy and where this country is soon headed. The documentary is over an hour long and features Gerald Celente, the most accurate trends forecaster in U.S. history. End of Liberty also features the National Inflation Association‘s president Gerard Adams, who on February 5th purchased call options in the silver ETF at $0.89 (NIA publicly announced his purchase to NIA members on February 8th) that he sold last week at $4.25 for a gain of 378% in a little over eight months. Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have... a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge, I mean the characters and conduct of their rulers." - John Adams "Government is like a baby: an alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other." - Ronald Reagan "A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned... this is the sum of good government." - Thomas Jefferson "Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys." - P. J. O'Rourke "We are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of Nature has placed in our power... the battle, sir, is not to the strong alone it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave." - Patrick Henry "A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you have." - Barry Goldwater "The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments." - George Washington "It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." - Samuel Adams "It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood." - James Madison "If 'pro' is the opposite of 'con' what is the opposite of 'progress'?" - Paul Harvey "Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built." - Abraham Lincoln "Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself." - Mark Twain "Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one." - Thomas Paine "Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate, now what's going to happen to us with both a House and a Senate?" - Will Rogers "It is only when the people become ignorant and corrupt, when they degenerate into a populace, that they are incapable of exercising their sovereignty." - James Monroe Second Wave of Protests Unleashed: Targets the Federal ReserveEnd the Fed, End the Wars & End the Corruption!!
Occupy Wall Street Protests OccupyWallStreet protester with a spot-on & passionate speech re Ending the Federal Reserve, Ending the Fractional Reserve Banking System, Ending the Monetary Fiasco that is the government-controlled FIAT money system & Ending the Wars that were engineered to make the richest 1% even richer. We also need to have an independent audit and inventory of all the gold reserves in the USA. We need to hold the Bankers and Elite responsible for their crimes against humanity… End the Fed, End the Wars & End the Corruption!! OCCUPY WALL STREET -MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan- (repost)Occupy Wall Street Protester End the Fed – Best Rant!
Protester arrested by cops Distribute Far and Wide… Props to the young man in the video & small story visuals (user/Small1124)… if you know this protester’s name and he would like credit, please message me. Otherwise He is You… He is Me… He is US… We are Fed Up (no pun intended) with TPTB… We are Anonymous. The more technologically advanced the world becomes, the more we find ourselves under the watchful eyes of our governments. From cameras being installed on virtually every street corner to our emails and internet activities being spied upon, we must question whether these invasive surveillance measures are keeping us safe from alleged terrorists, or just a conspiracy to subdue any resistance opposing the big brother state of the new world order.
If you ask a politician assigned to security matters today what he or she thinks about the surveillance techniques used to prevent crime, there’s a good chance that you’d be told about the benefits of closed circuit camera systems. You’d here convincing arguments about the additional safety in their vicinity because they act as a crime deterrent, Or you might here about the virtue of being able to track terrorists, by filing information about airline passengers, or by enforcing the use of biometric passports. Maybe you’d find out how trusted computing protects you from malicious software and viruses. Or how scanning emails and eavesdropping on phone calls helps the police find potential criminals of all kinds. It would probably all sound great, because the idea is that you should start thinking of these techniques as being the cream of the crop. But let’s face the not quite so obvious but nevertheless omnipresent downside of this. While public cameras may actually help these defined criminals, modern CCTV systems like the ones used in London, are even today able to lock onto any person the operators wish to track using automatic facial identification, thus enabling the police to create a detailed database of say all of your movements. The keeping of records about airline passengers flying to the U.S. and in addition the obligation for everyone to submit biometric passports, are supposed to help fight terrorism. But this also allows the secret services to gather explicit information about the nationality of every traveler. Explicit information such as your fingerprints, the color of your eyes, and a high resolution picture of your face. Information you would usually expect to be taken from suspected criminals. Trusted computing promises to enhance security on your PC, by only allowing certain trustworthy software to run on your machine. What you’re not told is that the person who decides which software you can trust, and are therefore allowed to install on your PC, will certainly not be you. On the one hand, scanning emails and wiretapping emails for ominous keywords, could convict a few small time criminals, but on the other it allows all sorts of people involved in this monitoring process to retrieve all sorts of private information. Information you just might not want to share with the staff of your local police station. These symptoms can all be taken as evidence of the slow but steady conversion of our western societies into police states. Our western societies, claiming to be liberal democracies, but our leaders try to enforce more and more pressive laws and instrumentalize public fear of terror to justify them.
The Statue of Liberty was originally known as Liberty Enlightening the World, and is the symbol of the 2nd American Revolution. It was given to the United States by France to celebrate their alliance during the Revolutionary War. A sculptor by the name of Frédéric Auguste "The question is to elevate in commemoration of the glorious anniversary an exceptional monument. In the middle of the New-York harbour, on a little Island belonging to the Union, facing Long Island where the first blood has been shed for the Independence, will be raised a colossal statue, showing its grand figure in the space, horizoned by the large cities of New-York, Jersey City and Brooklyn. At the entrance of that vast continent, full of new life, where ships meet from all points of the world, it will look as springing from the bosom of the deep representing: Liberty Enlightening the World."1 The Statue of Liberty as the "Mother of Exiles" beckoning the "huddled masses yearning to breathe free" is a symbol so firmly entrenched in American mythology that few question how that symbol was born. When French sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi assembled his 152-foot statue atop a pedestal on small Bedloe's Island in 1886, however, the symbol we so readily acknowledge today did not exist. Rather, this gift from the French nation celebrated the successful American experiment in republicanism. It was a gesture of friendship and alliance. It commemorated the ties that bound the two nations together as they strove to achieve their goals of liberty and equality. But over Liberty's first century, this original intent has been transformed into quite a different symbol. Although attributed to the familiar sonnet by Emma Lazarus, the "Mother of Exiles" symbol has been largely the product of, first, coincidence, and then of many decades of gradual incorporation as the statue became a familiar image that could be used for many purposes. The symbol has strayed far from the original idea. As historian David McCullough explained, "The idea, of course, is liberty, and liberty is what we Americans have always wanted first of all. It was what the Revolution was fought for, what the country was founded for. 'Hail, Liberty!' was the cry on the day the statue was unveiled." Unfortunately, by the time Liberty turned 100 those lofty ideals were all but lost, replaced in the ceremonial pomp by glitzy tributes to America's immigrant population and the "golden doors." Despite the commendable achievements of so many immigrants, the original idea of Liberty Enlightening the World should not be forgotten Bartholdi designed the statue, and Gustave Eiffel (the man who designed the Eiffel Tower) was responsible for the iron framework underneath the copper plating. The statue was built in Paris and then shipped to the U.S. in 1885. Various parts of the statue were on display throughout Paris as they were completed. Emma Lazarus' famous words, "Give me your tired, your poor,/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" may now be indelibly engraved into the collective American memory, but they did not achieve immortality overnight. In fact, Lazarus' sonnet to the Statue of Liberty was hardly noticed until after her death, when a patron of the New York arts found it tucked into a small portfolio of poems written in 1883 to raise money for the construction of the Statue of Liberty's pedestal. The patron, Georgina Schuyler, was struck by the poem and arranged to have its last five lines become a permanent part of the statue itself. More than twenty years later, children's textbooks began to include the sonnet and Irving Berlin wrote it into a broadway musical. By 1945, the engraved poem was relocated--including all fourteen lines-- to be placed over the Statue of Liberty's main entrance. Today the words themselves may be remembered a great degree more than the poet herself, but in Lazarus' time just the opposite was true. As a member of New York's social elite, Emma Lazarus enjoyed a privileged childhood, nurtured by her family to become a respected poet recognized throughout the country for verses about her Jewish heritage. A reader and a dreamer, Lazarus had the good fortune to claim Ralph Waldo Emerson as a pen-pal and mentor. Before her death at age 37, Lazarus grew from a sheltered girl writing flowery prose about Classical Antiquity to a sophisticated New York aristocrat troubled by the violent injustices suffered by Jews in Eastern Europe. In "The New Colossus," Lazarus contrasts the soon-to-be installed symbol of the United States with what many consider the perfect symbol of the Greek and Roman era, the Colossus of Rhodes. Her comparison proved appropriate, for Bartholdi himself created the Statue of Liberty with the well-known Colossus in mind. What Bartholdi did not intend, however, was for the Statue of Liberty to become a symbol of welcome for thousands of European immigrants. As political propaganda for France, the Statue of Liberty was first intended to be a path of enlightenment for the countries of Europe still battling tyranny and oppression. Lazarus' words, however, turned that idea on its head: the Statue of Liberty would forever on be considered a beacon of welcome for immigrants leaving their mother countries. Just as Lazarus' poem gave new meaning to the statue, the statue emitted a new ideal for the United States. Liberty did not only mean freedom from the aristocracy of Britain that led the American colonists to the Revolutionary War. Liberty also meant freedom to come to the United States and create a new life without religious and ethnic persecution. Through Larazus' poem, the Statue of Liberty gained a new name: She would now become the "Mother of Exiles," torch in hand to lead her new children to American success and happiness. Thomas Jefferson Quotes
The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government. Was the government to prescribe to us our medicine and diet, our bodies would be in such keeping as our souls are now. I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it. “Laws that forbid the carrying of arms...disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes... Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.” (Quoting Cesare Beccaria) The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it. The policy of the American government is to leave their citizens free, neither restraining nor aiding them in their pursuits. No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the equal rights of another, and this is all from which the laws ought to restrain him. To take from one because it is thought that his own industry and that of his father’s has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association—the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it. I think myself that we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious. (Back then!) When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty. I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive. Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear. The god who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time: the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them. And the day will come, when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as His Father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva, in the brain of Jupiter. In matters of style, swim with the current; What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all. The majority, oppressing an individual, is guilty of a crime, abuses its strength, and by acting on the law of the strongest breaks up the foundations of society. When wrongs are pressed because it is believed they will be borne, resistance becomes morality. Were we directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap, we should soon want bread. The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty.... And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure. Of liberty I would say that, in the whole plenitude of its extent, it is unobstructed action according to our will. But rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add “within the limits of the law,” because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual. It is strangely absurd to suppose that a million of human beings, collected together, are not under the same moral laws which bind each of them separately. Liberty is the great parent of science and of virtue; and a nation will be great in both in proportion as it is free. He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors. I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them. I have sworn on the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. I have never been able to conceive how any rational being could propose happiness to himself from the exercise of power over others. To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical. In a government bottomed on the will of all, the...liberty of every individual citizen becomes interesting to all. I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it. Say nothing of my religion. It is known to God and myself alone. Its evidence before the world is to be sought in my life: if it has been honest and dutiful to society the religion which has regulated it cannot be a bad one. The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not. Most bad government has grown out of too much government. Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty. The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first. A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor and bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government. I never will, by any word or act, bow to the shrine of intolerance or admit a right of inquiry into the religious opinions of others. Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? A free people [claim] their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate. The right of self-government does not comprehend the government of others. An elective despotism was not the government we fought for. History, in general, only informs us what bad government is. If there is one principle more deeply rooted in the mind of every American, it is that we should have nothing to do with conquest. It is better to tolerate that rare instance of a parent’s refusing to let his child be educated, than to shock the common feelings by a forcible transportation and education of the infant against the will of his father. The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground. I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just. The man who reads nothing at all is better than educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers. I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature. In every country and every age, the priest has been hostile to Liberty. Of the Americans who support the Wall Street protests, 64 per cent in the poll are Democrats, while 22 per cent are independents and just 14 per cent are Republicans. The protest backers are more likely to approve of President Barack Obama and more likely to disapprove of Congress than are people who don't support the demonstrations.
Orders We Will Not Obey“The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their Houses, and Farms, are to be pillaged and destroyed, and they consigned to a State of Wretchedness from which no human efforts will probably deliver them. The fate of unborn Millions will now depend, under God, on the Courage and Conduct of this army” -- Gen. George Washington, to his troops before the battle of Long Island
Such a time is near at hand again. The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the Courage and Conduct of this Army -- and this Marine Corps, This Air Force, This Navy and the National Guard and police units of these sovereign states. Oath Keepers is a non-partisan association of currently serving military, reserves, National Guard, peace officers, fire-fighters, and veterans who swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic … and meant it. We won’t “just follow orders.” Below is our declaration of orders we will NOT obey because we will consider them unconstitutional (and thus unlawful) and immoral violations of the natural rights of the people. Such orders would be acts of war against the American people by their own government, and thus acts of treason. We will not make war against our own people. We will not commit treason. We will defend the Republic. Declaration of Orders We Will NOT ObeyRecognizing that we each swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and affirming that we are guardians of the Republic, of the principles in our Declaration of Independence, and of the rights of our people, we affirm and declare the following: 1. We will NOT obey any order to disarm the American people. The attempt to disarm the people on April 19, 1775 was the spark of open conflict in the American Revolution. That vile attempt was an act of war, and the American people fought back in justified, righteous self-defense of their natural rights. Any such order today would also be an act of war against the American people, and thus an act of treason. We will not make war on our own people, and we will not commit treason by obeying any such treasonous order. Nor will we assist, or support any such attempt to disarm the people by other government entities, either state or federal.
In addition, we affirm that the purpose of the Second Amendment is to preserve the military power of the people so that they will, in the last resort, have effective final recourse to arms and to the God of Hosts in the face of tyranny. Accordingly, we oppose any and all further infringements on the right of the people to keep and bear arms. In particular we oppose a renewal of the misnamed “assault-weapons” ban or the enactment of H.R. 45 (which would register and track gun owners like convicted pedophiles). 2. We will NOT obey any order to conduct warrantless searches of the American people, their homes, vehicles, papers, or effects -- such as warrantless house-to house searches for weapons or persons. One of the causes of the American Revolution was the use of “writs of assistance,” which were essentially warrantless searches because there was no requirement of a showing of probable cause to a judge, and the first fiery embers of American resistance were born in opposition to those infamous writs. The Founders considered all warrantless searches to be unreasonable and egregious. It was to prevent a repeat of such violations of the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects that the Fourth Amendment was written. We expect that sweeping warrantless searches of homes and vehicles, under some pretext, will be the means used to attempt to disarm the people. 3. We will NOT obey any order to detain American citizens as “unlawful enemy combatants” or to subject them to trial by military tribunal. One of the causes of the American Revolution was the denial of the right to jury trial, the use of admiralty courts (military tribunals) instead, and the application of the laws of war to the colonists. After that experience, and being well aware of the infamous Star Chamber in English history, the Founders ensured that the international laws of war would apply only to foreign enemies, not to the American people. Thus, the Article III Treason Clause establishes the only constitutional form of trial for an American, not serving in the military, who is accused of making war on his own nation. Such a trial for treason must be before a civilian jury, not a tribunal. The international laws of war do not trump our Bill of Rights. We reject as illegitimate any such claimed power, as did the Supreme Court in Ex Parte Milligan (1865). Any attempt to apply the laws of war to American civilians, under any pretext, such as against domestic “militia” groups the government brands “domestic terrorists,” is an act of war and an act of treason. 4. We will NOT obey orders to impose martial law or a “state of emergency” on a state, or to enter with force into a state, without the express consent and invitation of that state’s legislature and governor. One of the causes of the American Revolution was the attempt “to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power” by disbanding the Massachusetts legislature and appointing General Gage as “military governor.” The attempt to disarm the people of Massachusetts during that martial law sparked our Revolution. Accordingly, the power to impose martial law – the absolute rule over the people by a military officer with his will alone being law – is nowhere enumerated in our Constitution. Further, it is the militia of a state and of the several states that the Constitution contemplates being used in any context, during any emergency within a state, not the standing army. The imposition of martial law by the national government over a state and its people, treating them as an occupied enemy nation, is an act of war. Such an attempted suspension of the Constitution and Bill of Rights voids the compact with the states and with the people. 5. We will NOT obey orders to invade and subjugate any state that asserts its sovereignty and declares the national government to be in violation of the compact by which that state entered the Union. In response to the obscene growth of federal power and to the absurdly totalitarian claimed powers of the Executive, upwards of 20 states are considering, have considered, or have passed courageous resolutions affirming states rights and sovereignty. Those resolutions follow in the honored and revered footsteps of Jefferson and Madison in their Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, and likewise seek to enforce the Constitution by affirming the very same principles of our Declaration, Constitution, and Bill of Rights that we Oath Keepers recognize and affirm. Chief among those principles is that ours is a dual sovereignty system, with the people of each state retaining all powers not granted to the national government they created, and thus the people of each state reserved to themselves the right to judge when the national government they created has voided the compact between the states by asserting powers never granted. Upon the declaration by a state that such a breach has occurred, we will not obey orders to force that state to submit to the national government. 6. We will NOT obey any order to blockade American cities, thus turning them into giant concentration camps. One of the causes of the American Revolution was the blockade of Boston, and the occupying of that city by the British military, under martial law. Once hostilities began, the people of Boston were tricked into turning in their arms in exchange for safe passage, but were then forbidden to leave. That confinement of the residents of an entire city was an act of war. Such tactics were repeated by the Nazis in the Warsaw Ghetto, and by the Imperial Japanese in Nanking, turning entire cities into death camps. Any such order to disarm and confine the people of an American city will be an act of war and thus an act of treason. 7. We will NOT obey any order to force American citizens into any form of detention camps under any pretext. Mass, forced internment into concentration camps was a hallmark of every fascist and communist dictatorship in the 20th Century. Such internment was unfortunately even used against American citizens of Japanese descent during World War II. Whenever a government interns its own people, it treats them like an occupied enemy population. Oppressive governments often use the internment of women and children to break the will of the men fighting for their liberty – as was done to the Boers, to the Jewish resisters in the Warsaw Ghetto, and to the Chechens, for example.
8. We will NOT obey orders to assist or support the use of any foreign troops on U.S. soil against the American people to “keep the peace” or to “maintain control” during any emergency, or under any other pretext. We will consider such use of foreign troops against our people to be an invasion and an act of war. During the American Revolution, the British government enlisted the aid of Hessian mercenaries in an attempt to subjugate the rebellious American people. Throughout history, repressive regimes have enlisted the aid of foreign troops and mercenaries who have no bonds with the people. Accordingly, as the militia of the several states are the only military force contemplated by the Constitution, in Article I, Section 8, for domestic keeping of the peace, and as the use of even our own standing army for such purposes is without such constitutional support, the use of foreign troops and mercenaries against the people is wildly unconstitutional, egregious, and an act of war. We will oppose such troops as enemies of the people and we will treat all who request, invite, and aid those foreign troops as the traitors they are. 9. We will NOT obey any orders to confiscate the property of the American people, including food and other essential supplies, under any emergency pretext whatsoever. One of the causes of the American Revolution was the seizure and forfeiture of American ships, goods, and supplies, along with the seizure of American timber for the Royal Navy, all in violation of the people’s natural right to their property and to the fruits of their labor. The final spark of the Revolution was the attempt by the government to seize powder and cannon stores at Concord. Deprivation of food has long been a weapon of war and oppression, with millions intentionally starved to death by fascist and communist governments in the 20th Century alone. Accordingly, we will not obey or facilitate orders to confiscate food and other essential supplies from the people, and we will consider all those who issue or carry out such orders to be the enemies of the people. 10. We will NOT obey any orders which infringe on the right of the people to free speech, to peaceably assemble, and to petition their government for a redress of grievances. There would have been no American Revolution without fiery speakers and writers such as James Otis, Patrick Henry, Thomas Paine, and Sam Adams “setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.”
Patrick Henry: “Give me Liberty, or Give me DEATH!” Tyrants know that the pen of a man such as Thomas Paine can cause them more damage than entire armies, and thus they always seek to suppress the natural rights of speech, association, and assembly. Without freedom of speech, the people will have no recourse but to arms. Without freedom of speech and conscience, there is no freedom. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually affirm our oath and pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor. Oath Keepers The above list is not exhaustive but we do consider them to be clear tripwires – they form our “line in the sand,” and if we receive such orders, we will not obey them. Further, we will know that the time for another American Revolution is nigh. If you the people decide that you have no recourse, and such a revolution comes, at that time, not only will we NOT fire upon our fellow Americans who righteously resist such egregious violations of their God given rights, we will join them in fighting against those who dare attempt to enslave them. NOTE: please also read our Principles of Our Republic We Are Sworn to Defend More About Oath Keepers Oath Keepers is a non partisan association of currently serving military, peace officers, fire-fighters, and veterans who will fulfill our oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, so help us God. Our oath is to the Constitution, not to the politicians, and not to any political party. In the long-standing tradition of the U.S. military, we are apolitical. We don’t care if unlawful orders come from a Democrat or a Republican, or if the violation is bi-partisan. We will not obey unconstitutional (and thus unlawful) and immoral orders, such as orders to disarm the American people or to place them under martial law. We won’t “just follow orders.” Our motto: “Not on Our Watch!” or to put it even more succinctly, in the words of 101st Airborne Commander General Anthony McAuliffe at the Battle of the Bulge, “NUTS!” There is at this time a debate within the ranks of the military regarding their oath. Some mistakenly believe they must follow any order the President issues. But many others do understand that their loyalty is to the Constitution and to the people, and understand what that means. The mission of Oath Keepers is to vastly increase their numbers. We are in a battle for the hearts and minds of our own troops. Help us win it. Generally, many more Americans - 58 per cent- say they are furious about the country's politics than did in January, when 49 per cent said they felt that way.What's more, nearly nine in 10 say they are frustrated with politics and nearly the same say they are disappointed, findings that suggest people are deeply resentful of the political bickering over such basic government responsibilities as passing a federal budget and raising the nation's debt limit. This wrath spreads across political lines, with about six in 10 Democrats, Republicans and independents saying politics makes them angry. Fewer are hopeful about politics than when the year began, 47 per cent down from 60 per cent. Only 17 per cent of respondents say they feel proud or inspired. Since January, Congress and the White House have engaged in repeated standoffs over federal spending and the size of government as the economy has struggled to recover from recession. Breaking down the crowd: 64 per cent in the poll are Democrats, while 22 per cent are independents and just 14 per cent are Republicans. In the past month, fury over all that has spilled into New York's financial district, and groups of mostly young people have camped out in a park. The protesters cite the economic crisis as a key reason for their unhappiness. The unemployment rate hovers around nine per cent nationally. Many home owners owe more than their homes are worth. Foreclosures are rampant. And many young people - the key demographic of the protesters - can't find jobs or live on their own. Alexandria, Virginia resident Alice Dunlap said she was stunned at a 2009 family reunion to find that more than half of her four children and their spouses were out of work. 'They all have college educations, and some have advanced degrees, and they're unemployed?' says Ms Dunlap, 62, a retired speech language pathologist. She supports the protests because, she says, anger lingers at those who profited while the nation's economy tanked. 'We all got ripped off by Wall Street, and we continue to be ripped off by Wall Street,' she said. 'You can look at my portfolio, if you like.' The poll found that most protest supporters do not blame Obama for the economic crisis: 68 per cent say former President George W. Bush deserves 'almost all' or 'a lot but not all' of the blame. Just 15 per cent say Mr Obama deserves that much blame. Nearly six in 10 protest supporters blame Republicans in Congress for the nation's economic problems, and 21 per cent blame congressional Democrats. Six in 10 protest supporters trust Democrats more than Republicans to create jobs. Understanding the masses: A number of polls came out Friday attempting to describe the types of people who are involved in the protest Most people who support the protests - like most people who don't - actually report good financial situations in their own households. Still, protest supporters express more intense concern than non-supporters about unemployment at the moment and rising consumer prices in the coming year. A retiree in Michigan named Patsy Ellerbroek, 65, is among those who have little empathy for the Wall Street protesters. 'Everybody ought to own their own business before they start complaining,' Ms Ellerbroek says. Eight years ago, she and her husband sold 'The Fun Spot,' a roller rink they owned for three decades. Now she's a member of neither political party, and she gets frustrated when she sees politicians like the Republican candidates for president being disrespectful. Or Mr Obama 'flying around the county on our taxpayer dollars, politicking.' 'With all the politicians, it's like, the heck with the people who put them there. We need another Mr. Smith goes to Washington,' she said.
In 1607, a small group of English adventurers lands in Jamestown. Thirteen years later the Pilgrims settle in Plymouth, New England. These men and women are all driven by the promise of a new life, and all face huge dangers from disease, starvation and conflict. The two colonies are very different, yet in time both grow. One man’s entrepreneurial dream, tobacco, and the first African Americans, turn the swamps of the South into a land of opportunity. The hardworking and resourceful Puritans forge the North into a trading powerhouse with shipbuilding at its core. Within 100 years, they have the highest standard of living in the world--a testament to a unique American spirit. Yet success and wealth prompt British jealousy, taxation, resistance and, finally, war. This is the story of how, over seven generations, a group of European settlers survive against all odds, claw themselves up and then turn against their colonial masters. A diverse group of men, women and children are about to become truly American.
July 9, 1776. The Declaration of Independence is read to crowds in New York. Offshore, more than 400 ships bristling with soldiers and guns are massing. It is the largest British invasion force until D-Day. America’s 13 colonies have taken on the might of the world’s leading superpower. Within months, George Washington’s army has been decimated and defeat seems inevitable. Yet by 1783, America is free. It is a conflict that tests the resolve of Patriot soldiers to the breaking point. It takes us from the trenches of Manhattan, to the harsh winter camp of Valley Forge, and from the forests along the Hudson, to the spy-ridden streets of occupied New York--and finally, to victory at Yorktown. American forces learn the hard way how to master the landscape, new weapons and unconventional battle tactics. And with this elite force, forged through revolution, Washington saps the strength of the British Army to prevail in what has become a titanic battle of wills. As the British leave, a new nation, the United States of America, is born.
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Pre Revolution CAUSES: CAUSES Four international security laws passed by the U.S. Congress restricting aliens and curtailing the excesses of an unrestrained press, in anticipation of an expected war with France. After the XYZ Affair (1797), war appeared inevitable. Federalist, aware that French military successes in Europe had been greatly facilitated by political dissidents invaded countries, sought to prevent such subversion in the United States and adopted the alien and Sedition acts as part of a series of military preparedness measures. The Three alien laws, passed in June and July, were aimed at French and Irish immigrants, who were mostly pro-French. These laws raised the waiting period for naturalization form 5 to 14 years permitted the detention of subjects of an enemy nation, and authorized the chief executive to expel any alien he considered dangerous. The Sedition Act (July 14) banned the publishing of false ore malicious writing against the government and the inciting of opposition to any act of Congress or the president particles already forbidden by state statutes and the common law but now by federal law. The federal act reduced the oppressiveness of procedures in prosecuting such offenses but provided for federal enforcement. The acts were the mildest wartime security measures ever taken in the United States, and they were widely popular. Jeffersonian Republicans vigorously opposed them, however, in the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, which the other state legislatures either ignored or denounced as subversive. Only one alien was deported, and only 25 prosecutions, resulting in 10 convictions, were brought under the Sedition Act. With the war threat passing and the Republicans winning control under the federal government in 1800, all the Alien and Sedition Acts were repealed during the next two years. Act of the British Parliament that vested the government of Quebec in a governor and council and preserved the French Civil Code and the Roman Catholic Church. The act was an attempt to deal with major questions that had arisen during the attempt to make the French colony of Canada a province of the British Empire in North America. Among these were whether an assembly should be summoned, when nearly all the inhabitants of the province of Quebec, being Roman Catholics, would, because of the Test Acts, be ineligible to be representatives; whether the practice of the Roman Catholic religion should be allowed to continue, and on what conditions; and whether French or English law was to be used in the courts of justice. The act, declaring it inexpedient to call an assembly, put the power to legislate in the hands of the governor and his council. The practice of the Roman Catholic religion was allowed, and the church was authorized to continue to and oath of allegiance substituted so as to allow Roman Catholics to hold office. French civil law continued, but the criminal law was to be English. Because of these provisions the act has been called a generous and statesmanlike attempt to deal with the peculiar conditions of the province. At the last moment additions were made to the bill by which the boundaries given the province by the Proclamation of 1763 were extended. This was done because no satisfactory means had been found to regulate Indian affairs and to govern the French settlers on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. It was decided, therefore, put the territory between the Ohio and the Mississippi under the governor of Quebec, and the boundaries of Quebec were extended southward to the junction of the Ohio and the Mississippi and northward to the height of land between the Great Lakes and the Hudson Bay. This provision of the act, together with the recognition of the Roman Catholic religion, was seen to threaten the unity and security of British America by, in effect, reviving the old French Empire destroyed in 1763. The American colonists viewed the act as a measure of coercion. The act was thus a major cause of the American Revolution and provoked an invasion of Quebec by the armies of the revolting colonies in the winter of 1775-76. Its provisions., on the other hand, did little at the time to win French support of British rule in Quebec; and, expected for the clergy and seigneurs, most of the French remained neutral. The act eventually became important to French Canadians as the basis of their religious and legal rights. In British colonial history, legislative maneuver by the British ministry of Lord to make English tea marketable in America. A previous crisis had been averted in 1770 when all the Townshend Acts duties had been lifted except that on tea, which had been mainly supplied to the Colonies since then by Dutch smugglers. In an effort to help the financially troubled British East India Company sell 17,000,000 pounds of tea stored in England, the Tea Act rearranged excise regulations so that the company could pay the Townshend duty and still undersell its competitors. At the same time, the North administration hoped to reassert Parliament's right to levy direct revenue taxes on the Colonies. The shipments became a symbol of taxation tyranny to the colonists, reopening the door to unknown future tax abuses. Colonial resistance culminated in Boston Tea Party (December 1773), in which was dumped into the ocean, and in a similar action in New York (April 1774). In American colonial history, the British parliament provision (actually an amendment to the annual Mutiny Act) requiring colonial authorities to provide food, drink, quarters, fuel, and transportation to British forces stationed in their towns or villages. This act was passed primarily in response to greatly increased empire defense costs in America following the French and Indian War and Pontiac's War. Like the Stamp act of the same year, it also was an assertion of British authority over the colonies, in disregard of the fact that troop financing had been exercised for 150 years by representative provincial assemblies rather than by the Parliament in London. The act was particularly resented in New York, where the largest number of reserves were quartered, and outward defiance led directly to the Suspending Act as part of the Townshend legislation of 1767. After considerable tumult, the Quartering Act was allowed to expire in 1770. An additional quartering stipulation was included in the Intolerable Acts of 1774. In U.S. colonial history, series of four acts passed by the British Parliament in an attempt to assert what it considered to be its historic right of colonial authority through suspension of a recalcitrant representative assemble and through strict collection provisions of additional revenue duties. The British-American colonists named them after Charles Townshend show sponsored them. The Suspending Act prohibited the New York Assembly form conducting any further business until it complied with the financial requirements of the Quartering Act (1765) for the expenses of British troops stationed there. The second act often called the Townshend duties, imposed for the second time in history direct revenue duties, payable at colonial ports, on lead, glass, paper, and tea. The third act established strict and often arbitrary machinery of customs collection in the American Colonies, including additional officers, searchers, spies, coast guard vessels, search warrants, writs of assistance, and Board of Customs Commissioners at Boston, all to be financed out of customs revenues. The fourth Towndhend Act lifted commercial duties on tea, allowing it to be exported to the Colonies free of all British taxes.
American RevolutionAfter the raids on German Flats and Cherry Valley in New York, General Washington ordered General Sullivan to command an expedition against the hostile tribes of the Six Nations of Indians, with their associates and adherents. As the Continental Army approaches the Wyoming Valley an advance corps will proceed ahead of the army and will encounter resistance from the British and their allies. In U.S. colonial history, British legislation aimed at ending the smuggling trade in sugar and molasses from the French and Dutch West Indies and at providing increased revenues to fund enlarged British Empire responsibilities following the French and Indian War. Actually a reinvigoration of the largely ineffective Molasses Act of 1733, the Sugar Act provided for strong customs enforcement of the duties levied on refined sugar and molasses imported into the colonies from non-British sources in the Caribbean. The Act thus granted a virtual monopoly of the American market to British West Indies sugar Planters. Early colonial protests at these duties were ended when the tax was lowered two years later. The Protected price of British sugar actually benefited New England distillers, though they did not appreciate it. More objectionable to the colonist were the stricter bonding regulations for shipmasters, whose cargoes were subject to seizure and confiscation by British customs commissioners and who were placed under the authority of the Vice-Admiralty Court in distant Nova Scotia if they violated the trade rules or failed to pay duties. As a result of this act, the earlier clandestine trade in foreign sugar, and thus much colonial maritime commerce, were severely hampered.
In U.S. colonial history, the British parliamentary attempt to raise revenue through direct taxation of all colonial commercial and legal papers, and newspapers, pamphlets, cards, almanacs, and dice. The devastating effect of Pontiac's War (1763-64) an colonial frontier settlements added to the enormous new defense burdens resulting from Great Britain's victory (1763) in the French and Indian War. The British chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir George Grenville, hoped to meet at least half of these costs by the combined revenues of the Sugar Act (1764) and the Stamp Act, a common revenue device in England. Completely unexpected was the avalanche of protest form the colonists, who effectively nullified the Stamp Act by outright refusal to use the stamps as well as by riots, stamp burning, and intimidation of colonial stamp distributors. Colonists passionately upheld their rights as Englishmen to taxed only by their own consent through their own representative assemblies, as had been the practice for a century and a half. In addition to nonimportation agreements among colonial merchants, the Stamp Act Congress was convened in New York (October 1765) by moderate representative of nine colonies to frame resolution of "rights and grievances" and to petition the king and Parliament for repeal of the objectionable measures. Bowing chiefly to pressure (in the form of a flood of petitions of repeal) from British merchants and manufacturers whose colonial exports had been curtailed, Parliament, largely against the wishes of the House of Lords, repealed the act in early 1766. Simultaneously, however, Parliament issued the Declaratory Act, which reasserted its right of direct taxation anywhere within the empire, "in all cases whatsoever." The Protest throughout the Colonies against the Stamp Act contributed much to the spirit and organization of unity that was a necessary prelude to the struggle for independence a decade later. In U.S. colonial history, collective name of four punitive measures enacted by the British Parliament in retaliation for acts of colonial defiance, together with the Quebec Act establishing a new administration for the territory ceded to Britain after the French and Indian War (1754-63). Angered by the Boston Tea Party (1773), the British government passed the Boston Port Bill, closing that city's harbour until restitution was made for the destroyed tea. Second, the Massachusetts Government Act abrogated the colony's charter of 1691, reducing it to the level of a crown colony, substituting a military government under Gen. Thomas Gage, and forbidding town meetings with out approval. The third, the Administration of Justice Act, was aimed at protecting British officials charged with capital offenses during law enforcement by allowing them to go to England or another colony for trial. The fourth Coercive Act included new arrangements for housing British troops in occupied American dwellings, thus reviving the indignation that surrounded the earlier Quartering Act, which had been allowed to expire in 1770. The Quebec Act, under consideration since 1773, removed all the territory and fur trade between the Ohio and Mississippi from possible colonial jurisdiction and awarded it to the province of Quebec. By establishing French civil law and the Roman Catholic religion in the coveted area, the act raised the spectre of popery before the mainly Protestant colonies.
The Intolerable Acts represented an attempt to reimpose strict British control, but after 10 years of vacillation, the decision to be firm had come too late. Rather than cowing Massachusetts and separating it from the other colonies, the oppressive measures became the justification for convening the First Continental Congress later in that same year of 1774. The Boston Tea Party(By John Perez) The Boston Tea Party was a raid by American colonists on British ships in Boston Harbor. It took place on December 16, 1773. A group of citizens disguised as Indians, armed with tomahawks threw the contents of 342 chests of tea into the bay. This incident was one of many which stirred up bad feelings between the colonists and the British Government and soon led to the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. The raid of American colonists that attacked the ships all began when the people of Massachusetts were angry over a tax which had been placed by the British Parliament on tea coming into the colonies. Though some time ships came into the harbor loaded with highly taxed tea. Because ships carrying cargoes of tea arrived in Boston Harbor continuously, the colonists called town meetings and came up with resolutions to stop the importation. The resolutions urged Governor Thomas Hutchinson to send back the ships and his refusal led to the Boston Tea Party.
It was called a "massacre" because several colonists were killed and several others were wounded. Here is the story as Paul Revere tells it. "Twenty-one days before, on the night of March 5,1770, five men had been shot to death in Boston by British soldiers participating in the event known as the Boston Massacre. A mob of men and boys taunted a sentry guard standing outside of the city's costume house.When other British soldiers came to the sentry's support, a free for all ensued and shots were fired into the crowd. Four died on the spot and a fifth died 4 days later. Capt. Preston and six of his men were arrested for murder, but later were acquitted through the efforts of attorneys Robert Auchmuty, John Adams, and Josiah Quincy who took their defense to ensure a fair trial. Later two other soldiers were found guilty of manslaughter." This was one of the reasons we had the American Revolution. Benjamin Rush, the Philadelphia physician, encourage Paine, while Paine was writing the pamphlet. Rush read the manuscript, secured the criticism of Benjamin Franklin, suggested the Title, and arranged for its anonymous publication by Robert Bell of Philadelphia. Common Sense was an immediate success. Paine estimated that not less than one hundred thousand copies were run off, and he bragged that the pamphlet's popularity was beyond anything since the invention of printing. Everywhere it aroused discussion about monarchy, the origin of government, English constitution ideas, and independence. Common Sense traces the origin of government to a human desire to restrain lawlessness. But government at its best is, like dress, "the badge of lost innocence." It can be diverted to corrupt purposes by the people who created it. Therefore, the simpler the government, the easier it is for the people to discover its weakness and make the necessary adjustments. In Britain "it is wholly owing to the people, and not to the constitution of the government, that the crown is not as oppressive as in Turkey. The monarchy, Paine asserted, had corrupted virtue, impoverished the nation, weakened the voice of Parliament, and poisoned people's minds. The royal brute of Britain had usurped the rightful place of law. Paine argued that the political connection with England was both unnatural and harmful to Americans. Reconciliation would cause "more calamities" than it would bring benefits. The welfare of America, as well as its destiny, in Paine's view, demanded steps toward immediate independence. OLIVE BRANCH PETITION DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE The Declaration of Independence is a document made up of three parts; Introduction and opening statements, wrongs done by the king, and colonists declare independence. The introduction and opening statements features this famous saying: "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." This sentence was the topic for debate during the early and mid 1800s surrounding the slavery issue. The second part lists actions by the king that the colonists considered wrong. It is a long list that takes up most of the space in the Declaration of Independence. Part three is a small paragraph where the colonists actually declare independence. Next to the Constitution, Thomas Jefferson's document was and still is the most influential document in American history.
It was 4:30 in the morning before the British appeared. About 70 American men stood dismayed while the 600 British soldiers in gleaming red and white uniforms with shiny brass buttons and buckles, assembled into battle lines. "Stand you ground!" yelled Captain Parker. "If they want war, let it begin here!" And it did. Knowing there was no way to overthrow the British forces with the tiny American group of men, Captain Parker ordered his men to disband, but the British commander Major Atcairn had orders to take the American's weapons. A small skirmish arose between the Americans and British. Parker was killed. As the sun began to rise, the british marched to Concord.
WHAT WAS THE BATTLE OF BUNKERHILL??
WHAT WAS THE CAUSE OF THE BATTLE??
BRITISH
Among the most notorious battles of the American Revolution, the 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill was a pivotal battle for American Colonists in their bid for independence. Battered down by attacks from the British Army during the Siege of Boston, the events of June 17, 1775 provided much needed encouragement for the colonists as well as sending a clear message to the British that the war would not be won quickly or easily. Prelude to WarOn June 15, 1775, the colonists began to see signs that the British planned to occupy the area known as Dorchester Heights, an area in the southern part of Boston that provides a view of both the city of Boston and the tactically important Boston Harbor. The hill is part of the Charleston peninsula, located strategically between the Mystic and Charles Rivers. British troops began to amass forces just off of the coast, and militiamen decided that they must prevent the buildup of British forces in the area. As evening fell on June 16, Colonel William Prescott led more than twelve hundred soldiers from Cambridge to fortify the area around Bunker’s Hill. Rather than leave forces on Bunker’s Hill itself, Colonel Prescott ordered his troops to take position by digging into a 160 by 30 foot redoubt on nearby Breed’s Hill. This infuriated British General Thomas Gage, who ordered his army of more than 4600 who had previously occupied the city of Boston to capture the position. As Gage’s men waited for the tide to rise to allow troops to enter from Mystic River, the colonists used the cover of night to increase the fortifications to their position. Colonel Stark brought his troops from New Hampshire, and the number of soldiers prepared for battle rose to between three and four thousand. The Battle of Bunker Hill
When the tides finally allowed the British to take positions on land, the redcoats assembled in orderly lines to unleash a frontal assault on the colonists. As the British troops advanced, the colonists waited behind their dirt and brush fortifications until troops came within fifty yards of the fortifications. When the British were close enough, the Americans launched a deadly volley of fire which the British troops were ill-prepared to meet. Many of Gage’s troops, expecting the colonists to be scared away by their mere presence, had fixed their bayonets and failed to even load their muskets. British forces, also suffering from a shortage of ammunition, were ordered not to fire until they were within range of the colonists. It was during the Battle of Bunker Hill that Major General Howe was purported to have given the command “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes!” As the troops in their brightly colored uniforms and carrying heavy equipment marched in neat lines through farmer’s fields and over stone walls, the colonists continued to fire from behind embankments. Shocked by the American colonists’ resistance, the troops fell back. Major General Howe ordered his troops to advance again, demanding that they walk over the bodies of their dead and wounded on a second assault, only to be forced back again by the colonists. On their third advance, the British soldiers were able to break through the colonial lines and overrun their meager fortifications to claim the hill. American soldiers, defeated as much by lack of ammunition and supplies as by the military capabilities of the British Army, were forced to flee. The AftermathWhile the battle was a victory for the British, since they were able to capture Breed’s Hill, the losses suffered dealt a devastating blow to the redcoats. Of the more than 2300 men who advanced at Major General Howe’s order, 226 were killed and another 928 were wounded. The American forces took heavy losses as well, with 139 killed and 278 wounded. The Battle of Bunker Hill lasted a mere three hours, but it was among the deadliest in the American Revolution. Despite their losses, many of the American colonists felt that the battle had provided them with a victory in other ways, sending a clear message that the American soldiers were able to take a stand against the British army and win by using traditional war tactics. American colonists everywhere realized that the British Army was not an invincible force too mighty to reckon with, and more men were willing to join the fight for independence. The battle also strengthened the will of colonists to fight, and surprisingly, created sympathy for the American cause back in England. Shortly after, George Washington would lead his own contingent of men to Dorchester Heights, forcing the British to give up their hard-won land. The British soldiers who had already occupied the city of Boston made no attempt to engage the colonists away from the relative safety of the city until they awoke in April to find Ticonderoga’s cannon pointed directly at them. The Battle of Bunker Hill is arguably the most important battle fought between the British and the newly formed American militia not because it was a victory in fact, but because it gave the American people a rallying cry as they marched onward through the bloody war for American Independence.
BATTLE OF FORT TICONDEROGA(By Ryan Brown & Juan Meza) IMPORTANT FACTS:
PEOPLE TO KNOW:
JANE McCREA:
The Battle of Long Island was an engagement of the American Revolution. The battle was waged on August 27, 1776 and ended on August 30, 1776. This was the first large-scaled battle of the war and had two commanding officers, George Washington and William Howe.
Arrival At Valley ForgeOn December 19, General Washington and his troops arrived at Valley Forge. In honor of this event a ceremony was held at Valley Forge Park where visitors were lead up a long candle-light path to a camp where they learned about the arrival and how the troops began the chore of setting up the encampment. It was great to be there and observe this, but even better to create this memory for you. A wonderful evening, indeed. Many thanks to all involved. It was good seeing our friends from Oneida and Canada again as well. There was a defect in their plan. You see, by George Washington sending out 4,000 men to guard the Heights of Guana, he left the left flank un-defendable and vulnerable. They failed to protect it, which caused the Americans to lose more than a thousand men. Howe only lost 400 men.
COMMANDERS DEAD & WOUNDED BATTLE OF YORKTOWN(By Lester Cabrera, Jeff Gabriel, & Juan Hernandez)
COMMANDERS DEAD & WOUNDED
Valley Forge - The PetitionCol. John Laurens reading his petition to General Washington (out of frame) to bolster the Continental army.
Thomas Jefferson
George Washington was born in Westmoreland county, Virginia on February 22, 1732. George was the youngest son of Augustine Washington and his second wife, Mary Bell Washington. George's early education consisted of the study of such subjects as mathematics, surveying, the classics, and rules of civility. His father died in 1743. From then on, he went to live with his half brother Lawrence. George then lived and traveled with his brother for nine years. His brother also died of tuberculosis. After George's brother passed away he ultimately inherited the Mount Vernon estate. Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was born April 13, 1743 in Shadwell, Virginia. During his life, he had many accomplishments. Among them were a lawyer, a farmer, and a public official. He was the founder of the Democratic-Republican party. He became a member of the Continental Congress in 1775. He wrote the Declaration of Independence, and was the governor of Virginia from 1779 to 1781. As governor of the state, he guided Virginia through the troubled last years of the American Revolution. He was vice-president from 1797 to 1801 and later became 3rd President of the United States from 1801-1809. Ben Franklin
Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706 on Milk Street in Boston, Massachusetts. He was the 15th of 17 children. His father was a candle and soap maker and a mechanic who emigrated from England in 1783. His mother, Abiah Folger, was his father's second wife.
Betsy Ross
Betsy Ross was born Elizabeth Griscom January 1, 1752 in Philadelphia. She was the eighth of seventeen children and a fourth generation American. Betsy went to school at a Quaker public school where she learned writing, reading, and possibly sewing. Thereafter, she was apprenticed to a local upholsterer. During this time, upholsterers were hired for all sorts of jobs including flag making. Benedict Arnold
Benedict Arnold was born on January 14, 1741 in Norwich. Benedict Arnold had some pretty tough times during his childhood, but since he was an energetic and intelligent kid, he managed. Finally his mother found help from their family. Ben's cousins Daniel and Soshua Lathrop took Arnold into their apothecary business. He left his apprenticeship a few times to join the army for periods of time during the French and Indian War. But he remained in his cousin's business for years. AFTER THE REVOLUTION Under the Treaty of Paris, Britain recognized the United States as an independant nation. The borders of the new nation extended from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River. The southern border stopped at Florida, which belonged to Spain again. The United States Constitution consists of basic laws that define the rights of American citizens and limits the power of the government. The Articles of Confederation gave each state more power than the federal government. The main reason for the Articles were to form some type of national government in order to defend against foreign countries. The Articles gave Congress the right to raise an army and navy, but the states had to approve it. Congress could pass laws, but could not force the states to follow them. People began to protest against their state governments and the antional government could not do anything about it. Therefore, the leaders of the country decided to meet again to solve these and other problems of the Articles of Confederation. They met and came up with a new national government, which is set up in the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution of the United States is one of the most remarkable documents in history. Written over 200 years ago, it still works as well today as it did then. It was written at a Constitutional Convention that was held in Philadelphia in May, 1787. The American states had just gained their independence from England, they had been operating under an agreement called the Articles of Confederation. They met to alter the Articles, but decided to start all over and make a Federal (United) government.
200 Years AgoTwo hundred years ago, a small coastal nation, experiencing the growing pains of its recent independence, found itself at war with its former colonial master – the most powerful nation in the world. The United States, independent for less than 30 years, went to war with Great Britain again in 1812 to preserve its economy, its way of life and its independence – and the US Navy emerged as the key to victory. Born of necessity and forged in battle, the US Navy, in its infancy, took on the world’s mightiest fleet and proved to be a force of innovation, technology, esprit and expert seamanship. The US Navy kept the sea and America free during the War of 1812 – and continues to do so today. During this "Second War of Independence," when Francis Scott Key was inspired to write the “Star Spangled Banner," the Navy proved that it was essential to our nation’s defense and prosperity by protecting national commerce, enforcing trade laws, and ensuring freedom of the seas. The Bicentennial Commemoration of the War of 1812 and the Star Spangled Banner honors this legacy and reminds Americans that freedom of the seas and the free flow of commerce remain as important to our nation today as they were 200 years ago. … The War of 1812, a war between the United States and the British Empire (particularly Great Britain and British North America), and Britain's Indian allies, lasted from 1812 to 1815. It was fought chiefly on the Atlantic Ocean and on the land, coasts and waterways of North America. There were several immediate stated causes for the U.S. declaration of war: First, a series of trade restrictions introduced by Britain to impede American trade with France, a country with which Britain was at war (the U.S. contested these restrictions as illegal under international law);[1] second, the impressment (forced recruitment) of U.S. seamen into the Royal Navy; third, the British military support for American Indians who were offering armed resistance to the expansion of the American frontier to the Northwest,fourth,a possible desire on the part of the United States to annex Canada.[2] An implicit but powerful motivation for the Americans was the desire to uphold national honor in the face of what they considered to be British insults (such as the Chesapeake affair).[3] American expansion into the Northwest (Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin) was impeded by Indian raids. Some Canadian historians in the early 20th century maintained that Americans had wanted to seize parts of Canada, a view that many Canadians still share, while others argue that inducing the fear of such a seizure had merely been a U.S. tactic designed to obtain a bargaining chip.[4] Some members of the British Parliament at the time[5] and dissident American politicians such as John Randolph of Roanoke[6] claimed that land hunger rather than maritime disputes was the main motivation for the American declaration. However,some historians,both Canadian and American, retain the view that desire to annex all or part of Canada was an American goal.[7] Although the British made some concessions before the war on neutral trade, they insisted on the right to reclaim their deserting sailors. The British also had the long-standing goal of creating a large "neutral" Indian state that would cover much of Ohio, Indiana and Michigan. They made the demand as late as 1814 at the peace conference, but lost battles that would have validated their claims.[8][9] The war was fought in four theatres: on the oceans, where the warships and privateers of both sides preyed on each other's merchant shipping; along the Atlantic coast of the U.S., which was blockaded with increasing severity by the British, who also mounted large-scale raids in the later stages of the war; on the long frontier, running along the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence River, which separated the U.S. from Upper and Lower Canada (Ontario and Quebec); and finally along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. During the course of the war, both the Americans and British launched invasions of each other's territory, all of which were unsuccessful or gained only temporary success. At the end of the war, the British held parts of Maine and some outposts in the sparsely populated West while the Americans held Canadian territory near Detroit, but these occupied territories were restored at the end of the war. In the United States, battles such as New Orleans and the earlier successful defence of Baltimore (which inspired the lyrics of the U.S. national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner) produced a sense of euphoria over a "second war of independence" against Britain. It ushered in an "Era of Good Feelings," in which the partisan animosity that had once verged on treason practically vanished. Canada also emerged from the war with a heightened sense of national feeling and solidarity. Britain, which had regarded the war as a sideshow to the Napoleonic Wars raging in Europe, was less affected by the fighting; its government and people subsequently welcomed an era of peaceful relations with the United States. The British were engaged in a life-and-death war with Napoleon and could not allow the Americans to help the enemy, regardless of their lawful neutral rights to do so. As Horsman explains, "If possible, England wished to avoid war with America, but not to the extent of allowing her to hinder the British war effort against France. Moreover...a large section of influential British opinion, both in the government and in the country, thought that America presented a threat to British maritime supremacy." [10] The British had two goals: all parties were committed to the defeat of France, and this required sailors (hence the need for impressment), and it required all-out commercial war against France (hence the restrictions imposed on American merchant ships). On the question of trade with America the British parties split. As Horsman argues, "Some restrictions on neutral commerce were essential for England in this period. That this restriction took such an extreme form after 1807 stemmed not only from the effort to defeat Napoleon, but also from the undoubted jealousy of America's commercial prosperity that existed in England. America was unfortunate in that for most of the period from 1803 to 1812 political power in England was held by a group that was pledged not only to the defeat of France, but also to a rigid maintenance of Britain's commercial supremacy."[11] That group was weakened by Whigs friendly to the U.S. in mid-1812 and the policies were reversed, but too late for the U.S. had already declared war. By 1815 Britain was no longer controlled by politicians dedicated to commercial supremacy, so that cause had vanished. The British were hindered by weak diplomats in Washington (such as David Erskine) who misrepresented British policy and by communications that were so slow the Americans did not learn of the reversal of policy until they had declared war. When Americans proposed a truce based on British ending impressment, Britain refused, because it needed those sailors. Horsman explains, "Impressment, which was the main point of contention between England and America from 1803 to 1807, was made necessary primarily because of England's great shortage of seamen for the war against Napoleon. In a similar manner the restrictions on American commerce imposed by England's Orders in Council, which were the supreme cause of complaint between 1807 and 1812, were one part of a vast commercial struggle being waged between England and France." [11] The British also had the long-standing goal of creating a large "neutral" Indian state that would cover much of Ohio, Indiana and Michigan. They made the demand as late as 1814 at the peace conference, but lost the battles that would have validated their claims. There were several immediate stated causes for the U.S. declaration of war. First, a series of trade restrictions introduced by Britain to impede American trade with France, a country with which Britain was at war; the U.S. contested these restrictions as illegal under international law.[1] Second, the impressment (forced recruitment) of U.S. citizens into the Royal Navy. Third, the alleged British military support for American Indians who were offering armed resistance to the United States.[2] An unstated but powerful motivation for the Americans was the need to uphold national honor in the face of British insults (such as the Chesapeake affair.)[3]There also may have been an American desire to annex Canada. [edit] British support for Indian raidsIndians based in the Northwest Territory, comprising the modern states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, had organized in opposition to American settlement, and were being supplied with weapons by British traders in Canada. Britain was not trying to provoke a war, and at one point cut its allocations of gunpowder to the tribes, but it was trying to build up its fur trade and friendly relations with potential military allies.[13]. Although Britain had ceded the area to the United States in the Treaty of Paris in 1783, it had the long-term goal of creating a "neutral" or buffer Indian state in the area that would block further American growth[14]. The Indian nations generally followed Tenskwatawa (the Shawnee Prophet and the brother of Tecumseh, who since 1805 had preached his vision of purifying his society by expelling the "children of the Evil Spirit" (the American settlers).[15] Raiding grew more common in 1810 and 1811; Westerners in Congress found the raids intolerable and wanted them permanently ended.[16][17] [edit] American expansionismHistorians have considered the idea that American expansionism was one cause of the war. The American expansion into the Northwest was being blocked by Indians and that was a major cause. More problematic is the question whether an American war goal was to acquire Canadian lands (especially western Ontario), or whether it was planned to seize the area temporarily as a bargaining chip. The American desire for Canadian land is a staple in Canadian public opinion since the 1830s, and was much discussed among historians before 1940, but is rarely cited by experts any more.[18] Some Canadian historians propounded the notion in the early 20th century, and it survives among Canadians.[19] Madison and his advisors believed that conquest of Canada would be easy and that economic coercion would force the British to come to terms by cutting off the food supply for their West Indies colonies. Furthermore, possession of Canada would be a valuable bargaining chip. Frontiersmen demanded the seizure of Canada not because they wanted the land (they had plenty), but because the British were thought to be arming the Indians and thereby blocking settlement of the west.[20] As Horsman concludes, "The idea of conquering Canada had been present since at least 1807 as a means of forcing England to change her policy at sea. The conquest of Canada was primarily a means of waging war, not a reason for starting it."[21] Hickey flatly states, "The desire to annex Canada did not bring on the war." [22] Brown (1964) concludes, "The purpose of the Canadian expedition was to serve negotiation not to annex Canada."[23] Burt, a leading Canadian scholar, agrees completely, noting that Foster, the British minister to Washington, also rejected the argument that annexation of Canada was a war goal.[24] However, J. C. A. Stagg states that, "...had the War 1812 been a successful military venture, the Madison administration would have been reluctant to have returned occupied Canadian territory to the enemy." [25] The majority of the inhabitants of Upper Canada (Ontario) were Americans, some of them exiled (United Empire Loyalists) and most of them recent immigrants. The Loyalists were hostile to union with the U.S., while the other settlers seem to have been uninterested and remained neutral during the war.[26] The Canadian colonies were thinly populated and only lightly defended by the British Army, and some Americans believed that the many in Upper Canada would rise up and greet an American invading army as liberators. The combination implied an easy conquest, as former president Thomas Jefferson suggested in 1812, "the acquisition of Canada this year, as far as the neighborhood of Quebec, will be a mere matter of marching, and will give us the experience for the attack on Halifax, the next and final expulsion of England from the American continent." | The 125th Anniversary of the Statue of LibertyOn Oct. 28, 1886, the Statue of Liberty, a gift from the people of France, was dedicated in New York Harbor by President Grover Cleveland. Oct. 28, 2011 marks the 125th anniversary of the dedication. Take a look back at the history of the statue and all “the lady” has seen in her 125 years.
The Statue of Liberty is seen through fog prior to the start of the 125th Anniversary of the Statue of Liberty ceremony on Liberty Island on September 22, 2011 in New York City. The 125th Anniversary of the Statue of Liberty is to be celebrated on October 28th, 2011. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images) #
In this photo released by Agence Papyrus the structure of the hand of the Statue of Liberty, designed by French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, is seen inside a Paris studio around 1875. (AP Photo/Agence Papyrus) #
Workmen constructing the Statue of Liberty in Bartholdi's Parisian warehouse workshop; first model; left hand; and quarter-size head--Winter 1882. Photo from the Library of Congress. #
In this photo released by Agence Papyrus the Statue of Liberty designed by French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi is being built at a Paris studio around 1876. (AP Photo/Agence Papyrus) #
In this photo released by Agence Papyrus the head of the Statue of Liberty designed by French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi is seen inside a Paris studio around 1880. (AP Photo/Agence Papyrus) #
In this photo released by Agence Papyrus the Statue of Liberty designed by French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi towers over Paris rooftops in 1884. (AP Photo/Agence Papyrus) #
This is a photo showing the head of the Statue of Liberty on display in France early in 1884 prior to being shipped to the United States. (Photo from the Library of Congress) #
The metal structure of the Statue of Liberty, designed by French sculptor Frederic August Bartholdi, appears on its pedestal on Bedloe Island off New York in 1886. (AP Photo/Agence Papyrus) #
Visitors peek out from under the crown of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, Oct. 26, 1946. (AP Photo) #
This aerial view shows lower Manhattan, New York City, in 1928. At far right is the tower of the Woolworth building and in left center is the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island. The Manhattan Bridge is in the foreground and the Brooklyn Bridge is at center. (AP Photo) #
American actress and aviator Ruth Elder, who will attempt be the first woman to fly from New York to Paris, flies past the Statue of Liberty, New York, on October 4, 1927, during a recent test flight, in her plane 'American Girl'. (AP Photo) #
The Statue of Liberty with the scaffolding erected by the Works Progress Administration to furnish a footing for the coppersmiths who are about to put a flashing or apron around the bottom of the statue to keep out the storm water which for years has been seeping down through the masonry of the pedestal in New York City, 1930. (AP Photo) #
The ocean liner Queen Mary passes the Statue of Liberty as she enters New York Harbor after completing her first voyage to the United States on June 1, 1936. (AP Photo) #
President Franklin Roosevelt, speaks on the 50th anniversary of the erection of the State of Liberty in New York, on Oct. 28, 1936. He declared that, "To the message of Liberty which America sends to all the world must be added her message of peace." (AP Photo/Preston Stroup) #
Fifty Jewish refugee children, between ages 5 and 16, arrive in New York from Hamburg, Germany, on the liner President Harding on June 3, 1939. (AP Photo) #
Celebrations for the 55th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty are seen, Oct. 28, 1941. A garrison flag, 20 by 38 feet, presented by the Veterans of Foreign Wars, is draped over the base of the statue. (AP Photo) #
Tourists examine the writing on top of Miss Liberty's crown in New York on August 4, 1946. The girl on right is Lucille Dupuy of Baton Rouge, La. The others are unidentified. Many of the visitors to the monument leave behind markings to commemorate their visit in New York. (AP Photo/Jack Harris #
Merchant ships lie at anchor in front of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, Sept. 16, 1946. The ships tied up because of waterfront strikes. Only a few tugs and ferries are on the move. (AP Photo) #
A steady stream of tourists from everywhere in the U.S. and many from foreign lands, visit the Statue of Liberty (background) in New York August 4, 1946 which rises from an almost 150-foot pedestal. This height of the base of the 152-foot figure was necessary to make Miss Liberty impervious to the high winds of the bay. (AP Photo/FS) #
A threesome of visitors from Detroit, Michigan get a view of lower Manhattan's skyline from the base of the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor, July 12, 1948. Left to right are: Ruth Thome, Reva Nelson and Rose Casey. (AP Photo/Ed Ford) #
Helen Foster and George Clancy perch on a rail on Bedloe's Island in New York Harbor on July 2, 1949. July 4, 1949 marked the 65th anniversary of the presentation of the statue to the United States by the people of France. (AP Photo/Jacob Harris) #
Seated at the base of the Statue of Liberty on Bedloe's Island, members of the Oklahoma City University Choir, dressed in authentic costumes of Oklahoma's territorial days, serenade the lady with the torch in New York, Aug. 16, 1955. At right center, seated between two girls, is Prof. James Nielsen under whose direction the choir is in New York for the "Oklahoma! Song Fest." (AP Photo/Anthony Camerano) #
The Statue of Liberty is seen in the background as the damaged Swedish-American luxury liner Stockholm heads slowly through New York Harbor for a safe berth July 27, 1956. The passenger ship lost its bow and prow in a collision with the Italian liner Andrea Doria off Nantucket Island, Ma., July 25. (AP Photo) #
Mr. and Mrs. Paul Roerich from Bavaria, Germany, look to the future in New York City, October 28, 1956, from the stern of the USNS General Langfitt, anchored in New York Harbor, with 1,267 refugees from Europe. In the background, is the Statue of Liberty. The couple will settle somewhere in Ohio. (AP Photo) #
Queen Elizabeth turns and smiles while Prince Philip points and shouts something as the royal couple pass the famed Statue of Liberty on the Army ferryboat carrying them from Staten Island to Manhattan for their one-day visit to New York City, on Oct. 21, 1957. (AP Photo). #
An air view of Liberty Island and the Statue of Liberty. (AP Photo/Dave Pickoff)) #
The old guard fife and drum corpsmen of the third infantry, Fort Myers, Va., wear 18th century uniforms as they stand in formation behind the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island, New York, Oct. 28, 1962. The occasion was a two-purpose ceremony - the celebration of the 76th anniversary of the dedication of the Bartholdi Statue and the laying of the cornerstone of the museum of immigration, scheduled to opening 1964. (AP Photo) #
The Statue of Liberty in New York is seen in New York Harbor, Oct. 1, 1965. (AP Photo/John Rooney) #
People waiting to board Statue of Liberty ferry in New York on May 1, 1968. (AP Photo) #
Man purchasing round trip ticket to board the Statue of Liberty ferry in New York on May 1, 1968. (AP Photo) #
People on board ferry to go see the Statue of Liberty in New York on May 1, 1968. (AP Photo) #
The Statue of Liberty is in the foreground as warships move up the Hudson River past the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and the New York Skyline in Operation Sail preliminaries, Saturday, July 3, 1976. Vessel at right sets up a spray of welcome at far right is the Empire State building. (AP Photo/ETA) #
100 women from various women's liberation groups demonstrated on Liberty Island, August 10, 1970. The demonstration was to show support for the proposed equal rights amendment which is currently before the Congress. Shortly after noon, park rangers made the women remove the banner from the base of the statue. (AP Photo/stf) #
Members of Los Muchachos, the International Boys Circus shown in an acrobatic act at the base of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor on Sept. 17, 1973. The International Boys Circus was on a tour of 24 cities in the United States. (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler) #
Seated in an open cockpit of a restored swallow biplane, Capt. Buck Hilbert pilots the vintage 1929 plane over New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty, right, on June 4, 1976. Capt. Hilbert, a United Airlines DC-8 pilot, restored the little plane which has not been flown in 45 years. (AP Photo/David Pickoff) #
A young visitor photographs the Statue of Liberty towering high over Liberty Island, Sept. 7, 1976. For tourists, the 225 tons of copper and steel is a must on their see-New York list. Some take the next ferry back to Manhattan, while many stay to climb to a vantage point in the crown to view New York Harbor. (AP Photo/Jerry Mosey) #
Visitors begin the 12-story climb to the crown of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, Sept. 8, 1976. On this day they made the trip up and down in an hour. "Space becomes very restricted at higher levels," warns the sign at left. "Views from the crown are limited because of the small size windows." (AP Photo/Jerry Mosey) #
Visitors crane for a quick peek through the tiny window from inside the crown of the Statue of Liberty in New York City, Sept. 7, 1976. On a busy weekend when some 14,000 persons visit the statue in New York Harbor, the climb up and down the 108 steps inside the statue takes at least an hour. (AP Photo) #
A helicopter hovers over the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 1977 after about two Dozen Demonstrators occupied the Statue and draped its forehead with a Puerto Rican flag. The group, who were calling for Puerto Rican independence and for release of four Puerto Rican nationalists serving terms for the 1954 shooting of five congressmen, held the Statue for nine hours before being rounded up. (AP Photo/JR) #
Police officer on parapet at base of the Statue of Liberty, bottom left, attempts to talk down climbers on Liberty Island in New York Harbor on May 10, 1980. The men, using rubber suction cups and spikes clambered up the statue to protest what they termed the "framing" of Elmer Geronimo Pratt, serving time for the 1969 slaying of a school teacher. Banner at top right reads: "Liberty was framed -- Free Geronimo Pratt." (AP Photo/David Karp) #
A father puts his children in the foreground of a vacation snap, with Liberty's rear as the background in New York on Sept. 3, 1980. (AP Photo/Angel Franco) #
Republican presidential nominee Ronald Reagan points to the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor in background as he campaigns with rolled up sleeves and an open shirt at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, N.J., Sept. 1, 1980. (AP Photo/Walt Zeboski) #
A man identified by the National Park Service as Arthur Allen sits on the crown of the Statue of Liberty in New York City, Sept. 14, 1981, while a New York City policeman attempts to reach him by climbing through an opening in the crown. The man threw leaflets for a write-in campaign for mayor before police pulled him up and arrested him. (AP Photo) #
Close-up of Statue of Liberty in New York City on Nov. 1, 1983. (AP Photo/ Dave Pickoff) #
The Statue of Liberty awaits the removal of its torch on Tuesday, July 3, 1984 in New York Harbor. It was one day away from what historians are calling the most dramatic alteration ever for an American National Monument. (AP Photo) #
Flame sculpture from the Statue of Liberty is hoisted over a pedestal for a fitting before being shipped to California for an appearance in the New Years Day Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena, Dec. 16, 1984. The torch and flame of the Statue of Liberty have been in a workshop on Liberty Island after being removed during restoration work. The pedestal will be used to support the flame on the Rose Bowl float. (AP Photo/Dan Cornish) #
Visitors to the Statue of Liberty make their way to the enshrouded monument on New York's Liberty Island May 28, 1984. Memorial Day was the last day the statue was open to the public until the renovation was completed. (AP Photo/Mario Suriani) #
The Statue of Liberty is barely visible under the network of scaffolding as work to restore the statue is started, July 4, 1984. (AP Photo/Dave Pickoff) #
Workers remove the first of seven giant spikes from the Statue of Liberty's crown, part of a program to refinish and strengthen the spikes during an overall restoration of the statue, in New York, Thursday, April 5, 1985. Each of the spikes, which represent the seven seas and seven continents, is about 9 feet long and 150 pounds. The Lower Manhattan skyline, with the twin towers, can be seen in background. (AP Photo/pool) #
The gold flame of the Statue of Liberty is put in position on top of the hand overlooking New York Harbor in New York City on Nov. 25, 1985. Two men are inside of the hand as it is lowered into position. Terry McCabe of Delro, is the rigging supervisor (center, no hat). (AP Photo/Ed Bailey) #
Workmen place the final three spikes of the Statue of Liberty crown in place as the last touches in the exterior restoration of the 305-foot hall monument in New York Harbor on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 1985. After the replacement of the refurbished seven spikes, each ranging up to nine feet in length and weighing some 150 pounds, the restoration workmen will work on the exterior of the statue. (AP Photo/Ed Bailey) #
While a Statue of Liberty commemorative flag waves from the back of a boat, the Italian tall ship Amerigo Vespucci waits in the waters off Sandy Hook for its trip to the Statue, July 3, 1986. (AP Photo/Jack Kanthal) #
Fireworks ring Lower Manhattan in a spectacular fireworks display honoring the refurbished Statue of Liberty at Bayonne, New Jersey Friday, July 4, 1986. The World Trade center is to the right of the Statue. (AP Photo/Charles P. Mosey) #
Mrs. Nancy Reagan is joined by Kristeen Reft, 9, of Kodiak Island, Alaska, left, and Laurence Honore of Herdville, France, center, as all three wave from the crown of the Statue of Liberty during reopening ceremonies on Saturday, July 5, 1986 in New York. The Statue was closed do the public for a year for renovation. (AP Photo/Susan Ragan) #
Workmen start removing scaffolding surrounding the exterior of the Statue of Liberty in New York, Dec. 17, 1985. Outside work on "the lady" has been completed and some interior work has yet to be done. The scaffolding removal will take four months. The refurbished Statue of Liberty will be rededicated in July 1986. (AP Photo/New York Daily News) #
Statue of Liberty, start of removing scaffolding from Lady Liberty, Dec. 17, 1985 in New York. (AP Photo/Mario Cabrera) #
Statue of Liberty during restoration in New York in 1985. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) #
Workers are shown in New York on Dec. 17, 1985 removing scaffolding from the Statue of Liberty. (AP Photo/Mario Cabrera) #
The tall ship Danmark, with her crew high in the rigging, passes the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, July 4, 1986 during Operation Sail. (AP Photo/Bob Daugherty) #
Small sailing ships and pleasure boats are moored near the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor, Thursday, July 3, 1986. The vessels will leave the area during the Statue of Liberty rededication ceremonies. (AP Photo/Mario Cabrera) #
Sailors aboard the USS Wasp man the rails as the multipurpose amphibious assault ship reaches the Statue of Liberty May, 21, 1997 during opening ceremonies for the tenth annual Fleet Week involving Navy ships in New York. Several thousand sailors will spend the week on shore leave in town as their ships are moored off mid-town Manhattan and opened to the public. (JON LEVY/AFP/Getty Images) #
Danmark, a Danish a 253-foot-long, steel-hulled, full-rigged training ship sails past the Statue of Liberty upon entering New York Harbor 04 July 2000 to take part in Operation Sail 2000. The Danmark is one of 27 tall ships sailing in the event. (HENNY RAY ABRAMS/AFP/Getty Images) #
Rescue workers attempt to rescue a parachutist who got hung up on the torch of the Statue of Liberty Thursday, Aug. 23, 2001, in New York Harbor as a New York City Police helicopter hovers overhead. (AP Photo/Chad Rachman) #
This Saturday morning, Sept. 15, 2001 file picture shows the Statue of Liberty from a vantage point in Jersey City, N.J., as the lower Manhattan skyline is shrouded in smoke following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. (AP Photo/Dan Loh) #
Firefighter Ron Parker salutes as he passes the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor Thursday, Dec. 20, 2001. He was with the first boatload of tourists going to Liberty Island as the icon of American freedom reopened for the first time since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Parker who works at the World Trade Center disaster site, said "I need to take a break.....I needed to say a prayer for my friends." (AP Photo Tina Fineberg) #
Seen from Bayonne, New Jersey, the Statue of Liberty is lit against smoke rising from the wreckage of the World Trade Center in downtown New York early Wednesday morning, Oct. 3, 2001. (AP Photo/LM Otero) #
The Statue of Liberty stands watch over the harbor, October 15, 2001, in New York City. (Photo By U.S. Customs/Getty Images) #
Fireworks light the sky over the Statue of Liberty in this Oct. 7, 2002, file photo during a video shoot to promote New York City's bid to host the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. (AP Photo/Ron Frehm) #
The Statue of Liberty is viewed August 2, 2004 on Liberty Island in New York City. Under tight security, the statue will reopen its doors August 3 to the public for the first time since its closure on September 11, 2001. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) #
Clouds hover over downtown Manhattan (as seen) from a view from the crown of the Statue of Liberty on July 4, 2009 in New York City. The crown of the famous statue, which was closed to the public after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, was opened again on the nation's Independence Day for a limited number of visitors each day. The base, pedestal and outdoor observation deck were reopened in 2004, but the crown remained off-limits. (Photo by David Goldman-Pool/Getty Images) #
This is a view looking up inside the cavity of the interior of the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2004. Lady Liberty's doors officially re-opened to the public after being closed on Sept. 11, 2001. ( AP Photo/ Matthew Brown, Pool) #
Ferry boats cross paths as the sun sets over New York Harbor silhouetting the Statue of Liberty Friday, Nov. 11, 2005 in New York. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson) #
The sun sets behind the Statue of Liberty on the longest day of the year, Wednesday, June 21, 2006 in New York. The summer solstice, the official start of the summer and the longest day of the year, occurs when the North Pole is tilted closest to the sun and sun reaches its highest point in the sky. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) #
The Statue of Liberty is seen in New York, Oct. 26, 2006. The House Representatives on Tuesday, June 26, 2007, prodded parks officials to re-open the crown of the 121-year-old statue to the public, a step the government says is too dangerous. For the second year in a row an amendment was added to a spending bill giving the National Park Service $1 million to study how to safely re-open the staircase to the statue's crown, something that has been prohibited since the 2001 terror attacks. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) #
The Statue of Liberty is seen behind Governors Island in the New York harbor, Wednesday, March 22, 2006 in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) #
Lower Manhattan is seen through the windows in the crown of the Statue of Liberty on May 8, 2009 in New York City. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced that the crown of the famous statue, which was closed to the public after the September 11 terrorist attacks, will be open again on July 4 of this year to a limited number of visitors a day. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images) #
Tourists mill about the edge of Liberty Island as seen through the windows in the crown of the Statue of Liberty on May 8, 2009 in New York City. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced that the crown of the famous statue, which was closed to the public after the September 11 terrorist attacks, will be open again on July 4 of this year to a limited number of visitors a day. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images) #
U.S. Park Police officer Chris Kyriakou walks down the circular staircase from the crown of the Statue of Liberty on May 8, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images) #
Erica Breder, 25, right, looks over at Aaron Weisinger, 26, both of Walnut Creek, California after accepting his surprise wedding proposal while visiting the crown of the Statue of Liberty on July 4, 2009 in New York City. The crown of the famous statue, which was closed to the public after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, was opened again on the nation's Independence Day for a limited number of visitors each day. The base, pedestal and outdoor observation deck were reopened in 2004, but the crown remained off-limits. (Photo by David Goldman-Pool/Getty Images) #
The arm of the Statue of Liberty and part of her crown are seen through a window inside the crown, Wednesday, May 20, 2009 in New York. The Statue of Liberty's crown, with its exhilarating view of New York's skyscrapers, bridges and seaport, is reopening on Independence Day for the first time since terrorists leveled the World Trade Center just across the harbor. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) #
In this May 20, 2009 photo, Statue of Liberty park ranger Lance Williams looks out the windows inside the crown of the statue in New York. Had the smoke alarm of July 21, 2010 not been a malfunction and there had actually been a fire in the 125-year-old structure, the New York City fire department and National Parks service were prepared to fight it with fireboats and equipment already in place on the island. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) #
The Statue of Liberty is framed in the window of Ellis Island's boarded up hospital contagious disease ward, Friday May 8, 2009. The ward opened in 1909 as part of Ellis Island's main hospital complex in order to keep ill immigrants out of the United States. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews) #
In this photograph released by the White House, Air Force One flies over the Statue of Liberty in New York in this undated file photograph. (AP Photo/The White House, File) #
The Manhattan skyline is seen from the base of the crown of the The Statue of Liberty on Tuesday, June 2, 2009 on the New York harbor. On July 4 weekend, the crown officially opens to the public since being closed after the Sept. 11 attacks. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) #
Jennifer Stewart, of Brooklyn Heights, N.Y., and the national winner of the Statue of Liberty centennial look-alike contest, takes a picture of the Statue of Liberty from a ferry in New York, Saturday July 4, 2009. The first visitors were allowed into the Statue of Liberty's crown Saturday in nearly eight years after it was closed to the public after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The base, pedestal and outdoor observation deck were reopened in 2004, but the crown remained off-limits. (AP Photos/David Goldman) #
The sun sets behind the Statue of Liberty in New York, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Benny Snyder) #
A US flag flutters above the Statue of Liberty in New York, December 9, 2010. The Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World) is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frederic Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886. The statue, a gift to the United States from the people of France, is of a robed female figure representing Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom, who bears a torch and a tabula ansata (a tablet evoking the law) upon which is inscribed the date of the American Declaration of Independence. A broken chain lies at her feet. The statue has become an iconic symbol of freedom and of the United States. (EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images) #
The Statue of Liberty appears through support cables on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York on Saturday, May 1, 2010. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan) #
The original torch from the Statue of Liberty sits in a lobby at the entrance to the monument May 8, 2009 on Liberty Island in New York City. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images) #
Visitors ride the Staten Island ferry with the Statue of Liberty in the background January 5, 2011 in New York City. In 2010, New York City drew a record 48.7 million visitors, making the city the number one U.S. tourist destination for the second year in a row. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) #
Tourists take photographs of the Statue of Liberty while riding on the first Staten Island Ferry to leave Lower Manhattan just hours after Hurricane Irene blew through the region August 28, 2011 in New York City. Irene hit New York as a Category 1 hurricane before being downgraded to a tropical storm. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) #
A view of rough surf and the Statue of Liberty from Valentino Pier in Red Hook Brooklyn as the skies clear in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene on August 28, 2011 in New York City. The hurricane hit New York as a Category 1 storm before being downgraded to a tropical storm. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images) #
The Statue of Liberty is seen at dusk on September 9, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images) #
The annual "Tribute in Light" memorial echoing the twin towers of the World Trade Center illuminates the night sky during the 10th Anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks at the lower Manhattan site of the World Trade Center September 11, 2011, in this view from Bayonne, New Jersey. Also seen are the Statue of Liberty (2nd R), 1 World Trade Center (C) and the Empire State Building (L). (STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images) #
The Statue of Liberty is seen through the windows of a boat prior to the start of the 125th Anniversary of the Statue of Liberty ceremony on Liberty Island on September 22, 2011 in New York City. The 125th Anniversary of the Statue of Liberty is to be celebrated on October 28th, 2011. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images) #
Tourists sit at the base of the Statue of Liberty following a naturalization ceremony on Liberty Island in New York on October 28, 2011 to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the dedication of the Statue of Liberty. (TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images) #
A couple of new citizens hug as they take the ferry to attend a naturalization ceremony on Liberty Island in New York on October 28, 2011 to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the dedication of the Statue of Liberty. (TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images) #
The sun rises in front of the Statue of Liberty before the start of a ceremonies on Liberty Island in New York on October 28, 2011 to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the dedication of the Statue of Liberty. (TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images) #
Members of the Veteran Corps of Artillery of New York attend a ceremony at the Statue of Liberty to mark her 125th anniversary, Friday, Oct. 28, 2011 in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) #
Sailors stand on the deck as the USS New York passes the Statue of Liberty to kick off Fleet Week in New York, Wednesday, May 25, 2011. Fleet Week ends on Memorial Day with a military flyover honoring American military personnel who lost their lives in service. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) #
The moon rises near the Statue of Liberty as seen from Liberty State Park, Wednesday, June 15, 2011 in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) #
In this undated photo provided by EarthCam, the Statue of Liberty's torch glows against the evening sky in New York Harbor in New York. Five torch cams will be switched on Friday, Oct. 28, 2011, during a ceremony to commemorate the statue's dedication. The five cameras, which will be on 24 hours, 7 days a week, were donated to the National Park Service by Earthcam Inc., a New Jersey-based company that manages a network of webcams around the world. (AP Photo/EarthCam) #
This undated photo provided by EarthCam, shows the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor from a camera mounted in its torch, in New York. Five torch cams will be switched on Friday, Oct. 28, 2011, during a ceremony to commemorate the statue's dedication. The five cameras, which will be on 24 hours, 7 days a week, were donated to the National Park Service by Earthcam Inc., a New Jersey-based company that manages a network of webcams around the world. (AP Photo/EarthCam) #
The Empire State Building, left, the Statue of Liberty, center, and One World Trade Center, right, frame the New York skyline, on Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) #
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