America’s Youth, its past and its future and its answer of the call to freedom
America’s youth has not always been paid its due. And it is to you that this missive is directed. A number of charges have been leveled at young people, some deserved, some not. Insincere, lazy, uneducated, spoiled, just to name a few, but I am here to defend you, not denigrate you.
The current education system does not stress history and its importance; it fails you with its revisionist version, in other words its untruths and abbreviated version of many events. It fails to give you a version of global geography to see where events take place and how they can affect the nations around them; sadly, the current system does not even stress US geography.
It’s not your fault you do not know the story of young people in the struggle for Independence “cause it AIN’T taught in high school history”. For instance, a number of boys between the ages of 16 to 19 were drafted into the Continental Army. You could join even much younger than 16, as did 10 year old Israel Trask, kitchen help and drummer.
Here’s but a few of the many young people that risked the wrath of the British in the struggle for independence. Punishments were harsh; they ranged from lashes to hanging.
- 13 year old Henry Yeager, very nearly hanged by the British as a spy
- Andrew Jackson, yeah that one that was later President, captured and imprisoned by the British at age 14 (represented in the featured image)
- 15 year old Abigail Foote, repaired and made clothing for the Continental army, she was forced to hide her work from British spies
- Miss Dicey Langston, a 16 year old spy for the rebels, listened to the plans of her Loyalist neighbors
- 16 year old Sybil Ludington made a desperate 40 mile night ride in the rain to gather the local militia
- Not to forget the 19 year old aide de camp to General George Washington, the Marquis de Lafayette
Historians tend to forget the contribution of so many of these young people, to you I say, they are your reason to take pride in YOUR country. It is time for you to take the banner of freedom and tell the world of the young PATRIOTS that brought about this great nation.
The American Revolution was not won by a bunch of old dead guys. Quite the contrary it was the young people that made it happen. Lest we forget, half of the population of the colonies was 16 years of age and younger. The American Revolution was a young person’s cause and many who participated were under the age of 20.
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This is the message I want to send to you young people. Just as the young people of Colonial America were the “Beginning of our Nation,” the igniters of the Torch of Liberty, ”YOU are the future” of our nation. It is to YOU the torch of Freedom will be passed. The task before you is monumental. The light of liberty is in danger of being extinguished by the dark forces of tyranny. Are you strong enough to overcome such a Herculean obstacle?
To this I say Yes, America’s young has always answered the call of liberty. Funny thing about Americans, we will put up with a lot, but when we are through with being taken for fools, we come out fighting and then it’s Katy bar the door. John Ligota said ”the most ferocious fighting machine in the world is a pissed off 19 year old Marine”. A fitting statement for a young generation of dedicated freedom fighters.
“Youth is the season of hope, enterprise and energy, to a nation as well as an individual”.
W. R. Williams