Thanks. So, um this is about 1776, Conway in 1776 and some of the um major activities nationally in 1776 that would have interested the people in Conway. So my format is going to be it's going to
begin with a few random observations about Conway in so in 1776 that interested me that I discovered in doing this in preparing for this and then I'm going to address 1776 more or less chronologically
the significant events that impacted this. Um, so the the and my primary sources here are the journal of Dr. Elahu Ashley in Deerfield. This is a book that was
published by PBMA 20 years ago or so. Um, his journal was hidden by Sheldon, George Sheldon in the attic of PBMA for up until the late 20th century. um
the plan your ballot board association the the nation's first one of the nation's first historical research associations and uh it was hidden because he felt much of its contents were embarrassing um and he used it as a
secret source uh in his in his very well researched history of Deerfield and history of Warham so uh but the secret's out And Elahu Ashley was the son of the Reverend Doc
uh Dr. Jonathan Ashley who was the minister of Deerfield during his time period during the revolution famous slaveholder tour and um but Eliu actually was not a slaveholder and was not a um so but but what he did
do is give us a real good insight into the social life and Conway of especially young people. He was in his mid20s at the time. And the things that that I was always led to believe, especially when you read our town history and when you read others, is that they were uh
churchgoing devout. Uh you and it really um they had hobbies. They had they had fully fleshed out social lives. They um they had amusements. They sang. They danced. They
drank in excess. >> Um, male and female alike. They uh sleigh riding. The the people that they looked up to the most were the numerous French and Indian well we call it the French and Indian War. The rest of the
world calls it the Seven Years War. The last of the British, French, well French, Spanish, Dutch. Um, against the British wars. um horse racing, swimming, fishing for trout, illegal gambling. Um the the
Barnard's Tavern in Deerfield, Perez Bwell's Tavern on the Weightley Conway Deerfield Town line um had back rooms for dice, cards, um games of chance where they were stayed up all night
long, you know. And uh uh yeah, they they read they read novels the the novels of the day that were racy. Uh the Tom Jones uh
you know they indiscretions were attested to and birth records and court documents. Um they had their own slang. The the expression we use today or the uh maybe we used up until recently
making out. Um they you called it sitting up and um usually in the back kitchen and it was the custom of parents to allow their youth that lived in the house to do as they pleased. And the parents were
told to go upstairs or retire upstairs and sitting up sessions lasted until the break of dawn routinely. And um and it was quite appro normal and expected that you may be engaged to one
person but before the marriage you were sitting up with many many others. Um and I didn't know any and um this book um >> this all from the journal. This is from his diary, but also um uh Elizabeth Porter talks about it in her diary, the
earth found in heavensent. um Porter from the Porter Phelps Museum on Route 47 that Porter. Um so the um and these these like like yeah the these these books are fabulous and just like uh with
the grass marks expression outside of a dog books are your best friend especially in this and especially because inside of the dog it's too dark to see. Um um the yeah the so they also um
um the other thing that I that I did not realize was the extent that church life over overlapped with secular and civic life and that um church church um
uh dealt with criminality in a way in addition to criminal courts. So you have over and over again you have, you know, and and we don't have this in Conway because all of our church records burned up in one of two or three church fires. Um so but Deerfield
Hasfield has their church records and it was um people would be brought up in charges on charges in in service on in front of the whole congregation. um an uncontrite wife used because she used
several unbecoming expressions related to her husband. Um and and a lot of times these incidents occurred in church itself. Um March 1774, Edward Joiner violently violently pushed and kicked Betty Scott from her
seat and was quoted as saying, "Damn you, if you come into this pew again, I'll kick you to hell." >> Whoa. And um and that would be dealt with promptly in the church service and could result in excommunication or um
but usually a tongue lashing in front of everybody. Um and the the some of the other things were the observations of homes. Um so Ashley would go to
medicine well medicine at was he had a universal remedy a series of remedy which was bleeding and blistering. Um the blistering at least was a natural remedy. It was almost always oil of rosemary but uh um but bleeding and blistering was the the rule of the day.
And there was one when when he was up here socially to see the Billings family in 1775, uh he got called to a neighbor. He doesn't he's not he only gives a first name for the uh but he goes into the kitchen and he said, "When I was in this
house, I went into the kitchen where I saw a simple incident which excited my visibility. There was a large pot hanging over a considerable fire with even more smoke. The pot contained to appearance a large hawk of fresh beef. The water in the pot
had ebbed considerably, and the meat made its appearance some way above it. upon the top of the meat, surrounded by fire and smoke at the old house cat, breathing her head one way and the other and twisting the beef into her face as
fast as possible, winking and blinking in the steam and smoke like a toad in a rain shower. I left her at her occupation and I left the house. So, um, but and you don't usually get descriptions that are so
vivid that you can say, "I feel like I was there myself." Um, you know, and, uh, the other thing that they did, church, when you got married, everybody in church counted how many months it was till you gave birth.
>> They still do. >> Um, yeah, they still do, right? Um, but then it was a big public thing. So, you know, May 10th, Dan West and his wife were compelled to make public confession for the sin of fornication. They hardly went 7 months upon the last sacrament
day before they were married. Um, to that's pretty brutal. Um Um, and the extent to which diseases occupied their fears, their thoughts, their medicine chest. Um and they dealt with everything
and you don't because we have vaccines uh for a little while longer at least. Um uh you know the the the things that the concerns the the illnesses that run through the the the diaries and the journals, the colleics, the itch or
scabies, the rattles, the throat canker, dacteria, the consumption, tuberculosis, uh pneumonia, whooping cough, measles, childhood fevers. They had all of these and they had a whole elaborate system of herbalance um and a lot of herbal
knowledge, woodcraft that um people are have rediscovered recently I believe. um an impressive amount of of herbal woodcraft because they report that a lot of these conditions were made much better and and they knew that when they
called the doctor, you know, when uh you know, not everybody wanted to pay the doctor bill because there was often the feeling that not only did the doctor not make them better, the doctor actually made them feel worse. Um, so those were just a few of the things
that I uh that I don't know that I was amused with and thought I'd share before going into the timeline. It 1776 was an amazing year. Um, one of those years that uh seemed like it was a decade.
Um, and you know, it starts out in January January with Thomas Payne publishing Common Sense. So, uh, which in February was reprinted in full in the what was then the Connecticut, which is
now the Hartford kern. Um, and, uh, was so that was printed on Tuesdays and Fridays, and it was available for sale in Springfield on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Springfield was a half an hour horseback, a half a day horseback trip. Um so there there's implications
in a lot of the town histories our town history that people were two months waiting two months for news occurrence event and that is um that is definitely not true. The the the post the actual national postal service came to Conway
once a week during this time. the postal service established by Benjamin Franklin in the 1750s. Um, and many people um subscribed to a private postal service that came more than more often than that from Boston. So Boston had four or five
daily news or weekly newspapers you most of them twice a week. We were getting them within four or five days of their publication. And um people read them and people read them at the table aloud to others. And these
uh you know e even Sundays when the town would gather, you know, we we uh we we had a state religion the uh during this time period and up up through the till 7 till the 1780 state
constitution, but in reality it was up until the early 1800s. uh the the you know where the the congregational church you were obligated by law to go to church every Sunday. If you do not did not you could pro be prosecuted. And
>> Reverend Emerson our the first Conway minister that was a minister for 50 years um starting in 1768. He uh he rarely prose sought to prosecute anybody. when he did, it was
often the political dissenters that got prosecuted. The two, the only two that I ever really found court records for were people that constantly agitated at town meeting to either no longer pay him his salary out of tax dollars and instead
make church members pay it or um advocated for themselves to be to not have to do you didn't only have to pay your uh your taxes went to pay his salary. You also he also needed his wood chops. He was guaranteed I forget how
many cords per year, eight or 10 or something. Um, as well as uh he had a whole you know he he farm animals needed you know shoeing um etc. And that it was the town's responsibility to do all those things
and the way that that was parcled out was u a lot of people felt that that was unfair. So the people that repeatedly complained about that also tended to be the people that missed church a lot and he did prosecute them. Um the last time
he tried was in the 1780s was against a Bart one of the Bartletts. Um the Bartlett house is probably Conway's oldest house on Reedsbridge Road. It's now occupied by Ela Campbell. Um it but uh he he uh and one of the Bartletts was
one of the principal agitators at town meeting and uh he got brought up on charges for failure to attend church. He testified that he was sick, he was unavailable, etc., etc. the re uh the reverend testified and the jury no
caused the criminal complaint and found that and said that they know not who to believe which if you're the minister and you swear on the Bible and they they say that they can't decide who to believe it's got to be a crushing defeat
but but uh anyway common sense um he the when he when he published this, we were still as a people um inclined to more or less blame
Parliament for the evils that were being done to them. we're more or less inclined to seek reconciliation and a way out of the fighting because 1775 Lexington had conquered in April of
1775, but Bunker Hill at the end of March was some was an order of magnitude altogether uh differently. the um ma major casualties. the British for 4 400 killed, over a thousand wounded when the
British survivors uh returned to Britain when the two ships first pulled up at Plymouth and people gathered to see the hundreds and hundreds of amputees and coffins being unloaded had an incredible effect on the public opinion in England and um caused
the king to um schedule a a um at Parliament to hear an address where he declared the colonies an open rebellion. Um but not before he had a parade with his four toning gold coats. Yeah. But uh so he
um common cause was a blistering attack on monarchy on the concept of monarchy and you know the over and over again first of all the the bestselling book of all time still to this day in in the
United States um the first three months of its publication the estimates of its sales were but even at the low end of the estimate the first three months sold about 600,000 copies in a population of three and a half million. Um um and
still aside from the Bible, it's the greatest selling work of literature in our country's history. It's still in print. The um uh you know, but but he he talked about a lot about how kings, what are they
good for? To make war and to give away land. um either one serves to yoke us to the cart and um against our will or should be against our will. And he talked about how he wouldn't Yeah. that all all of
the ruffians with crowns on their head aren't worth a single honest hardworking farmer. Um and uh John Adams described the impact of his pamphlet without the pen of the of the
author of common sense the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain. and uh you know and and so the combination of Bunker Hill and the casualties that took
place the 10 and something American casualties the uh the most common fatal wound was a bayonet wound um the uh the British casualties were 40 over 40% of
all the people engaged of all the soldiers engaged and they would not suffer another casualty rate that high to the battle of the song in World War I. >> The battle of >> the Psalm. S O M E. Psalm 91. >> I've got probably bollocks.
Um uh and um so the other thing that happened of course is after Bunker Hill, we lay siege to Boston. George Washington comes
up is named chair the head of the Continental Army. Um and the siege goes on for uh well it starts it starts in in April May it goes on till March um
in um yeah when that the uh they get the can yeah the cannons from Ticonderoga Henry Knox the book seller with no from Boston with no with no military experience whatsoever
has a good idea. Um, teams up with Benedict Arnold and others, gets the gets cannon from Fort Ticonderoga, which was very likely um garrisoned by the British, transports them through western
Massachusetts to to Boston, surprises the British um uh and on in March they imp place them on a hill overlooking Boston, Dorchester Heights. And um they get the British to
evacuate Boston without fighting, which uh the the the effect of that in Conway was electric as well as well as the neighboring towns because it was seen as a tremendous success for George
Washington. It was it was a bloodless affair. Um >> they didn't have any ammunition for those cannons. Uh they they had enough they they brought back everything that they could from Tyonderoga that didn't sink in the Hudson River when
they were trying to get to Albany from there. But um they they brought back enough and um they were already getting um supplies from overseas and in small small >> amount of
>> No, they they did they had quite the count. Yeah. Um, right before the the way that they announced that they were on Dorchester Heights, they moved 50 or 45 heavy artillery pieces in one night up a very steep hill. It's because Boston was then more or less an island
connected to the mainland, very narrow, called the Charleston net. Um, where they could they could they they put a screen of tall hay bales, wood frame wood frames with hay bale in it um with hay in it. They put were able
to put a screen drag them all up. Um an an amazing work of seven or 8 thousand soldiers in one night that the ground was too frozen to dig entrenchments and at daybreak they started lobbing shots
cannon into >> the British fleet and the city of Boston and the British were gobsmacked. They could not believe that this took place in one night. And um they initially were going to storm in a frontal assault
against the entranced uh even though William How the the head the head head of British military in America uh had said he learned his lesson from Bunker Hill never to do that. Um it turns out that the weather turned etc etc. He he
was urged by all of his officers not to do it. It's very steep hill but there would have been tremendous casualties. Um um but so so that was March where we got where where where we got Boston and the
uh dur during that time period um that where the siege of Boston which which lasted almost almost a year. Um um one of the things that I did not know
was our our first minister John Emerson. So his brother his old the oldest brother he had 14 siblings but his oldest brother was William Emerson Jr. Um William Emerson was the minister of
conquer and um he's the one that stood on if you ever been to conquer national park um the the man's that was him William Emerson Jr. built that which is right on the ed the at the end of the bridge. The bridge is where the British
soldiers were fired upon by the the militias that uh um and it was William Emerson Jr. that famously stood on the bridge as the British were
soldiers were approaching it turned to the troops behind him and said let us stand our ground. If we die, let us die here. Um the the troops who were the militia members who were vastly outnumbered decided that wasn't a good
idea. They fell back person to the hill above the burying ground. Um then passed his house and you know what ended up taking taking place was a series of small ambushes of the British all the way back to Boston created many many
casualties. But um William Emerson Jr. was then uh uh appointed the first chaplain of the United the the Continental Army and in the history of the US Army Chaplain Corps William
Emerson Jr. is at is named as the first chaplain of the US Army. Um and our John Emerson had was corresponding with his brother. His brother came to Conway for John Emerson's
uh ordination in 1769. William Emerson Jr. the conquered was also the father of Ralph Waldo Emerson. >> Um and Ralph William Emerson Jr. ended up a
after the siege the British left William Emerson Jr. went with many of the troops up to Tyonderoga and ministered to the people in to to the troops in Ticander where he caught camp fever. Um he attempt he got he he
he stayed there too long uh waited too long when he was too sick was not able to complete his journey home. Died in Rhutland, Vermont on the way home in um uh yeah
in in 1820 I mean in uh in 1776 in the middle of the year. Um Where was his wife? >> What's that? >> When he died, where was she? >> So, the wife is a really interesting character, Phoebe. Um, so Phoebe was the
daughter of the Reverend Daniel Bliss, who was the minister before of conquered before um uh William Emerson. And Daniel Bliss was a protege and a constant companion of the
revivalist George Whitfield. And that was the he went around in the 1730s and 1740s and wherever he went suicides dramatically increased. And he wasn't just the you know the the
classic Calvinist branch of uh you know of the the congregational church was uh we are all sinners in the hands of an angry god. Um Whitfield took it a whole le multiple levels that you know we are we are all
we all come onto this world um you know body and destined for permanent uh body and soul hell torment everything. Uh it just he had he had so many people shaking, crying, quaking
during his pre services and afterwards it really bothered people. The the last Joseph Paulie's father um took his own life a month after a Whitfield revival meeting in Northampton. Um and and and
these were most most of the people that felt so compelled were deeply pious people um that had just never been asked to contemplate the nature of their soul in such a a way that terrified them so
much. And so Phoebe >> So Phoebe Phoebe um lived a a much longer life, but um he he met Phoebe when he was uh in the process of becoming Conquered's new minister and
was boarding at Reverend Daniel Bliss's home, the largest home in the middle of Conquered. and um uh and started to woo and the wedding was very much against the wishes of father because father was
uh called a high to um um and even then when they got married this was shortly after the came back etc. Um even then the politics of the situation were such that it wasn't a good match according to
dad but um dads who passed away they that yeah and um but but Phoebe they they had five children they had five children in 8 years >> of marriage and Ralph Waldo was he
um whether or not Ralph Waldo ever came to Conway I I'd like he probably did he was born um 17 61 no 58 1758 um
um I got in the mid60s um and he uh pastor Emerson our pastor Emerson was on the in the pulpit till 1825 >> so he would have had ample opportunity
to come here but >> he was his uncle Yeah. Yeah. He would have been his uncle and was his uncle, but um was had was kind of handy with the pen, too. >> Um >> so
uh >> so yeah, >> 14 kids. >> So we we evacuate Boston. It becomes and for the next few months um the the exact whereabouts of most of the British fleet which left were unknown. what they were
do they not only evacuated the 8,000 troops from Boston with all of the accuchants but um thousands of Tories that were banished um including four from here from Conway um with all of their household effects with all of
their servants um etc. And um they dropped many of those people off in Halifax. They went back to England because uh uh to pick up uh what 12,000 Hessins
>> and uh which the which King George announced in his October address u that he was going to be hiring and uh then they sailed into New York Harbor. But by that time it was well known. So, so there was a period of
about 5 6 months where um the military was all about recruiting and um several of these journals as well as another diary, the diary u of a revolutionary war soldier, Joseph Plum Martin, which is an also also an
excellent read. Um he grew up in Western Mass. the the um the uh the the Saturdays starting springtime, Saturdays in most of these towns were recruitment days and those were festivals. And so the our provincial
congress authorized each of the regiments that were then in uh consisted of Massachusetts men which were about a dozen or so as well as naval u assets, naval ships to recruit to send out first
of all issue a broadside and have a broadside sent out to each town. So you these usually would have been posted in the church. I only made a few copies. The I could have picked a lot. I picked to the John Paul Jones's um great
encouragement for seaman. Um got a few just pass them around. Um he was ra he was raising numbers for uh the ship Ranger. This one actually was his second attempt to do that. The one in 1776 failed. This was his attempt
in 1777. Um but th this was posted probably right outside the church door along with many others. But Saturdays were quite the fested occasion. The regiments would come in with fight the fight the drums. They would have mock battles on town
green. The uh they um you m music dancing uh most of the time they served alcohol. Um and the the idea was to get the young people interested and recruiting hasn't changed at all. um is
one observation. But the the and so so people really looked forward this was the time period when people really looked forward to these gettogethers on Saturdays. It was quite the the the the weekly festival and this lasted for months until um uh till the end of July
when Massachusetts instituted a draft. Um because recruiting you can patriotism and fun and adventure only gets so many people to risk their lives. >> And the information about araments in
the town were many people gun owners. Well, so yeah, everybody was a gun owner to some extent. Um because hunting was uh especially in the winter time
if you wanted protein. Um uh alth although the the what they ate was much more varied than what we've been led to believe as well. And um and they were excellent at preserving food. Um root vegetables lasted all
potato and turnip. Turnip was turnip was really popular and because turnup stores really easily for a very long time um and potato but all of the root vegetables that we eat they stored everybody had a root seller to some
extent. Um everybody had a smokehouse everybody knew how to uh September and October was the time for air drying. um peas and beans. Your peas and beans, English peas were very popular and they were dried and everybody had a bean hole
in their backyard. Um and because beans took the way they cooked them a couple of days to soften once they were dried. So the and everybody had a in in their home that was one large central fire um a
bean hole. You'd start the bottom of the fire. The bottom of the hole had a layer of hot coals, the pot um with the bean and water in it um and with lid and then cover it with coals and then soil and
leave it alone for a couple days and in the end you have cooked beans or peas. And that that the hole had to be dug before the ground froze of course. But that was they they were able to eat, you know, more vegetables than you think all year
round. But at the same time when they were at the siege of Boston and for the first time they met people from the other colonies, the Virginiaians, the car the Marylanders, the Carolinians, um those people all thought we look terribly unhealthy. um a and because
they had harvest two three times a year and fresh vegetables all year round and um they thought that they had the much better diet and that we looked sickly as a group. George Washington constantly commented on that too, but in their defense they were being asked to make to
do really hard labor um all the time 12 15 hours a day. So of course they're going to look dirty and hungry and kind of sickly because they work. And um the other thing too is that the germ theory of disease is still just unknown. And
people were sick all the time. That's the other thing. We all had parasites. We all had many valid reasons to feel unwell all the time. Um uh so the um
we we get into June. um you know May June um March was the invasion of Quebec. Several Conway people participated in that. One Perez Bwell who was off and on a Conway
resident. His father Perez Bardwell uh was a French Indian War volunteer. His father during the French Indian War was granted the commissary for uh the crown of military wares in upper Hampshire County which we were part of. um and was
granted the concession for the Bardwell's ferry. That is why the Bardwell's fairy got has its name to this day. The um Perez Bardwell during the French and Indian War was a Rogers Ranger, a solo scout who could was trained to live off the land. He
would go out into the woods for 6 months um with a bed roll and a package a big bag of cornmeal and come back fine. Um, so he was he knew the woods, the the side roads, the side paths to Tyonderoga, to northern Northern ports
and was the guide um to multiple military units as they went back and forth to to uh >> invasion of Quebec. Is that by the British? >> Was that >> invasion of Quebec? Is that by the British? >> No, that was that was that was the Richard Wolf Ben General Wolf Benedict
Arnold one. Um they there was two prongs to it. Up the Hudson um actually three up the Huds up the Connecticut across up the Hudson through Lake Champlain and then the really tragic one was the one across the wilderness of Maine the
Panavskott River. That's the one that they didn't have good maps. The boats that they brought up the Panav they they didn't realize they had to carry the boats more than they could row the boats. And um um half the people in there in that starve to death on the way up there. It was a failed It was a failed invasion.
>> It was a failed invasion, but it it was not only a failed invasion, it was a slowly developing failed invasion. Um where the where they first got up there, it was a month of skirmishes that they lost and it was uh you know the the
Quebec that they lost, etc. Um and Benedict Arnold uh despite his personal grief was seriously wounded. So um um you know meanwhile the British sail
into New York possibly the world's greatest deep water largest deep water harbor um certainly at the time it was the um and when they come come they came with 70 ships uh
the June June the Continental Congress appoints a committee of five to draft the Declaration of Independence. And really what brought this topic up is the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. And
um you know, no matter how you feel about politics right now, the Declaration of Independence is amazing. Um and I I happen to think it's one of the greatest things ever written in the English language. And the second
sentence, the second sentence is incandescent. You know that we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalable rights. And among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
And um h happiness to them didn't mean acquiring more stuff. It meant a lifelong educate, self-education where you are learning to be a better citizen. And when they wrote this, everybody on
this planet was a subject. Um, this was their the idea that we were going to be citizens was so revolutionary. Um, and and it it for the longest time I you know
that the the idea that you would put in on pen to paper saying that all men are created equal and then exempt women uh uh um the poor >> um slaves well and free black um the
indigenous peoples um the people that did that they they they knew that slavery was immoral. they spoke about it. The one what what I what
a lot of people don't realize is that the committee there was sever two sent more than two sentences but there was two topics that the the Continental Congress as a whole ordered be struck from the Declaration of Independence and
Jefferson in his autobiography of the two deleted passages wrote about it. Um, so did John Adams that the first they they wanted to censure the people of England for supporting the king and for supporting
the army. The Continental Congress thought that we still have a lot of friends in England. Don't insult them. But they had two sentences that they that were in the draft that they
presented to the Continental Congress on July 5 um that were a denunciation of the slave trade and of slavery itself. And Thomas Jefferson writes, "The clauses reprobating the enslaving the
inhabitants of Africa had to be struck out in compliance to the demands of South Carolina and Georgia, the Confederates, who have who had never attempted to restrain the importation of slaves, and who on the contrary still
wish to continue it." Um, so that at at the same time, if there was anybody that I could go back in history right at this time >> and just pick up by the lapel and just say why, it would be Jefferson. Because
right when right before this the trip to Philadelphia that he wrote most of the declar almost all of the declaration of independence, his nextdoor neighbor man freed his slaves and his brother-in-law freed his slaves. Both of them came to
see him. Both of them attempted to persuade him >> to free his slaves. And he said he had a line that he told to both of them which was that slave to him slavery is like grabbing the wolf by the ears.
Um it's you it it's terrifying to grab it. It's terrifying to have it and it's terrifying to let go of it. Um, and >> but subsequent historians have really contemplated this since the and whether
this really might have been our last best chance to avoid the civil war, our own civil war um almost 100 years later because once they got the three-fifths clause in the constitution and the the you know
uh the cat was out of the bag. So, um, but July 4th, the the the a couple of other clauses that actually really were struck me with the that are just worthy of mention in the um the
Declaration of Independence there. There's just three sentences that I love. So the the other one um was um yeah that all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer
while evils are sufferable than to write themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. I love that. I thought that sentence is such a keen and accurate observation on the way that you know it reminds me of the Italians that said you know why do you why did
you support Mussolini because he made the trains run on time you know and that that observation is so true that how and the idea that you would take a government that um that you prosper
everybody in here everybody that signed this document and that was debating it was extremely wealthy and paid very taxes because of the form of government that they were under. In part because of the form of government that they were under. And yet they were willing
um to risk it all for something better and an idea of of citizenship. Um >> could you read that again now that you've talked about it that that was >> Yeah. The complicated line.
All exper all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer while the evils are sufferable than to write themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
>> Can it be compared to modern psychology phrase that that known familiar evil most people choose familiar evil >> exactly >> against versus the unknown. >> Exactly. And so so uh you know and then
to to to to sum it all up um you know to to sum it all up that in for the support of this declaration um we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. They're telling us all what the
war is about, what they're willing to fight for, and what they're willing to die for. And I think all combined the Declaration of Independence is sort of there are very few countries, cultures, peoples in this world that can really
point to a a specific time and date of an origin. Um, most countries gradually came about. We have a day in a document and this document was wildly popular in Conway. Um, it was immediately and
enthusiastically supported at town meeting unanimously >> as opposed to the US Constitution which can accurately be thought of as a counterrevolution. >> Um, and uh was unanimously opposed at
our town meeting. Um and so you know dur during all this time the government in this town was a community comm community committee of inspection safety and correspondence. So
1774 the people of Conway as well as the neighboring towns closed the courts um because the judges all the employees they were crown employees um and we
didn't want to live under the crown anymore. So 1 1500 people closed the co the courts in Springfield. There basically was no more state government. We established the il very as soon as this this was announced as soon as as soon as uh this was done we formed the
provincial congress um which was a very illegal run for legislature um and the provincial congress authorized all the towns to have these committees of safety inspection um which were
in most towns like ours it was the select board that had law enforcement forcement authority, judicial authority, executive authority, and legislative authority. All three forms of all three branches of government. Um we we we we
never before or since had that this great a charge over our own affairs. We decided everything that dealt with our town, everything. Um and um the US Constitution put an end to that in a big
way. We could no longer even uh you know we we couldn't do anything to interfere with interstate commerce. All these things all of a sudden we lost so much power over our own lives. And um
but the uh so okay so we'll go back to the the other thing that was happening during all this time is that people talked about there was still a world war going on between France and the
Netherlands and England. the the Seven Years War, uh, French and Indian War, the way that that ended was deeply unsatisfactory to the elites of this country. And the treaty in 1763 that that that stopped the combat the the hostilities in North
America um told the colonies that they could not go west of the Appalachian Mountains. And we were uh most of the people the the
the reason that that we had a declaration of independence um one of the biggest reasons is because we wanted to be an empire. Um and these are things that aren't really talked about. There's a whole lot that we that has
been pitified um over the centuries. But the the desire for empire is manifest in much of the language in it. It it u it it is the reason for the genocidal language in the Declaration of
Independence. Um it it it um and there's a reason we didn't call the ar the army the New England army or the American army or the eastern country the 13 col we called it the continental army. Um
because we wanted everything and the the people in the Continental Congress were enormous land speculators. George Washington had George Washington the wealthiest person in the country had hundreds of thousands of square miles of
property um going all the way to the Mississippi. He lost a lot of property in the 1763 treaty. And so one of the things that and and the British refused to make alterations to that because they felt that once you get west of the Alaganis, they can no longer protect us.
Um so the one one of the things that the the backdrops to all of this is our desire for empire and um which which never stopped. Still could argue
still. Yeah. Um um so the uh so okay the July Massachusetts institutes a draft of
soldiers. July 8th the Declaration of Independence rings uh is read the Liberty Bell rings in Philadelphia. July 8th the Liberty Bell. So, um, the I don't know how many of you have
been there. Hopefully, everybody's been to Philadelphia Independence Hall. The Liberty Bell has an inscription. Um, word for word from Leviticus, uh, chapter 25:10, proclaim liberty throughout all the
land, unto all the inhabitants thereof. In Leviticus, this phrase is the instructions to the Israelites to cancel debts, return property, and free their slaves every 50 years. It's called the Jubilee.
>> And um the Jubilee concept has been something that recruiters you then used. And when you go there, they'll tell you that the inscription didn't have much effect in the revolution, but it did. the recruiting broadsides talked about
this inscription especially after July the the the um especially after the Declaration of Independence um and implied and in several cases outright promised that if you defeat the British your debts could be cancelled
>> and um and it's one of the reasons why after John Adams the lead negotiator of the treaty uh of Paris ending the American Revolution's combat with Britain in 1783. um John Adams promised to repay to the
English all of their debts and it's one of the reasons why Sha uh Elie's insurrection started in Conway in 1782 which then morphed into Sha's rebellion in 1786 87 um because
immediately our taxes were raised to pay for the debts and this was one of the reasons why this it the people protesting were all the old soldiers um because their taxes were being raised so that we could pay debts which they felt they were promised that if they soldered
and beat the British they wouldn't have to pay their debts cuz the Bible says so. Um so um the uh yeah in August. So um the British July the the British
are formally uh in the harbor uh uh in New York. August, um, the Battle of Long Island, the Battle of New York, the largest battle by far in terms of number of combatants in the in the Revolutionary War, and an almost unforgivable strategic leadership
blunder by George Washington, the surveyor, the professional surveyor who left his left flank wide open, didn't account for the road they all took. Um, uh, but we had 17,000 soldiers, the British had 20,000. Um
lucky luckily fog uh and adverse wind allowed us to escape overnight um and limited the deaths. We did have one Conway soldier that was killed uh Nathaniel Marble I believe his name was in that that battle. Um
but many of the body they they never they don't really know how many were killed. Many of the bodies were never recovered. Um but about 400 is the best guess. Um so we retreat to Manhattan. Um
within a couple of weeks the British sail up to right along the shoreline. Um we had they had dug in all along the shore. The British were able to sail right up to the shore with their 50 gun
ships of the line and just blast our troops to smitherines. Everybody scadaddles. They go up to Harlem Heights. They have initial battle there. It's a It goes on for a month. Um we keep retreating, get getting forced out, win a little bit here, win a little bit
there. We win at Harlem Heights. We win at um uh for for a couple of days, but they always outflank us. They sail up the East River, up the north up the Hudson River. Um and they outflank us
over and over again. Um, and still Washington thinks it's a good idea to hold on to a fort overlooking the Hudson River facing uh facing New Jersey called Fort Washington. Um, put some of his best
troops in there. Uh, even while the British are marching to it in an obvious attempt to attack it, he goes over there. He listens to everybody. He thinks that we can hold out. Um, we held out for two hours um and suffered what
many people a loss of 3,000 captured, many of whom died in the prison ships of New York Harbor needlessly. Um um we there was a fort right across from it in New Jersey, Fort Lee, and we said, "Well, they can't they can't cross the
river right away. We we have a few days that they cross the river right away." Um and and a couple of days later they invest Fort Lee. The Hessins who had taken a lot of casualties attacking Fort Washington um had to be held back for
murdering all the American soldiers uh that they took prisoner to Fort Lee. Um and this led the route through the jerseys through through New Jersey then was two was West Jersey and East Jersey. Um and uh uh and what the Continental
Army kept getting pushed back further and further and further. Um uh they in Brunswick now New Brunswick they hold out for a little while. Um Todd's army comes pushes them back to
Princeton. Princeton they hold out a day pushes them to Trenton. They hold out Trenton for a day. They they cross the Delaware. Um and winter begins to set in or at least the to the British it was becoming unseasonably cold. There was
horrost in the morning for crying out and um and uh so so they decide to cease operations although they established a strong post. Um but this time period this August to December was the lowest time period of
the revolution. Um it's also when to uh Thomas Payne was with the army and it in in December early December he publishes the crisis
um which so the the January 1776 starts out with Thomas Payne uh articulating the cause for independence in a way that nobody had ever heard fiercely and convincingly and December ends, you know, but by this point the army 17,000
had dwindled to 2,000 and we desperately needed reinforcements. Crisis gets published. It's um you know the the times the tri men's souls, the sunshine soldier, the summer patriot um the you know great language, good um um and it
has the desired effect. There's several thousand within a week of its publication. several thousand um u mostly Pennsylvania militia men volunteer to come to and allows Washington to have at least 3,000 under
which made made um December 24th December 25th at 6 Christmas day at 6 p.m. Um he had 2500 marched to the ferry cross the Delaware River landed the New Jersey bank at 3:00 a.m. December 26th,
the Battle of Trenton. Um, you capture 1500 Pessant troops, uh, suffering only five wounded. And the tide had turned in a way that that never it never would go back that badly again. Washington felt like quitting. He was despair. All of
his top aids thought he was indecisive. Made terrible decisions. the these three months, the backbiting, the attempts by Charles Lee to get Washington, the uh fire and replace him, the attempts by Horatio Gates to get uh politicians
involved. Sam John Adams was involved in both of these intrigues. Um John Adams nicknamed for George Washington was blockhead. Um uh um um yeah. So the
the um the thing about all of this is that you know I guess the it was the the war was still a long way off. We Washington still made terrible strategy. it he learned slowly. Um but
he learned it was a gradual process. He made the same strategic mistake. So he he gave away New York City basically with a strategic blunder that cost a lot of life. He gave away Philadelphia in 77 in the battle of Brandy Wine. New York the battle of New Island was he gave
away the left flank in Brandy Wine. He didn't see the British coming on the right flank. um both of which caused enormous casualties, losses. Um many of his colleagues said that these things did not need to happen. But he
got better and better and better and more competent. um 78 in Monmouth when he uh the army was retreating and losing um you know and and and 77 in Princeton he himself went
onto the field rallied the troops showed uh tremendous personal courage and tremendous strategic ability. So he he did learn. Um but the war shifted to the south. Um the British always knew that
Georgia and South Carolina had the highest percentage of touries. They always felt that they were this close to getting the locals to uh welcome the crown again. And we had
one last terrible loss in 1780, which was the loss of Charleston and a whole continental army of 8,000 commanded by Massachusetts General Benjamin Lincoln. That was a devastating loss. Also very foreseeable to Charleston was down surrounded by water, British sailing
ships, water. Um and uh once they get in the front, follow you. You um but we lost our best soldiers. Um the best units of the army are lost in that. But we persevered. Um 81 Cornwallis loses at
at Yorktown. The French are our to our credit. The reason we had a declaration of independence, the French refused made it known that they would not intervene formally on our behalf um if we were just rebellion. They would
only support an independent country. Um that was one of the major major reasons why we had to declare independence and why we use a specific phrase that we are right that is that the French wanted to hear. Um um
and you know we we owe a lot to the French. It's still to this day it's hard to hear them be criticized where they are. We wouldn't be here without them as a country. So the the the thing about
the de one last thought about 1776 the declaration of independence when you read it when you study it the people that came together and we really did need to unite as a col it would not have worked if South Carolina and Georgia
said we're not going to join this because we want our slavery. It would not have worked. Um, and you can see why they were optimistic enough to punt this down. You could, they were optimist by nature that you could see why they thought that they could punt this issue
and deal with it in the future. Um, it turned out to be a terrible miscalculation. But what the way that they looked at this country, there was no them. There was only an us.
And um, I miss that about our national government. So that's that's the talk on 1776 >> in Conway. Um what was there a division between like did many young men go off and join
the army? >> Yeah, we we were credited with 109 soldiers. Oh, really? >> That fought in the Revolutionary War. >> The early recordeping was so incomplete that we don't know for sure how many were killed.
>> It's somewhere between four and nine. >> That's all. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Incredible. >> I mean, the um the the total casualties the the total death American soldier deaths in the Revolutionary War 20 not not even
30,000. I mean, musketss were accurate to a 100 yards. They they they um that's why Bunker Hill is so shocking when all of our casualties were caused by Bayonett's a terri I mean, >> yeah,
>> I don't want to die in a war. Bayonet's the wor the one way. I don't want to go by bayonet. Like that's that's >> brutal. So 109 men from Conway out of a population of what we know population. So, our population was rapidly growing.
Um, and the our tax roles reflect people that paid taxes, not necessarily every resident. The lab the the poor who were mostly most of the soldiers. That's the
whole thing about the revolution. >> The 75 and 76. Um, the spirit of liberty, the spirit of 76. Um you had the founding generation in the town that was volunteering and even to uh you know
77 to go meet Ben you know at Saratoga but by and large it was the third and fourth sons who were never going to inherit anything. It was newcomers, wage earners, um, uh, people, you know, hiron that
that were so they they didn't count then and they, you know, we still have tremendous inequality problems, but we did then, too. It's just they weren't as pronounced and the people then the elites then really didn't were very
upset by it. They wanted, you know, Ben Franklin very famously in his will um forbid his children from wearing jewelry um because it's too ostentatious and uh the belief the and and the church
pre the the the preaching in church often dealt with inequality that don't you know the ostentatious displays of wealth. There were several biblical passages that that uh would indicate that that's not favored. Um and um the
the the wealthiest people among us lived among us still um without gates and armed guards. >> Do we know if Conway was like universally pro-revolution? I I've heard in history that it was kind of oneird
one third and one third. >> Yeah. No. Um, we had a very famous town meeting in 75 at at at the church where every they were asked to pretend that the middle aisle was the Atlantic Ocean and choose
England or America and there was fi five that stood for six that stood for England. Um, three of whom were high Tories that were eventually banished by law in 78. Um um one of whom was on
Fieldill on most of the land on the top of Fieldill um the Oliver estate. Uh but yeah and one of whom consider arms uh who was then the most notorious Tory in town had a complete transformation
um once they stole his gun and once well once they buried his gun and put his sword in a hay bale or with hoff somewhere. Um but they um he ended up converting and he was the co-author with Malachi Maya May Maynard of the
scorching descent to the 1788 con US constitution adoption I recommend that at for anybody that is interested in Conway history that descent eight pages of scorching anti-slavery arguments
where we uh which was published in the Hartford Chron where we very famously called George Washington a hypocrite. >> It's now part of national history curriculum. It's public. One of the most one of the one of the premier instances
of um pre-American anti-slavery arguments was from his town. And um but but we we called George Washington a hypocrite for lifting up his own sword for his for his sword for his own freedom while keeping 300 freeborn
Africans in a state of miserable bondage. Um, and nobody no had publicly used language like that towards George Washington at that up until that time. So, >> so um, so Henry Knox came across Western
Massachusetts with How close did he come to Conway? Did he get >> Yeah. Um, I wish No, we do. Uh, he came the post road from between Albany and Springfield, which was down um, >> Route 9. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. and it then went up to
meet Fitsburg. So the closest he came was probably Fittsburgh. Um yeah, but um that would have been quite the site. >> Well, it probably wasn't Route Route 9. Probably Route 20. >> Yeah, that's yeah.
>> Yeah. No, it was nowhere near. I'm just curious, Philip. Um, >> when you said Conway voted overwhelmingly against the Constitution in 178 >> unanimously, >> is that record still exist in the original minutes somewhere?
>> So, okay. So, >> our town our town meeting records. We were uh a thrifty group. Um, so every other town that you've ever studied has
from this time period has a town warrant book and a town meeting minute book because as they tell you at every town meeting, and Bob knows this, um, that what you vote on at town meeting is not
the the is not what is published in the t in the warrant. that the warrant is there to inform you generally of the subject matter that will be discussed at town meeting. What you vote on is the motion that is being made at the town meeting.
>> So we we never we never wanted to pay for the extra book uh that paper's expensive binding, you know, it's a whole thing. It's a big deal. Um um so we we had the we we had it both combined. Our town, our oldest
town record is the med the warrant and the meeting and to to be up until the that that stopped in the 1820s when we finally got a a book for town warrants. Up until then, the requirement that we
legally post what it what the meeting is going to be about, I don't know how we ever satisfied that. I we obviously did not. It had to have just been word of mouth. Um um but the they
the so so the it it all it tells you in our town meeting records is what the result was on some things it just it gives a vote. That's one of the things that it gives a vote on. Um but uh most of the time there's no you have you know
the my favorite one and I've talked about this before is the middle of 19 1796 there's a town meeting the only record of is it it says Conway declares war on France and so so this was a period when France
was impressing our soldiers uh uh sailors on the high seas there's people from all over the area that must have been a Conway kid that was impressed against his will and made to join the French Navy against his will. Um and uh which was going on that was a thing and
um so we took it upon ourselves to declare war on France. And so whenever you go to the town meeting and someone stands up and says why are we spending so much time on this? It's really not our purview. We shouldn't be just weighing in on this question of the day.
just remind them, hey, we're the group that declared war on France. You know, >> are we still at war with them? >> You know, when when I was when I was the chair of select board, I wrote a letter on town letterhead to the French
embassy. That's right. >> I did apologize. I >> I got no response. Um, and and and and I included I included a cop photocopy of our declaration of war and I offered to surrender on any terms.
I wish I should have saved that letter. Um, but I offered to surrender on any terms and I suggested a case of good wine, but um they didn't take me serum. No wonder why we declared war on um >> about the declaration being such a
popular document. Um, do you know if it if that document got over into England and whether the regular population in England? >> It did. It did. It got over into England not to the fall. Um, it had it had a tremendous effect on in England too. Um,
>> like they liked it. So the people that you know in England at the time of the outbreak of the revolution there was a good 40% of the population that was in favor of American independence because Americans wanted to be independent. Um it's sort of just
like now you know you you think of the most red state the Alabama the Mississippi they still are 40% of the people don't that um you know we're we're always more diverse >> and more inclusive as a large entity
than you think and England was too. The interesting thing was it got it it went over to France. >> Yeah. >> Which so France of course um the the monarchy in France was far more controlling than in England. England had a he had a parliament. The Magna Carta
regulated his conduct. France was a god king. Um no no restrictions on his no like no nothing. Um and so but he censored the the the re the declaration of independence. There was uh all
references to monarchy were omitted. >> It was redacted. >> Redacted. >> So they were just rectangles or they >> Yeah. No, they um it but but it still s was very popular and reprinted in all
their newspapers. Um it doesn't quite read with the same panache. >> Yeah. >> Thank you very much. Thanks.