Winchester VA and Happy Treason Day

Winchester VA was one of the biggest towns on the Appalachian frontier.

It became a military outpost for one reason -- to reduce the French Fort Duquesne at today's Pittsburgh.

The Braddock Cannon has been pointing in that direction since 1915 on Cork and Braddock Streets in Winchester VA having been left behind in Alexandria in 1755.

Let us play with some numbers.

Winchester VA was part of the empire for how long?

1744 to 1776. Thirty Two Years.

Frederick Co VA was part of the empire from 1738 to 1776 --- 38 years

Virginia was part of the empire from 1607 to 1776 --- 169 years.

And if you include the war years until the Paris Peace Treaty of 1783, then Virginia wasn't independent from the empire for 176 years.

We have only been independent from the empire 1783 to 2023. That's 240 years. We've been independent only 64 years more than we have been part of the British empire.

For those who know of the Haughty Briton

and to those who espouse the Ugly American ---

we know in between and high above soars the aspirations for all of humanity condensed into a few words ---

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.—

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,—

That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends,

it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it,

and to institute new Government,

laying its foundation

on such principles

and organizing its powers in such form,

as to them shall seem most likely

to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established

should not be changed

for light and transient causes;

Still more succint than the modern constitution of the European Union.

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By Jim Moyer, 7/4/2021, updated 7/4/2023

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