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Words are powerful - Thoughts shape - Ideas have consequences

William Federer

Amerisearch, Inc.
Posted November 15, 2004

The American Minute
A Daily Dose of History

November14
Born a slave, he taught himself to read, and attended school after working all day. At age 25 he founded the Tuskegee Institute and recruited George Washington Carver to join the staff. At the time of his death, which occurred this day, November 14, 1915, the school had grown to over 1,500 students. His name was Booker T. Washington, and he was the first Black to have his picture on a U.S. postage stamp and a U.S. coin. He was also the first Black elected to the Hall of Fame. Booker T. Washington declared: “I shall allow no man to belittle my soul by making me hate him.”

Washington, Booker Taliaferro. Bob Cutshall, More Light for the Day (Minneapolis, MN: Northwestern Products, Inc., 1991), 1.20. Perry Tanksley, To Love is to Give (Jackson, Mississippi: Allgood Books, Box 1329; Parthenon Press, 201 8th Ave., South, Nashville, Tennessee, 1972), p. 43.

November15
A member of the Continental Congress, he was the only clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence, and he lost two sons in the Revolutionary War. He was President of Princeton and taught nine of the men that wrote the Constitution, including James Madison. He served on over one hundred and twenty Congressional Committees. His name was Reverend John Witherspoon, and he died this day, November 15, 1794. Rev. Witherspoon wrote: “A Republic must either preserve its virtue or lose its liberty.... Whoever is an avowed enemy of God, I scruple not to call him an enemy of his country.”

Witherspoon, John. May 17, 1776, in his sermon entitled, AThe Dominion of Providence over the Passions of Men “ delivered at The College of New Jersey (Princeton). Varnum Lansing Collins, President Witherspoon (New York: Arno Press and The New York Times, 1969), I:19798. John Eidsmoe, Christianity and the Constitution The Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, A Mott Media Book, 1987, 6th printing 1993), p. 85. William W. Woodward, The Works of the Rev. John Witherspoon (Philadelphia: 1802), Vol. III, p. 46. Peter Marshall and David Manuel, The Light and the Glory (Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1977), p. 296. Stephen McDowell and Mark Beliles, AThe Providential Perspective “ (Charlottesville, VA: The Providence Foundation, P.O. Box 6759, Charlottesville, Va. 22906, January 1994), Vol. 9, No. 1, p. 7. William Safire, ed., Lend Me Your Ears Great Speeches in History (NY: W.W. Norton & Company 1992), p. 429.

November16
“My Country ‘tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty...” This patriotic hymn was written by Samuel Francis Smith, who died this day, November 16, 1895. A classmate at Harvard with the poet Oliver Wendell Holmes, he became a Baptist minister and professor. While in seminary, Samuel heard the national anthems for England, Sweden and Russia. He sat down and within half an hour wrote My Country ‘tis of Thee. The fourth verse reads: “Our fathers’ God, to thee, Author of liberty, To Thee we sing; Long may our land be bright With freedom’s holy light: Protect us by Thy might, Great God, our King.”

Smith, Samuel Francis. 1832, writing patriotic hymn, My Country ‘Tis Of Thee. Patriotic Anthology, p. 480. Peter Marshall and David Manuel, The Glory of America (Bloomington, MN: Garborg’s Heart’N Home, Inc., 1991), 2.2. Hugo Frey, ed., America Sings (New York: Robbins Music Corporation, 1935), p. 104. D.P. Diffine, Ph.D., One Nation Under God How Close a Separation? (Searcy, Arkansas: Harding University, Belden Center for Private Enterprise Education, 6th edition, 1992), p. 11.

November17
“ Bloody Mary” condemned over 300 people to be burned alive. She had been Queen of England for five years after her father Henry VIII. Upon her death, this day, November 17, 1558, her half-sister Elizabeth became Queen and ruled forty-five years, during which time Sir Francis Drake destroyed the Spanish Armada, Sir Walter Raleigh discovered Virginia and Shakespeare advanced theater. Regarding her epitaph, Queen Elizabeth stated: “I am no lover of pompous title, but only desire... a line or two, which shall express my name, my virginity, the years of my reign, [and] the reformation of religion under it.”

Elizabeth I, Queen of England. Speaking to her ladies regarding her epitaph. John Bartlett, Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1855, 1980), p. 164.

November18
Jesse James was killed, telephone lines connected New York and Chicago and international time zones were set. This all occurred during the term of President Chester Arthur, who died this day, November 18, 1886. The son of a Baptist minister from Ireland, Arthur became an abolitionist lawyer, defending the rights of Blacks, and served as Inspector General during the Civil War. When James Garfield was assassinated, President Arthur wrote: “The deep grief which fills all hearts should manifest itself with one accord toward the Throne of Infinite Grace... We should bow before the Almighty and seek from Him... consolation in our affliction.

Arthur, Chester Alan. September 22, 1881, in a Proclamation of a National Day of Humiliation and Mourning. James D. Richardson (U.S. Representative from Tennessee), ed., A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents 17891897, 10 vols. (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, published by Authority of Congress, 1897, 1899; Washington, D.C.: Bureau of National Literature and Art, 17891902, 11 vols., 1907, 1910), Vol. VIII, p. 34.

November19
" Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” Thus begins the Gettysburg Address delivered this day, November 19, 1863, by President Abraham Lincoln on the battlefield where 50,000 soldiers died. This tensentence speech ends with the words: “We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Lincoln, Abraham. November 19, 1863, in his Gettysburg Address, commemorating the field where 50,000 men died in the Battle of Gettysburg, July 13, 1863. Engraved in stone in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

© William Federer 2004 Reprinted with Permission

William J. Federer is a nationally known speaker, best-selling author, and president of Amerisearch, Inc., a publishing company dedicated to researching America’s noble heritage. His book America’s God and Country Encyclopedia of Quotations has sold over a quarter-of-a-million copies, and his AMERICAN MINUTE radio feature is aired across the country recalling events of American significance on the date they occurred. Bill ran for Congress in 1998 & 2000 against Dick Gephardt, and is running again in 2004 for that seat. Articles on and by Bill have appeared in national publications, such as WorldNetDaily.com, Washington Times, Washington Post, and Human Events. www.amerisearch.com