Palin Messes with Paul Revere

"Listen my Children and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere" is the introduction to the epic poem written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. A quick read of that famous poem might have saved Sarah Palin some embarrassment on a recent visit to Boston..



As a lifelong Bostonian, I know my Paul Revere. As a product of the Boston Public Schools most of our field trips revolved around Paul Revere or the American Revolution. If not for Revere and his cohorts, we might all be English.



As a host parent to many international students staying in Boston, I made sure a visit to the Paul Revere House was always part of their orientation.



Boston is a wonderful old city and a mecca for history buffs. One can walk the "Freedom Trail" and see where our country's battle for independence began. Visitors can see the site of the Boston Massacre. The Boston Tea Party, the Old North Church, the Paul Revere House and many other historic shrines.



So I was not happy recently with former Alaska governor, Sarah Palin's comments about one of Boston's favorite Sons of Liberty, Paul Revere. Palin was in Boston recently on her National Bus Tour of historic U.S. sites.



Whether to propel her image as a presidential candidate or a reality TV performer, I do wish Ms. Palin had done some reading or asked some questions about Boston and Paul Revere before her impromptu speech in Boston. I would have been happy to share my knowledge and the basic facts about Paul Revere's Midnight Ride on April 18^th 1775.



I could have explained that, "Things were getting desperate in colonial Massachusetts in 1775. Colonists who had left tyrannical England to find prosperity and freedom in the new world were still being controlled by Parliament. They were heavily taxed and could barely make a living. Boston was full of British Red Coat soldiers ready to quash any signs of rebellion.



Angry colonists were secretly organizing to get away from British rule, once and for all. Many rebel leaders including John Hancock and Samuel Adams had moved away from Boston to the outlying towns, Concord and Lexington to escape British scrutiny.



Paul Revere had become a messenger for the group. On the night of April 18 1775, he learned that the British were beginning to travel out to Concord and Lexington to arrest Hancock and Adams and to take over weapons that were stored there by the colonists.



Revere and a group of fellow messengers left Boston and rode out to Concord and Lexington on horseback in the dead of night. They were able to warn the citizen militia (Minute Men) to prepare for battle, well before the British arrived. Hancock and Adams successfully went into hiding.



Revere was detained briefly by some British scouts, but bluffed that the whole country was already aroused to fight them, and they let him go."



Palin's version of Paul Revere is a bit different. Here's what she said to her Boston audience. "He warned the British that they weren't going to be taking away our arms, by ringing those bells, and making sure as he's riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells, that we were going to be secure, and we were going to be free and we were going to be armed."



As any school child knows, Revere did not ring bells and shoot his gun as he rode his horse. Nobody does that. He was trying to be unnoticed and quiet. He did not set out to warn the British about anything. Revere rode to warn the colonists, and Hancock and Adams that, "The British were Coming."



Sarah Palin is scary awful. To think that she was actually the Republican Vice Presidential candidate is mind blowing. To think she has a college degree is mind blowing.



But I am not going to worry. Americans can find a much better presidential candidate than Palin, and they will.



Meanwhile, hubby and I will sit out on our patio and enjoy the view. If we look carefully we can see Russia from our back yard.



BTW -- . hubby's birthday is April 18th





Sources:

http://politicalhumor.about.com/b/2011/06/03/sarahpalin-paul-revere-gaffe.htm

http://www.nationalcenter.org/PaulRevere'sRide.html

http://www.notablebiographies.com/Pu-R0/Revere-Paul.html

Personal experience