In Boston for Bunker Hill Day
Thinking about Freedom on the Freedom Trail
I’m in Boston, writing to you on the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill. I’ve been thinking about both the original threats to the colonies and the ongoing threats to American values and traditions.
Low on ammunition, colonial militias at Bunker Hill built fortifications all through the night to prepare for the expected British assault. The British aimed to crush colonial resistance and secure control of Boston Harbor, while the plucky militias hoped to maintain pressure on British forces and disrupt their dominance in the region.
Rallying his men, Colonel William Prescott, seeking to conserve precious ammunition and to ensure accurate fire during the three British assaults on Bunker Hill (actually Breed’s Hill), allegedly gave this famous order to his troops: “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes.”
While the eye-white story might be apocryphal, and while the British succeeded on their third assault during the Battle of Bunker Hill, their loss of over 1,000 soldiers, half their invading force, convinced Americans that the British monarchists could be resisted, and convinced the British that quelling the popular revolts against the locals would be costly and dispiriting. The colonists saw the invading forces as imperious, vindictive, and despotic, and thus they felt they had the moral upper hand.
Back in Boston as I reflect on all this history, I recently took the blue line train of the MBTA under that same Boston Harbor and had lunch not far from the Freedom Trail that stretches from Boston Common to the Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown. Today our family walked the entire trail, encountering the graves of some of our notable ancestors, including Increase Mather, John Hancock, and Paul Revere.
Recently my son Jukie and I sat for 20 minutes on a park bench in the Boston Public Garden while listening to a jazz duo. Near us was a famous equestrian statue of George Washington that I remember gazing up at as an 18-year-old Boston University freshman entering the park from Arlington Street.
I have been of at least three minds about George Washington. First of all, I grew up in a city, Washington D.C., that was named after our first president, and my late mom, a Washingtoniana Department public librarian, was born on February 22, George Washington’s birthday. Growing up, I felt a special kinship with the American leader, the hero who had surprised and dismayed British troops and the British monarchy with his prowess as an under-resourced general.
On the other hand, Washington personally enslaved over 100 people at Mount Vernon, his estate a mere 13 miles from the Glover Park neighborhood where I was raised by civil rights advocates. General Washington also led campaigns against Native American populations by torching dozens of villages, displacing thousands, and breaking treaties. Among generations of the Iroquois, Washington was known as the “Town Destroyer.” I learned some of Washington’s activities from Howard Zinn in a Boston University history class.
With Boston’s long history of abolitionism and progressive governing policies, one might wonder how Bostonians could celebrate such a man.
I wonder, though, in the current climate, with millions of protestors recently gathering in hundreds of American cities to proclaim that we will accept “No Kings,” if Washington might be reassessed for some of the original reasons most of us were taught to admire him. Washington voluntarily gave up power, stepping down after two terms as president. He explicitly declined monarchial power when prompted to take control by the 1782 Newburgh Letter. Even Alexander Hamilton proposed that Washington serve for life in his executive role, which Hamilton thought should come with an absolute veto.
Washington refused. Channeling the departing president, Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote it this way: “If I say goodbye, the nation learns to move on. / It outlives me when I’m gone.”
Washington made a series of immoral decisions regarding his treatment of Blacks and indigenous people, but he also rejected monarchial invitations and provisions, thus helping to set the foundation for the democratic principles that undergird American society today. Washington once said, “I rejoice in the belief that our government will prove a blessing to every people who shall adopt it.” Many of us thought that the example of George Washington should have concluded the conversation on American kings.
Yet we cannot let Washington's democratic restraint overshadow the fundamental moral failures of his era and his personal choices. The enslaving of over 100 human beings (or more than 300 if we include Martha Washington’s estate) and the systematic destruction of Native American communities did not merely reflect the revolutionary era. Instead, Washington’s profound moral wrongs caused immeasurable suffering.
As we grapple with what I see as the current misuse of American leadership and power, we must consider both truths: that Washington's rejection of monarchy helped establish democratic precedent, and that his participation in systems of racial oppression betrayed the ideals of human dignity and equality that should underpin any just society. As I consider all the signs I saw at a recent Woodland march and rally, I see that the protesters calling for “No Kings” today understand something Washington himself seemed to grasp only partially: true democratic leadership requires not just the rejection of absolute power, but the recognition of the full humanity of all people.
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Best,
Dr. Andy
Some trivia questions on Occupations that Start with the Letter C.
In chronological order, Hercules, Auguste Escoffier, Alice Waters, and Carmen Berzatto all shared what job title? Chef (the last one from the TV show The Bear)
Ptolemy and Martin Waldseemüller (c. 1470–1520) shared what four-syllable job title? Cartographer – Waldseemüller was the first one to use the word “America” on a map
Dan Conner from the TV show Roseanne, Ben Walton from The Waltons, and James Evans Sr. from Good Times all shared the same job title during part of their time on their shows. What was that job title? Construction worker
Before turning to ministry, Jesus had the same job as Joseph, who probably taught him a thing or two. What was that job? Carpenter
UCLA men’s basketball coach John Wooden won 10 NCAA championships in 12 years, including a record 7 in a row. That record of seven wins spans part of two decades. Name just one of those decades. The years in question are 1967–1973, so correct answers would include the 1960s or 1970s