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We've Been Here Before: The turning point [1]
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Date: 2025-05-01
In his book, “Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold and the Fate of the American Revolution”, Nathaniel Philbrick tells us that the American Revolution navigated anything but a smooth path to victory. To the contrary there was little agreement among the populace as to whether or not the soldiers fighting for the freedom of the country should even be paid. In the epilogue he describes the turning point, events that resonate today.
“The United States had been created through an act of disloyalty. No matter how eloquently the Declaration if Independence had attempted to justify the American rebellion, a residual guilt hovered over the circumstances of the country’s founding. Arnold changed all that. … The American people had come to revere George Washington, but a hero alone was not sufficient to bring them together. Now they had the despised villain Benedict Arnold. They knew what they were fighting for — and against. …
As Arnold had demonstrated, the real enemy was not Great Britain, but those Americans who sought to undercut their fellow citizens’ commitment to one another … the greatest danger to America’s future came from self-serving opportunism masquerading as patriotism. At this fragile stage in the country’s development, a way had to be found to strengthen rather than destroy the existing framework of government.”
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