Can someone explain to me what Washington was saying to Ben, Anna, and the bearded guy about Nathan Hale. I kinda got that it was about propaganda, psych warfare, etc....and how they made up that saying....etc.
A thorough analysis would be greatly appreciated. History buff stuff, would be cool also. Thanks.
This won't be a thorough analysis because it's been in the 100's for days now, I can't sleep and I'm too lazy. From what I understand many of the founding fathers were inspired by Cato and ancient Rome. Washington especially liked the play saw it several times. He ripped the line “What pity is it / That we can die but once to serve our country”, tweaked it a bit, and turned a tragic failure and embarrassment into a rallying point and Nathan Hale into a martyr for the cause. It was truly brilliant propaganda.
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American checking in, history lover but not as knowledgeable as I would like to be.
We are/were (I'm in my mid 30's) raised to believe that the rights that we have were garnered only because of those brave people who were willing to die for freedom. What was but a whisper of a thought 100 years prior became a fire that our forefathers willing threw themselves into to allow us our representation. That every man (in modern times regardless of land ownership or color) should have a voice in the actions of those governing over him/her. We know these things...I won't finish the famous quotation of our Declaration of Independence but I will say that the then majority were slighted by their bare representation and knew that their only recourse was to spill blood or have it spilled.
Though diplomacy was sought first a mad man thousands of miles away (It may have been a genetic problem diagnosed through modern medicine) was dictating terms for people who were just trying to be left alone to their own devices. A person running an empire wished to use hundreds of thousands to reap the natural resources of a new continent for his own gain. Those days were done whether it is looked upon for individual selfishness or not they were finished.
Nathan Hale was a rally call, a beacon of our hearts if not our minds as many Tory's were not fully committed to rallying against their fathers birth loyalties. With those very few words he said what had been the underlying thought of those who were willing to fully commit when the then few colonists wouldn't. We are done with your actions, we are done with your divination, we wish to be equal to those of our neighbors...we are just done.
Nathan Hale will forever be known as a rallying call for a nation in its infancy. That call guided us in a direction that would help change the history of the world.
When I have those moments from time to time that my government has actions that disgust me I try to remember things like this, those actions that every person should have against tyranny. Those moments like Nathan Hale facing the noose and spitting at it with his words. Those heroes, those true and far between heroes will live in my mind and heart as long as it still beats.
That is why I cherish the legacy that is Nathan Hale.
you actual believe half this crap? hahahahahaha
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My surname is Hale.
Nathan is the sound/pronunciation in a scottish accent for the word NOTHING.
Does that tell us anything?
Do please remember that if the thinking is that George 111 had despotic tyrannical thinking mind he could not have been the unusually loving father of a large brood. Nor would he given the nickname of Farmer George. His mental days time is not remembered by me but the Monarchs of Britain at that stage were figureheads and it is doubtful that fully formed thoughts if offered made their way past the real power. Lord North is who we brits blame in hindsight.
Truthfully losing the Americas in that manner was perhaps the biggest loss of all.
It is also thought that Britain just went away. It did not enjoy what was a Civil War. Had not other events involved troop and naval attention surely they could have put the insurgence down. But they went away. Americas attempt to take Canada was so successful that the Brits got all the way to New Orleans. That was without a plan only retaliating to the incursion. But in truth the loss of america was great. Now regarding the fact the Doughboys saved us from speaking German: it is well held thought that we were saved from that particular fate. But considering that German might have become the language of the US without a conquest. As often mentioned in a slightly offensive way Britain has been German since George 1 1714. A Germanic line reinforced by the introduction of Albert as Queen Victoria's consort. We also have germanic roots through angles and saxons, vikings then the descendants of the vikings from normandy. Also with George V and the Kaiser ruling at the time of WW1 that could have been a dream alliance making WW2 unnecessary perhaps.
Just more pottage to throw in the pot.
He wasn't a tyrant, just a monarch who truly believed they were his "subjects" and owed him loyalty. That was how it worked at the time, in most of Europe, maybe all of it. In most of the world.
For anyone who hasn't seen it, I recommend "The Madness Of King George." Very enlightening film.
http://www.thisdayinquotes.com/2010/09/nathan-hales-only-regret.html
Decent explanation, with sources, as to how Hale's last words were attributed. The show added their own spin. (Hopefully the link works this time.)
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There is zero evidence that Hale said what is attributed to him on his hanging. It is believed that some of his friends from Yale falsely attributed the quote to him in order to bring some honor and dignity to his capture and death, which had none. After all he was captured for having loose lips at a pub where a man who was suspicious of Hale pretended to be a Patriot, and Hale told the man (who was actually a Tory) all about his mission. The man turned him in. So Hale's predicament was one of his own making.
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