Your Mandatory "Must Read" for Patriot's Day

Those of you who, like my son and I, have been watching the John Adams miniseries on HBO will love this link from the Boston Herald's Jules Crittendon. It tells the story of Patriot's Day--the shot heard 'round the world--in the words of some of the men who were there.

The world's greatest superpower ran into a few thousand farmers and shopkeepers in Massachusetts, and the birth of modern democracy began.

Interestingly, it would take more than a decade for the Americans to seize victory and expel the British entirely. And, interestingly (if you're paying attention in Iraq), nearly every day someone predicted that the Americans would fail, that the cause of democracy was too idealistic to prevail, that Gen. Washington's military strategy was a disaster, etc. etc.

Oh, and one thing that became clear during the Revolution, too: America would not seize a short-term victory without the involvement of the French. More proof that colonial Americans--like Iraqis today--couldn't possibly be ready for self-government? Some said so.

And yet, somehow the British were vanquished and, after many screwups and mistakes, the Constitution was adopted, and despite a successful re-invasion by the British less than 20 year after the creation of the US, America prevailed and...well, you know the rest of the story.

It's a story that began, right here in Massachusetts, on Patriot's Day. It's a story you and your entire family should know.