Experience the American dream with today’s Patriots of the Past interview. I’m your host, John Gillespie.
It’s February 2, 1778. I’m in General Washington’s winter encampment at Valley Forge.
JG: “General Washington, sir, your troops have little food and poor shelter against the cold. Many of the men are dying daily. How will you go on?”
GW: “John, I’m reminded of Thomas Paine’s words in his pamphlet, The Crisis, ‘… Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated…'”
Read the full text of The American Crisis, No. 1, which was published on December 19, 1776.
John and Jan Gillespie are the founders of the Rawhide Boys’ Ranch; they have fostered 351 teenagers and wrote the book Our 351 Sons; they have also assisted numerous churches in developing youth programs and expanding their total church ministries. After running for U.S. Senate, John founded 1776 American Dream, which exists to demonstrate the vision of our founding fathers and help our generation of youth passionately embrace those values.
