2003
California South District 41
FIRST PLACE
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Essay by Jessica Baris
Serra High School
"When Our Freedom is Threatened”
Number of words 490
When
our freedom is threatened, Americans step
forward. Adversity is the glue that keeps this country together
when
skeptics say America is doomed. Americans
have what
President John Adams called the “latent spark” and that spark
is
“their love of liberty.”[1]
As early as 1634 the
colonists stepped forward to resist a
royal squadron of ships when King James
attempted to
impose taxes on them. They
had braved a tempestuous
ocean and wilderness to forge their own lives and no
one was
going to take away their freedom.
In
1760, the king saw colonists’ prosperity and began to erode
their sovereignty
with laws such as the “writ of assistance” by
which businessmen’s homes
could be searched without a
reason. Colonists
protested. Then the Sugar and Stamp acts
angered people. Bundles of government
paper were burned in
bonfires. The homes of British government officials were
vandalized. British goods were boycotted.
Britain underestimated the “love of liberty”
that lived within
Americans. The Revenue Act followed and the people were
called
forth by essays that the king was attempting to enslave
them. Men and women,
black and white, planters, merchants,
small farmers, artisans and unskilled
workers joined together.
Women
started spinning their own cloth to make clothes and
refused to buy tea.
Officials were tarred and feathered.
Our
Founding Fathers saw this was the moment that colonists
no longer saw themselves
as citizens of states but as
Americans. As John Adams started toward Philadelphia in
August, 1774, to
attend the First Continental Congress, he felt
prospects were dim for a united
13 states. But as he made the
journey, he wrote to his wife that “The Spirit of the People
wherever we have
been seems to be very favorable. They
universally consider our Cause as their own, and express the
firmest Resolution
to abide the Determination of the
Congress.”[2]
He was not disappointed. Declaration of
independence from Britain was the
course of action.
In
the Revolutionary War “one united people . . . who by their
joint counsels,
arms and efforts fighting side by side . . . have
nobly established general
liberty and independence.” This
was
said by John Jay and he added that “this country and this
people seem to
be made for each other.”[3]
America
was attacked at Pearl Harbor in WWII. The
people
rallied behind their soldiers, giving up gasoline, rubber, and
food.
They blacked out their towns. They
bought war bonds.
“United We
Stand” was the cry of each and every American.
We
hoped never to hear that cry again but the attacks on our
East Coast on
September 11, 2001 the Spirit of the People
was called forth again.
Americans stepped forward – like
Todd Beamer who led the attack on the
terrorists on Flight 93,
giving his life to save countless of anonymous
Americans.
When
our freedom is threatened, Americans step forward.
Some, like Todd Beamer, take a giant step.
Others take small
steps. But
Americans will not turn away and run from
adversity.
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[1]
Adams, John, The Works of John Adam,
Second President of the United States.
Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1865.
[2]
Howe, John R. The Changing Political
Thought of John Adams. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1966.
[3]
Hamilton, Alexander, John Jay, and James Madison. The
Federalist. New York: Robert B. Luce, Inc. 1976.