.After the Boston Massacre, when the British soldiers who had fired upon thecrowd were brought to trial, they were defended by American lawyers JamesOtis and John Adams. In any other "revolution," these men would have beencalling for the deaths of the offending soldiers. Instead, they weredefending them in court.When the war finally began, it took over a year for the colonists todeclare their independence. During that year, officers in the ContinentalArmy still drank to "God save the King." When the Declaration ofIndependence was finally declared, it was more out of desperation thancareful planning, as we sought help from foreign nations, particularly theFrench. In the end, it was the French monarchy, not the Revolutionists. Asthey had not yet come to power, that helped America win its independence.Through the seven years of the American war, there were no mass executions,no "reigns of terror," no rivers of blood flowing in the streets ofAmerica's cities. When a Congressman suggested to George Washington that heraid the countryside around Valley Forge to feed his starving troops, heflatly refused, saying that such an action would put him on the same levelas the invaders.Most revolutions consume those who start them; in France, Marat,Robespierre, and Danton all met violent deaths. But when Washington wasoffered a virtual dictatorship by some of his officers at Newburgh, NewYork, he resisted his natural impulse to take command and urged them tosupport the republican legislative process.In America, unlike France, where religious dissenters were put to death,there was no wholesale assault on freedom of religion. At theConstitutional Convention in 1787, there were devout Congregationalists,Episcopalians, Dutch Reformed, Lutherans, Quakers, Presbyterians,Methodists, and Roman Catholics. Deist Ben Franklin asked for prayer duringthe Convention, while several months later George Washington spoke at aJewish synagogue. During the Revolution, many...
