Fragile Freedom

A new short segment I am hoping to begin for Fragile Freedom called A Moment in our History. ----- Having been for so many of those defining moments of the new nation, a constant guide, sacrificing tirelessly of himself as a member of the First and Second Continental Congress, Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, delegate and president of the Constitutional Convention, the first President of these United States, there perhaps had to be a thought by many that even as George Washington retired, even as he once more removed himself public life he would always be there, ready to return when the struggling nation needed him, much like he had when the Articles of Confederation did not prove enough for the Republic. Yet within two years of leaving the Presidency he was gone. At dawn on December 26th, 1799 sixteen cannons would begin their bursts in Philadelphia, the national capital. They would volley every half an hour after as the Republic laid this giant of a man to rest. At noon soldiers began firing minu