Dear Reader:

In every historical event… there comes one moment when somebody steps up to the plate to do what is morally right over political consequences… in 1839 a slave ship, the Amistad, sails from Cuba to America and an unprecedented slave revolt ( lead by Sengbe Pieh-later named Joseph Cinque) changes history and forces Americans to live the words in the Declaration of Independence.

At 72 ex-President John Quincy Adams, now a Congressman, took up the ” gavel” to help defend Cinque… who he explains to the Supreme Court would be a hero, laden, with honors… in any other culture… a man who risked his life to save others.

The most powerful climax of the trial came to a head when Adams explained to the court that Cinque was a member of the Mende tribe who believed in calling on their ancestors ( who came before them) for guidance and instruction.

Adams then asked if the court was remembering their ancestors, the Founding Fathers, who created the Declaration of Independence… were they living up to their ideals… a country dedicated to the ” inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?” Were they listening to George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry… Joseph Cinque was everyone of them.

( President Van Buren was running for re-election and he feared he would lose John C Calhoun’s support and other southern slave-holding states so he sided with them against freeing the slaves… fearing it would set a negative precedent for slave holding states. It backfired when the slaves were freed and sent home-Van Buren lost his re -election bid to William Henry Harrison. )

So until tomorrow… Haven’t we all ” called on our own ancestors” when times are tough? What would a grandparent or other deceased loved one do in the same situation facing us?

Today is my favorite day-Winnie the Pooh