In December 1777, following the loss of Philadelphia, General George Washington moved his Continental Army into winter quarters about 18 miles northwest of Philadelphia. Unfortunately, there were no shelters for the 12,000 soldiers and improvised wooden huts, housing 8-12 men, were hastily erected, but barely kept out the wind. Washington, who remained with his troops throughout the long winter, sent countless requests to Congress imploring them to alleviate his men’s suffering. But Congress, without taxation authority and little influence over the states, seemed powerless to help.

In the spring of 1777, most of the British army was stationed in New York. For his next move, General William Howe decided to attack Philadelphia, the largest city in the colonies and home of the Continental Congress. Rather than march over land through New Jersey, Howe sailed his regiments up the Chesapeake Bay and landed sixty miles south of the city. Washington quickly moved to get between Howe’s army and the capital but failed to guard a ford to his north. When the British attacked on September 11, 1777, they outflanked the Americans and Washington was forced to retreat.

After achieving a great victory at the Battle of Trenton, General George Washington recrossed the Delaware River hoping for a second miracle. In response, Lord Charles Cornwallis and 6,000 Redcoats marched towards Trenton and struck back at the bold Americans, leaving a battalion at Princeton, twelve miles north. On the night of January 2, 1777, Washington, unnoticed by British sentries, moved his men around the British flank towards Princeton and attacked at dawn. Perfect.

In late December 1776, after four months of hard-fighting, the 16,000-man Continental Army had dwindled to a force of 3,000 soldiers encamped in Pennsylvania on the west side of the Delaware River. General George Washington chose this desperate moment to strike a surprise blow at the Redcoats. He would cross the river Christmas night and attack the 1,500-man Hessian garrison in Trenton, knowing that the Hessians would be recovering from a day of Christmas reverie.

Although the Continental Army forced the British to evacuate Boston, Washington’s troops faced more setbacks than successes at the start of the American Revolution. By the time of Washington’s crossing of the Delaware, the army had dwindled down to roughly 3,000 poorly clad, poorly fed and poorly armed men. Thinking the end was near, Britain’s General Howe placed his soldiers in winter quarters. He would soon find out the American Army still had some fight.

When General George Washington took command of the Continental Army, the challenges he faced were formidable. Instead of one unified force, every colony had its own militia, each at various stages of development. Consequently, training was non-existent, discipline was lax, and the men were disrespectful to their officers. By comparison, the British Army was a force of well-equipped and well-trained soldiers, led by professionals, and far more numerous than the Continentals.

George Washington was elected to Virginia’s House of Burgesses in 1758, becoming active in colonial politics. Washington was a moderate and initially took a measured but critical approach to English policies. After the Boston Tea Party in 1773, and King George’s harsh response, delegates from twelve colonies met at the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia, with Washington as one of Virginia’s seven representatives. When delegates reconvened in May 1775, the American colonies were at war with England following the Battles of Lexington and Concord and found a capable leader in George Washington.

George Washington married Martha Dandridge Custis, a wealthy 26-year-old widow, on January 6, 1759. They were a couple well suited for each other and made their home at Mount Vernon. Washington managed the estate with his customary zeal and energy, rising early every morning and working the land six days a week, leaving Sunday for church and entertaining friends. As was typical on plantations, enslaved people performed most of the work at Mount Vernon. Washington was opposed to the institution of slavery but did not free his slaves until he died, granting them their freedom in his will, the only founding father to do so.

In February 1753, George Washington began his illustrious military career as a major in the Virginia militia. In November, with England and France struggling for control of North America’s lucrative fur trade, he was sent to a French fort near present-day Pittsburgh with an ultimatum for the French to leave the area, but they refused to comply. The following year, Washington, recently promoted to Colonel, was again dispatched to this outpost, but this time with two infantry companies and orders to drive out the French.

George Washington’s American story begins in 1656 when his great-grandfather, John Washington, emigrated from England to Virginia and established an acreage in Virginia’s Northern Neck. George’s father, Augustine, married Mary Ball and moved to Pope’s Creek, Virginia, where, on February 22, 1732, they had their first child, a strapping boy they named George.

In 1788, after serving as ambassador to England, John Adams sailed for home. For the previous ten years, this devoted patriot had been away from America for all but a few months. His tireless work with the Netherlands secured desperately needed funding for our revolution and the generous terms he obtained in the Treaty of Paris gave our young nation a chance at success.

The Tenth Amendment guarantees us a government which divides power between a distant central authority and legislatures closer to home and more in tune with local needs.

John Adams retired from Congress in November 1777 but was soon appointed as a commissioner to France, marking the start of his diplomatic career. After two years in France, Adams, on his own initiative, set off for Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, to secure recognition of American independence and obtain a desperately needed loan for the United States.

The Ninth Amendment, crafted by James Madison, reserves for the people all rights not expressly granted to the government. Tom Hand, creator and publisher of Americana Corner, explores how this visionary amendment addressed the concern that the new Bill of Rights might be construed as a complete list, and why it still matters today.

To fully appreciate the novelty of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, one must consider that all colonists had ever known was a dependency on England and a government run by the King. Now this 47-page pamphlet challenged them to consider separating from that powerful nation and replacing the King with something called a democracy.

Our Forefathers knew that a person accused or convicted of a crime within the bounds of our judicial system would be relatively powerless without certain protections. To prevent harsh and arbitrary treatment by the government, the Founders created the Eighth Amendment.

The two most influential books of the Revolutionary era were written by Thomas Paine, an immigrant from England. Common Sense and The American Crisis shaped the American mindset like nothing else.

Our founding fathers had experienced a country in which the monarchy had been both the judge and the jury. This one-sided system was terribly unfair. In response, they created the Seventh Amendment to ensure the people, not the government, decide if someone is innocent or guilty.

Through sheer force of will and a supremely convincing explanation of democratic government, John Adams almost single-handedly convinced the Second Continental Congress to unanimously approve our Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.

The Sixth Amendment helped usher in a new age of justice. With the various rights included in this amendment, the Founders guaranteed to all Americans transparency and fairness in criminal proceedings, and protection from an over-reaching government.