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• America has no heroes left, but heroism is not about being perfect or doing something spectacular.
• It is about regular, flawed human beings choosing to put others before themselves, even at great cost.
• Examples of heroism include General Dwight D. Eisenhower writing a letter praising the troops before D-Day, Anne Frank writing in her diary that she still believes people are good at heart, John Hancock signing the Declaration of Independence, Sitting Bull defending his people’s right to practice a religion he didn’t share, and Rosa Parks sitting down when she was told to stand up.
• On April 3, 1968, the night before he was assassinated, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech in support of sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee.
• He said that, if God had let him choose any era in which to live, he would have chosen the one in which he had landed, because only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.
• He knew he was in danger as he worked for a racially and economically just America, but he was determined to do God’s will.
• Heroes are all around us, choosing to do the right thing, no matter what.

Published January 16, 2023. Visit Letters from an American to read Heather Cox Richardson’s original post.

• Ratification Day is the anniversary of the day in 1784 when members of the Confederation Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris, which ended the Revolutionary War and formally recognized the independence of the United States from Great Britain.
• The Treaty of Paris was signed by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay for the United States, and David Hartley for Great Britain.
• The Treaty of Paris was a testament to the negotiating skills of the U.S. team, as they got independence, a promise to forget all past misunderstandings, repatriation of prisoners of war, no reparations, and more.
• The Treaty of Paris established the western boundary of the new nation at the Mississippi River, gave both Americans and British the right to transport goods along that waterway, and gave the United States fishing rights on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.
• Congress had six months from the September 3 signing to get the treaty across the Atlantic Ocean, ratify the agreement, and get it back across the ocean to England.
• On January 14, 1784, Congress approved the treaty and issued a proclamation to notify all the good citizens of the United States.
• The ratification of the Treaty of Paris marked the beginning of the journey to become the United States of America.

Published January 15, 2023. Visit Letters from an American to read Heather Cox Richardson’s original post.