Epic of Being George Washington: And Declaration of America’S Independence over High Taxes, Usurpations of Power, and No Economic Growth
()
About this ebook
Purpose of writing this play is to reclaim the dream of the Father of our Nation, President George Washington by adapting his brainy quotes into Greek style epideictic drama. Also, I wish to explore the conflicts and issues in dialectic of exchange and reply in the political responses of King George III of England, and President George Washington who represented the thirteen colonies of America in the struggle for Americas Independence and democratic rule.
I have dramatized President Washington, and King George IIIs arguments based on the articles of the Declaration of Independence through the logic of stated assumptions, and unstated assumptions to discuss the logical soundness of the disputes made by each faction on monarchy and democratic rule. I have critically analyzed their line of reasonings with the method of Aristotles catharsis and intellectual purification of the soul. Although democracy has been around since the time of the Greeks, but I have examined the recurring ideologies in the evolution of democracy from the Roman era through the overthrow of King Tarquin the proud, 496 B.C., and the emergence of the first twenty senators or Rex Sacrorum, to the foundation of the new democratic system of government, and the reaffirmation of another four year period of presidency during the period of Quinctius Cincinnatus 456 B.C.. The collapse of the full establishment of democratic government came during the time of Julius Caesar 44 B.C. in the early Roman Republican period; but hope for a free and fair world of democratic government of the people, by the people, and for the people returned through President George Washington in the 1776 A.D. According to Charlene Spretnak in The Resurgence of the Real--Body, Nature, and Place in a Hypermodern World, this evolution of political governance can be called a social process of culture.'
Festus Ogunbitan
Festus Ogunbitan was born in Ibadan, Nigeria to Elder and Mrs. Oguniyi Ogunbitan of Temidayo Printing Press. He immigrated to United States and attended Sacramento State University where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in English Language. He later changed to Liberal Arts department and obtained a master’s degree in Liberal Arts. It was in Liberal Arts department that Festus got interested in Roman and Greek religions because their values and virtues are well interpreted and advanced into science and technology for producing uncountable goods and services for all mankind to enjoy. As a result of this, Festus wrote Cincinnatus and A Tale on Homer’s Odyssey, and he has written several titles on European and American literatures.
Read more from Festus Ogunbitan
Third Daughter: The Third Daughter Who Proved Her Father’S Desire for a Male Child Wrong by Giving Birth to Future Kings of the English Dynasty. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSymposium on Epic of John Adams and the French-American Quasi War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSymposium on Epic of Thomas Jefferson: Embargo Act of 1807 & the Quest for Limited Government over Big Government Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Epic of Being George Washington
Related ebooks
The Elusive Republic: Political Economy in Jeffersonian America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Hidden History of American Democracy: Rediscovering Humanity's Ancient Way of Living Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States (Barnes & Noble Digital Library) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pax Americana: How and Why Us Elites Turned Global Primacy into a Silent Empire Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLife or Deathocracy: The Choice Is Yours Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGeorge Washington: The Wonder of the Age Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrom Bloody Shirt to Full Dinner Pail: The Transformation of Politics and Governance in the Gilded Age Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Political Conspiracies in America: A Reader Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Concise History of American Politics: U S Political Science up to the 21St Century Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAbolitionist Twilights: History, Meaning, and the Fate of Racial Egalitarianism, 1865-1909 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummary of Our Ancient Faith by Allen C. Guelzo: Lincoln, Democracy, and the American Experiment Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHomer Simpson Goes To Washington: American Politics Through Popular Culture Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWorshiping Power: An Anarchist View of Early State Formation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGale Researcher Guide for: Culture and Governance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDream and Legacy: Dr. Martin Luther King in the Post-Civil Rights Era Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMen of Our Times; Or, Leading Patriots of the Day Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Sovereign Psyche: Systems of Chattel Freedom Vs. Self-Authentic Freedom Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFOUR PILLARS OF REPUBLICANISM: Essays On the Foundational Principles Of Our Republic and Its Preservation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJourney into Time Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Current American Civil War, a Global Perspective Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWinning America's Second Civil War: Progressivism's Authoritarian Threat, Where It Came from, and How to Defeat It Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe People’s Welfare: Law and Regulation in Nineteenth-Century America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Decline and Fall: The End of Empire and the Future of Democracy in 21st Century America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Cultural Contradictions of Democracy: Political Thought since September 11 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDemocracy In America: Volume I & II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sovereign Evolution: Manifest Destiny from "Civil Rights" to "Sovereign Rights" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Men Behind the Declaration of Independence: Biographies, Speeches, Articles & Historical Records Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
United States History For You
Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer: An Edgar Award Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Reset: And the War for the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A People's History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Disloyal: A Memoir: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51776 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Just Kids: A National Book Award Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the Guys Who Killed the Guy Who Killed Lincoln: A Nutty Story About Edwin Booth and Boston Corbett Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wright Brothers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Three Sisters in Black: The Bizarre True Case of the Bathtub Tragedy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Untold History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us about How and When This Crisis Will End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Benjamin Franklin: An American Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing England: The Brutal Struggle for American Independence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes: Revised and Complete Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Charlie: Wisdom from the Remarkable American Life of a 109-Year-Old Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Epic of Being George Washington
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Epic of Being George Washington - Festus Ogunbitan
Copyright © 2012 by Festus Ogunbitan.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
iUniverse books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:
iUniverse
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.iuniverse.com
1-800-Authors (1-800-288-4677)
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.
ISBN: 978-1-4759-5213-1 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-4759-5214-8 (ebk)
iUniverse rev. date: 10/04/2012
Contents
Themes in each play
Appreciation
Motivation
About the Author
Epic Of Being George Washington
Bibliography
Preamble to the battle of Mount Algidus 467-458 B.C.
Introduction
Bibliography
Endnotes
Themes in each play
President George Washington Turns the Revolutionary War’s Defeat into Victory in the Battle of New York
&
Cincinnatus Turns the Roman Defeat into Victory in the Battle of Mount Algidus
These plays are written with the philosophy and psychology of the history of America’s Declaration of Independence
By Festus Ogunbitan
A.K.A. Festus Shakesword
American Heroes Theater Series
Appreciation
My appreciation to Dr. Bradley Nystrom, and Dr. Jeffrey Brodd from the department of Humanities and Liberal Arts at Sacramento State University for supervising the background notes on the story of Cincinnatus during my Liberal Arts Master’s thesis program. When I started adapting the history of American presidents into Greek style epideictic drama, I shared my adaptation on the story of President Abraham Lincoln with Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield Illinois. Dr. Bryon Andreasen, the Research Historian in the center, motivated me with his comments on Killing Abraham Lincoln: who turned his nations defeat into victory in the battle of Five Forks, by saying;
You are to be commended for your diligence in reconstructing American historical stories through Greek-style epideictic oratory.
President George Washington1732-1799
Champion of America’s Independence and Democratic Rule for Economic Growth
Image3.jpgConsul Quinctius Cincinnatus 520 B.C.-430 B.C.
Image3a.jpgKing George III of England
1738-1820
Purpose of Writing
Epic of Being George Washington: & Declaration of America’s Independence Over High Taxes and No Economic Growth
Purpose of writing this play is to reclaim the dream of the father of our nation, President George Washington by adapting his brainy quotes into Greek style epideictic drama. Also, I wish to explore the conflicts and issues in dialectic of exchange and reply in the political responses of King George III of England, and President George Washington who represented the thirteen colonies of America in the struggle for America’s Independence and democratic rule.
I have dramatized President Washington, and King George III’s arguments based on the articles of the Declaration of Independence through the logic of stated assumptions, and unstated assumptions to discuss the logical soundness of the disputes made by each faction on monarchy and democratic rule. I have critically analyzed their line of reasoning with the method of Aristotle’s catharsis and intellectual purification of the soul.
Although democracy has been around since the time of the Greeks, but I have examined the recurring ideologies in the evolution of democracy from the Roman era through the overthrow of King Tarquin the proud, 496 B.C., and the emergence of the first twenty senators or Rex Sacrorum, to the foundation of the new democratic system of government during the period of Quinctius Cincinnatus 456 B.C. The collapse of the full establishment of democratic government came during the time of Julius Caesar 44 B.C. in the early Roman Republican period; but hope for a free and fair world of democratic government of the people, by the people, and for the people returned through President George Washington in the 1776 A.D. According to Charlene Spretnak in The Resurgence of the Real—Body, Nature, and Place in a Hypermodern World, this evolution of political governance can be called a ‘social process of culture.’ Social process of culture is a metaphor derived for human experience through the original meaning of culture—Cultura—the tending of crops or livestock—agriculture and cultivation. I have used this theme to construct my lyric poems, and to embellish the historical facts of the American Revolution.
I used President Washington’s brainy quotes to write fifty percent of the speeches in this play to demonstrate why political dialogues have been the factor for economic and social progress in Western Civilization, and most especially the birth of America’s independence. The Declaration placed emphasis on the individual, and critically questioned traditional institutions of the kings, queens, and the church; and asserts that all men are created equal. Charlene Spretnak emphasized in his definition of social process of culture that societies that deviate from this important discourse of humanity will not be able to engage in economic progress such as formation, preparation, training, building, and other things associated with human beings.
¹
Examples of arguments presented by President George Washington in the Declaration of America’s Independence are as follows:
He does not want reciprocity—deriving knowledge through the kings, queens, lords, and religious authorities; the people want emphasis to be placed on the individual—power belongs to the people. He is against exploitation by the kings, the lords and the church, and he affirms that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.² He asserts that Freedom of the colonies is being denied though unfair taxation, and misrepresentation in government affairs. He calls for standardized education, language, bureaucratization of information and structuring a system by which information can be gathered by modern institution, and not by the church and the kings’ consultants—Dukes.³ He wants knowledge to be obtained through investigative method of science—rationalism. He wants a permanent middle class system. He asserts that talents of prophets and poets are meant for industrial and educational research. He proclaims that the monarchy and the church cannot fully answer the needs of the people—power belongs to the people.
Examples of arguments presented by King George III of England, and King Louis XVI of France are as follows:
King George III and King Louis XVI assert that knowledge and development of the state can only be obtained through autocracy, reciprocity, and subjectivism—Great Chain of Being. They believe that the democratic system of government which George Washington foresees is just an excuse to define modernity as a triumphant force progressing in opposition to the kingship system of government. They declare that inequality or hierarchy of power is not working backward, and that authoritarianism works better than government of the people. They maintain that the colonists cannot dissociate from the political and religious life of the kings, lords, and the church. Decrees from the monarchy are the essence of good judgment to build a nation and the whole world, and on the overall, the people must obey the king’s decrees.
King George III President George Washington
Another style of epideictic rhetoric is monologue or ‘demonstrative speech.’ This style combines the praise/blame codes of speech making into one argument. The praise side will likely neutralize the undesirable concern in the blame side of the argument as the whole statement changes its meaning. The receiver may not disagree with the speaker, and he/she would agree to work together with the maker of the speech for the progress of the community. Quinctius Cincinnatus, Quinctius Capitolinus, and Marcus Tulius Cicero, are among the best epideictic demonstrative speech makers during the early Roman Republican period. Like President George Washington, their persuasive communication style of speech has created bipartisanship, and made reconstruction and peace possible on the senate floor of the two political rivals of Rome—the Tribunes and the Patricians.
Motivation
My motivation to write Greek style epideictic oratory plays for all United States’ presidents is to retell the great history of this country through reciprocity method of storytelling. Modern literature regards telling stories through epic heroes as backward and anachronistic; but there is something that the society can learn through the locus of these heroes. Playwrights and poets through the centuries seemed not to have narrated the great history of this country for permanence in our memory as Homer, Sophocles, Aristophanes, William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlow and many other great writers narrated the great history of Greece and England on the theaters of all schools and colleges through epideictic oratory. I am continuing this project with the story of the American Revolution championed by the Father of our Nation, President George Washington, in his fight for freedom and liberty for all people. According to Prof. Athanassakis Apostolos in his lecture to Hellenistic Society at Sacramento State University in 2008, he mentioned that modern literature, and contemporary historians have failed to retell the story of our great heritage for permanence; he warned that if care is not taken to find the right language and literature (epideictic rhetoric) to retell history, ‘our children will forget.’
David Starkey, a British Historian, also commented on how contemporary culture of Hip Hop lyrics has caused disappearance of articulate language and literature in the British society and said "‘it is a Jamaican patois that has intruded in England, which is why so many of us have this sense that we are literally living in a foreign country. This problem also started with some instructors who believe it is proper to use non-educative literatures and movies in the classroom for education. Most of today’s movies are for entertainment alone, they are not for education.
According to W.J.T. Mitchell in Ways of Reading: Words and Images, he quoted from W.E.B Du Bois’ lecture, the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of color television… the society have become potently manipulable elements in the pervasive technologies of simulation and mass mediation; we may find that the problem of the twenty-first century is the problem of image. Certainly I would be the first to suggest that we live in a culture dominated by pictures, visual simulations, stereotypes, illusions, copies, reproductions, imitations, fantasies. Anxieties about the power of visual culture are not just province of critical intellectuals, everyone knows that television is bad for you, and that its badness has something to do with the passivity and fixation of the spectator… What we need is critique of visual culture that is alert to the power of images for good and evil, and that is capable of discriminating the variety and historical specificity of their uses.
⁴
Charlene Spretnak, in The Resurgence of the Real: Body, Nature, and Place in a Hypermodern World, also referred to the disappearance of educative rhetoric in our schools and colleges, he said, Learning, especially at the university level is strictly divided into departments, which have little interaction. One of the compartments, spiritual and religious life is devalued in modernity because modern history celebrates the escape from religion and other superstitions. In the modern era, institutionalized religions have downplayed spiritual connectedness with creation; instead, they focus on rationalist application of morals and ethics.
⁵
Fred D’Aguiar, a literary critic also pointed out from Prof. Everest Percival’s Erasure that un-educative rhetoric is proliferated in our schools to erase critical thinking in students through the help of publishing industries that promote only certain kinds of literature—those with vague speeches and ghetto settings, at the expense of intelligent writers like the Monk personality in Erasure. Monk happens to be black but he cannot get published because he writes the kind of books which contain classical rhetoric that could project critical thinking for articulate college composition in students.⁶
Modern literature has misled us to believe that Liberal Arts—epideictic rhetoric, which is the beginning of all departments in colleges and universities is no longer needed in modern civilization. As a result, the foundation of creativity and industrial growth, which the great scholars of deposed College of Liberal Arts built for thousands of years for earth’s growth has been wrongly accredited to the success of plain and dry modern language that contains no philosophy. In a few years’ time, the rich inheritance from the College of Liberal Arts will soon dry up in our children, and the earth may fall into unfathomable problem as students are void of the high energy of reasoning through the proliferation of vague language and literature in our schools and the media.
From my high school days, I have been opened to British history through The Norton Anthology of English Literature, and Shakespeare’s plays. When I reached the University, I started to further appreciate the Greek and British history through the great works, which the epic playwrights did for Greece and Europe by rewriting the European history with philosophical poetry that consciously controls the minds of its readers.
Examples of literatures that consciously control the minds of its readers are: Iliad, Livy’s Pentads, The Aeneid, Taoist Books, Shakespeare’s plays, I Have a Dream, Bhagavad Gita, and many other great epic literatures ; these writers have used epideictic oratory style of writing to make the history and struggle of their various nations very permanent in our memory.
Hoping to permanently retell the history of America, I have decided to use Aristotle’s theory of catharsis to rewrite America’s history through the locus of all presidents, or the first family to have a permanent knowledge of America’s history. All the plays shall incorporate the principles of American politics, focusing on the values and virtues of the Conservatives and the Liberals.
About the Author
Festus Ogunbitan obtained an associate degree in Journalism from Sacramento City College, Sacramento California. He also obtained a bachelor’s degree in English Language, and a master’s degree in Liberal Arts from Sacramento State University, Sacramento. During his Liberal Arts Masters program, he adapted the history of how Cincinnatus turned a Roman defeat into victory in the battle of Mount Algidus, and the return of Odysseus from the battle of Troy. These two plays are tilted, Cincinnatus, and A Tale on Homer’s Odyssey. It is from here that he continued to adapt more stories into epideictic plays for education and entertainment.
Epic No. 1
Epic of Being
George Washington
&
Declaration of America’s Independence
Over High Taxes, Usurpations of Power, and No Economic Growth
Epic Of Being George Washington
PRESIDENT GEORGE WASHINGTON, Virginia member of the Continental Congress, first president of the United States of America, Father of the Nation, and Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army.
MARTHA CUSTIS WASHINGTON, wife of President George Washington.
KING GEORGE III, the king of England during the American Revolution.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Pennsylvania member of the Continental Congress.
THOMAS JEFFERSON, Virginia member of the Continental Congress.
JOHN ADAMS, Massachusetts member of the Continental Congress.
SAMUEL CHASE, Maryland member of the Continental Congress.
GEORGE WALTON, Georgia member of the Continental Congress.
PATRICK HENRY, Virginia member of the Continental Congress.
STEPHEN HOPKINS, Rhode Island member of the Continental Congress.
CAESAR RODNEY, Delaware member of the Continental Congress.
SAMUEL HUNTINGTON, Connecticut member of the Continental Congress.
OTHER MEMEBERS OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS FROM THE THIRTEEN COLONIES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
COMMANDER BENEDICT ARNOLD, a commander of the Revolutionary Army.
COMMANDER HORATIO GATES, a commander of the Revolutionary Army.
COMMANDER WILLIAM ALEXANDER, a commander of the Revolutionary Army.
COMMADER HENRY CHAMPION, a commander of the Revolutionary Army.
COMMADER CHRISTOPEHR GADSDEN, a commander of the Revolutionary Army.
GENERAL WILLIAM HOWE, a commander of the army of the British imperialists.
GENERAL CHARLES CORNWALLIS, a commander of the British Army, he surrenders to General Washington in the Battle of New York.
REAR ADMIRAL SIR THOMAS GRAVES, commander of the British Warships.
ADMIRAL GEORGE BRYDGES RODNEY, commander of the British Warships.
COLONEL RALL, German Hessian Troop, ally of the British Army.
MAJOR DECHOW, German Hessian Troop, ally of the British Army.
ADMIRAL DE BARRASS, French ally of the British on the sea.
ADMIRAL DE GRASSE French ally of the British on the sea.
DUKE OF YORK, sits with the king over the affairs of the British Empire.
DUKE OF EDINBURGE, sits with the king over the affairs of the British Empire.
DUKE OF NORMANDY, sits with the king over the affairs of British the Empire.
DUKE OF LANCASTER, sits with the king over the affairs of British the Empire.
DUKE OF BURGUNDY, sits with the king over the affairs of British the Empire.
AFRICAN AMERICAN LADY
GERMAN HESSIAN ARMY
FRENCH SOLDIERS.
BRITISH SOLDIERS.
AMERICAN SOLDIERS.
BLACK & WHITE MOBS, on the streets of New York.
Image4.jpgAct 1 Scene 1
In Philadelphia, General George Washington addresses the first Continental Congress of the thirteen colonies that will form the United States of America. The meeting takes place in 1774.⁷
JOHN ADAMS, to some members of the Continental Congress in the hallway of the conference building.
Arise, arise, arise, and suppress no more the yoke of high taxes, extravagancy, misrepresentation in government affairs, and usurpations of power put upon the colonists by the autocratic rule of the kings and the lords of England.
STEPHEN HOPKINS
Oh thou fellow Congressman, thy words doth indeed herald my feelings to that pronouncement which purges my soul to the meeting of your mind.
SAMUEL CHASE
Methinks me that I perceive more of the meeting of our minds in the military dressing of George Washington to this meeting.
STEPHEN HOPKINS
Fellow, in mufti-attire, the British have turned over our ‘Coats of Arms’ in the rank and file of the army. And in silence, our code of conduct has been encoded by the order of the British monarchy that subordinates the voice