History is important because it is tough to know where you are going if you don’t know where you have been. Our country has a rich heritage that we should celebrate for the next couple of years, starting now.

There are many countries in the world that are much older than the United States, but only a very, very few have had the same government as long as the United States of America. Our country’s uniqueness in the 18th century was unheard of at the time. Almost all countries were governed by monarchies. The idea of democracy governed in a republic had not been considered since the ancient Greeks.

The colonists who originally left Mother England considered themselves good citizens of the crown, but they needed more room and freedom. Christianity was a back-and-forth battle between Protestants and Catholics for several centuries, depending on who had the crown on their head. When the possibility of starting fresh opened, the most persecuted sects hopped on ships and went to the New World.

England was used to colonies; they had them all over the world. But America was different because this was not like African nations or India, which had indigenous people ruled by Brits. The immigrants from Britain built their homes and communities and also had to deal with the various indigenous Indian tribes, some of which were friendly, and many were not. They did all this with very little assistance from Mother England, thank you very much.

For over a century, the colonists and the British Parliament bickered until King George III took the throne in 1769. This is when the feces began to fly. His way of doing things was with an iron fist, which resulted in a rebellion, which we know as the American Revolution.

The Battle of Concord was the first military engagement of the American Revolutionary War. And yes, there was Paul Revere, who did make a ‘midnight’ ride, but two others were riding as well. Paul Revere himself did not get to finish because he and William Dawes were captured on their way. It was a third rider, Samuel Prescott, a physician, who got through the lines and alerted the town of Concord.

Four hundred “minutemen” showed up and stopped the British troops on Concord’s North Bridge. We can appreciate today the passion of these American colonists, as the British troops were there to take the guns away from them. (Second Amendment, anyone?)

I am one hundred percent sure that those farmers, fishermen, shopkeepers, blacksmiths, cobblers, carpenters, tailors, and possibly their sons did not know that this encounter would be known as “the shot heard ’round the world.” However, they were probably very aware that they were facing arguably the most powerful army in the world. The battles that followed showed that the colonists were willing to fight to the death for their rights and liberties.

Those men had grit. They were not focused on politics and government and all that stuff. They just wanted to live freely and peacefully. They wanted justice through law and order. And they wanted it on this continent. They would travel thousands of miles to explore it and see it grow.

All this began at the Battle of Concord, which occurred on April 19, 1775, 250 years ago this month. When they told the British that they had made the decision to be independent, the document we know as the Declaration of Independence was presented on July 4, 1776.

Next year, we will celebrate the 250th year of our nation’s independence, but it began with four hundred brave New Englanders who were willing to lay down their lives if necessary to defend their homes, families, and possessions.

In my travels around the world, I have found many, many people who admire the audacity that the Americans showed to form their new republic. It caused many European countries to transfer their royals to figureheads and initiate free elections that would produce their leaders.

Given two and half centuries of freedom and independence, we need to stop a moment and take a strong breath of fresh, free air our ancestors have given to us.