right under our feet<\/a>.<\/p>\nIn August 1776, after amassing a force of 32,000 troops, the British landed on the shores of Gravesend Bay and began advancing north. Fighting raged through areas we now know as Green-Wood Cemetery, Prospect Park, and Fort Greene Park before culminating at the site of the Old Stone House in Park Slope.<\/p>\n
On the morning of August 27, the British advanced toward the main American camp at Brooklyn Heights. With the Americans on the back foot, a regiment of 400 brave Maryland soldiers battled against the larger British forces, while the rest of the American army \u2014 led by George Washington \u2014 retreated across the East River to safety.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Battle of Brooklyn was ostensibly a victory for the British, who killed or captured 1,000 Americans and occupied New York City. But the British failed to capture Washington and his army, which survived to fight again and, eventually, win the war.<\/p>\n
The rest, as they say, is history.\n<\/p>\n
The Battle of Brooklyn was 250 years ago. But it offers us lessons that are still relevant today.\n<\/p>\n
History often celebrates victories. But the Battle of Brooklyn reminds us that perseverance in the face of defeat matters, too. Even when faced with uncertainty and setbacks, the Americans continued to fight, because they believed the values expressed in the Declaration \u2014 that \u201call men are created equal\u201d and have the right to \u201clife, liberty and the pursuit of happiness\u201d \u2014 were worth defending.<\/p>\n
In the ensuing two-and-a-half centuries, we\u2019ve continued fighting to live up to the full promise of those values, from the movement for women\u2019s suffrage to the civil rights movement, from the battle for workers\u2019 rights to the struggle for LGBT rights. Today, the threats we face look different than they did in 1776, but the questions underlying them are in many ways the same: Who gets to live freely in the United States? Who gets a say in the decisions of our government? And what does the right to \u201clife, liberty and the pursuit of happiness\u201d really look like?<\/p>\n
These questions have perhaps never been more present in our day-to-day lives. We see them in the fight to protect our immigrant neighbors seeking to pursue their own American Dream. We see them in the push to ensure universal healthcare, affordable housing, and a dignified life for all people. We feel them in the ongoing battles over voting rights, the rule of law, and the struggle for a government that protects the liberties of every person, not just those with power.\u00a0<\/p>\n
These aren\u2019t distant ideas buried in history books. They\u2019re playing out in the city and country we call home. And while we\u2019re no longer fighting a war for independence, the work to secure and strengthen the democracy we\u2019ve inherited is far from over.<\/p>\n
Over the course of the summer, we\u2019ve partnered with community organizations<\/a> to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Brooklyn, with everything from panels and historical tours to reenactments. This commemoration is about more than just reminiscing on a long-ago event. It\u2019s also about reminding us that history is not inevitable. The freedoms we enjoy today were secured through sacrifice and strengthened by each generation that came after.<\/p>\nAs we mark this historic anniversary, we should not only remember what happened in Brooklyn 250 years ago. We must also recommit ourselves to the work of building a stronger democracy for the 250 years to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been said that \u201cthe Declaration of Independence was signed in ink at Philadelphia, and signed in blood…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324960,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[5316,57451,98,9,11,10,12,370,2584,299],"class_list":["post-324959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-andrew-gounardes","tag-battle-of-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-news","tag-newsletter","tag-op-ed","tag-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}