The Las Cruces Chapter of the NM Society of the Sons of the American Revolution

Michael Swickard, Ph.D.





My topic is NM’s Role in the American Revolutionary War. I will speak 20 minutes, then take questions.

Six Generations ago my direct ancestor Martin and his brother Daniel Swickard came from Germany to Rotterdam, Holland then England where they sailed to Philadelphia on Sept. 19,1765 aboard the ship, Betsy. They were indentured servants to Samuel Howell, Oct. 31 1765 in Westmoreland County, PA for seven years in return for their passage to America. (The PA Pioneers, page 706.)

Martin Swickard was registered from Westmoreland County, PA in Captain Mumm's Company during the Revolutionary War (Penn Archives Series 6 Vol. 2 page 396). He also served under Colonel William Crawford in the Battle of Sandusky the 4th and 5th days of June 1782 in what is now Ohio. After the war Martin moved his family from Pennsylvania to Jefferson County, Ohio. Martin Swickard, born 1746, died 1841, at age 95.

What role did New Mexico have in the Revolutionary War? New Mexico had several roles over a period of 70 years starting in 1776 and ending in August 1846 when US Military Governor Charles Bent took over Santa Fe. In 1776 New Mexico was firmly in the grip of Spain and was so until September 1821. Then New Mexico was in the grip of Mexico which administered New Mexico until the US took over - again in 1846.

New Mexico was part of the Spanish New World Expansion. In 1598 Don Juan de Oñate Salazar traveled within a few yards of where we are today. He later wrote on Inscription Rock near Gallup, “I Don Juan de Onate Pasó por aquí - I passed by here. I like that. Years from now people may say Michael Swickard Pasó por aquí, Just think, Oñate wrote that fifteen years before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock.

In 1776 New Mexico was ruled by the Spanish King Carlos the third. NM’s leader was Don Pedro Fermín de Mendinueta of the Order of Santiago, Colonel of the Royal Army, Governor and Captain General of the Kingdom of New Mexico. He served 1767 to 1777. We do not know much about his ten years of rule other than he wrote in 1776, “Santa Fe settlers are churlish types who are accustomed to live apart from each other, as neither fathers nor sons associate with each other.” I do not know why he wrote that. Perhaps this had something to do with teenage sons.

What was it like for people living all over the world and in New Mexico in 1776? Simply, there was not any freedom. Ultimately that is what drove our revolution and subsequent revolutions. The problem was for the people who had no freedom to visualize having freedom. The public schools say that the revolution was driven by those colonists who just didn't like the idea of a king. That is revisionist history.

Today, we do not like the idea of a king. Back then, can you name a country that did not have a king? It was normal to have a king. It was normal for everything you owned to actually be the king’s property and taken when he wanted.

The American Revolution actually started on the morning of October 25th, 1760. King George II, the 77 years old drank his usual cup of chocolate and then abruptly fell dead. That brought his 22-year-old grandson, to the throne as George the III. Over the next 16 years the situation with the American colonies went from a warm relationship with the king to open rebellion. Why? Over 16 years, slowly at first and then with amazing speed the concept of freedom came to the forefront of American thought.

When enough people understood they could be free, then came the revolution. Did you know that the English King George III kept a diary in which he wrote on July 4, 1776, “Nothing of importance happened today.” Really? The whole world changed on that day.

In 1776 while there was not freedom anywhere in the world, some people got that glimmer. Some of the better thinkers like Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin and others saw there could be with the right action the chance that freedom could prevail.

What was different than any other time in history is our leaders wrote about it so all could see:

“When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it and to institute new Government… you know the rest, eh?

That document literally went around the world and was translated into other languages. Thinkers in many countries started to get their mind around the ideas of freedom that began in our country. Within a certain number of years the number of nations who were not free went from not even one to several.

What was New Mexico’s role in this? They were held by a tyrant on the throne of Spain. They and others were the learners and our founding fathers were the teachers. As the freedom movement was embraced, the rank and file citizen of New Mexico wondered if they would see freedom in their lifetimes. They did not.

However, as we think about the year 1776 we realize your ancestors and mine liberated more than the colonies. Their actions in support of the American Revolution were decisive in liberating the rest of the free world. The final chapter in the American Revolution is it brought freedom even to the English who did their best to keep us as a dominion of the King. We freed them by our example. It was not instantaneous; it took many years for other countries to become truly free.

I think it is important to note what freedoms the colonists and in fact all of the other inhabitants of our world did not have in 1776. Some people in our world today still do not have these freedoms, but I hope they will someday. In 1776 no one had freedom. When our words of our national anthem were written in 1814 we were the only free nation. Slowly over the years country by country became free.

Currently there are 195 countries in the world, about 90 are free or somewhat free. Better said the people in about 90 countries do understand freedom to some extent, while the people in 100 or so countries are ruled by dictators and do not experience or even understand freedom because they have never lived free. So what is freedom, is it something we know when we see but cannot describe? No. To have and maintain freedom

I see eight principles that must exist for people to be free.

1) Our freedom hinges on the concept that the people have the right to rule themselves, not kings or dictators. We cannot be free whenever we are the King’s “subjects” in the King’s “realm.” Likewise if the ruler of the country is a dictator it is not possible for the people of that country to be free.

2) Freedom can only be sustained when a free people learn from the mistakes of other civilizations and from their own mistakes. Every free nation cannot afford to make the same mistakes as other countries.

3) Operationally, being free is the ability to voluntarily make choices for ourselves. To be free, is to have voluntary associations, voluntary monetary exchanges and voluntary legal interactions. If you are not able to voluntarily do these things, you are not free nor is this a free society. This principle falls under the concept of unalienable rights.

4) Only free people have the unalienable rights of life, liberty and property. Pursuit of happiness? Those above rights are easy to define and understand whereas “pursuit of happiness” is not. We have the right to pursue happiness, but there is no guarantee of our being happy. The core of our unalienable rights as a free people is that we have a sacred right of our life, our liberty and our property. We must have voluntary use of our property. Our freedom is only as secure as our property rights.

5) To be free we must all be created equal in the eyes of our government and have equal opportunities for both success and failure. However, we must have the right of equal opportunities but it is not possible to have freedom and have a government mandate that everyone must have equal possessions,

6) So freedom is only available if the government is prevented from being abusive. The Constitution was written to limit the power of government. It is a rule book for government. In theory, if it is not in the Constitution, government cannot do it. In theory. But we do know that central to our ability to be free is the rule of law. Freedom can only be maintained in a society that writes down the laws and protects the rule of law.

7) Because of the effect upon all of our society we are only as free as our markets are free. When the markets are held politically for the advantage of one class of people, there soon will be no freedom. One class of people cannot be held hostage by another in a free country.

8) Finally, our society cannot be free when one generation’s debts are put upon another generation.

Yes, I know that where our forefathers started in freedom we have retreated. That is partially because we, as a nation, are not very good at history.

One of the similarities of New Mexico now and New England in the Revolutionary War is that during the American Revolution about 25% of the people in the colonies were for revolution. Contrast that to about 25% of the people in the colonies who were against it, they were Tories, still faithful to George the third. And half the people in 1776 just wanted to be left alone, on neither side.

Today? A quarter of the voters are Democrats, a quarter are Republicans and today about half the people do not now care one way or the other about our nation’s freedom. They were then and are now just concerned with the here and now of making a living and not having your kids drive you crazy. For all of the talk about the closeness of the last few presidential elections, it is instructive to note that half of the American People eligible to participate in the election did not even register to vote.

All is not for naught, though, we have more freedoms now than in 1776 if we can keep them.

I like what Oliver Wendell Homes wrote in the 19th century, “A hundred years after we are gone and forgotten, those who never heard of us will be living with the results of our actions.”

We are the decedents of people who brought freedom to themselves and then it spread from their actions throughout the world. I thank God for them and my freedom. Thank you.