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August 11, 2006
Atlantic Yards: A new Battle of Brooklyn
The Brooklyn Papers
Former State Assemblymember Joe Ferris looks back at the watershed moment of the War for Independence, and considers its contemporary significance.
On Aug. 27, 1776, the Battle of Brooklyn, the first and largest in the War of Independence, was fought right here in what are now the streets of Gowanus, Prospect Park and Green-Wood Cemetery.
All too few Brooklynites are aware that their fate — and the fate of our fledgling republic — hung in the balance on that historic day. General Howe and Lord Howe had brought the entire British Army and Navy to New York and were determined to crush the American rebellion.
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The irony is that today, we are truly engaged in the Battle for Brooklyn.The very liberties and political freedom that the Declaration of Independence proclaimed and the blood and sacrifice offered in the Battle of Brooklyn by patriots are now being trampled and sullied by the tyranny of a distant state government and its unelected representatives.
Posted by lumi at August 11, 2006 8:42 AM