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Season 2, Episode 5 - "Who is Cato"
Who is Cato
He was a Roman Senator and an arch-nemesis of Julius Caesar. He was also the inspiration for an 18th Century play entitled "Cato, A Tragedy".
What has this got to do with the American Revolution
"Cato, A Tragedy" was written in 1712 by a British Playwright named Joseph Addison. This was an incredibly popular play in England, but was also a big influence on the Founding Fathers. This play dealt with Individual Liberty -vs- Government, Tyranny, and a number of other critical topics of the day.
How do you know this had an impact on our Founding Fathers?
Numerous famous quotes attributed to our Founding Fathers are direct paraphrases" of lines from the play "Cato, A Tragedy". And, there are other examples discussed in this episode.
So what is the rarely known history of this episode?
Before becoming King George III, George William Frederick acted in the play "Cato, A Tragedy". Since studying the texts for this episode I have often wondered if King George III ever reflected back on this play to rediscover the human drive for liberty over tyranny. I have wondered if he ever realized that in some ways he had become Julius Caesar as discussed in the very play in which he acted. Isn't it interesting how history repeats itself, sometimes in the strangest ways. In this case, the "implacable foe" of Julius Caesar ended up influencing the Founding Father's of the United States of America.
Sources for this episode
John J. Miller, "On Life, Liberty, and Other Quotable Matters," Wall Street Journal, 2 July 2011
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cato,_a_Tragedy
https://oll.libertyfund.org/title/henderson-cato-a-tragedy-and-selected-essays
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Revolutionary War Rarities
Purpose
Revolutionary War Rarities was created to tell the rarely known, rarely taught stories of the American Revolution. The intent is to present this information in 8-10 minutes, thereby limiting the amount of time required to listen to any single episode. The intent is also to discuss those rarely taught facts in such a fashion as to not only teach, but to intrigue the listener into digging into the subject matter or into the American Revolution history more deeply. Ultimately, we desire to spawn interest in American History, specifically in the American Revolution era, with the intent of providing glimpses into the real challenges faced by real people who ultimately overcame those challenges to create The United States of America.
Intent
It is not the intent of Revolutionary War Rarities to provide a comprehensive discussion or deep scholarly dive into any given subject as that would be impossible to accomplish in 8-10 minutes.
Historical Accuracy
All episode content is reviewed for historical accuracy by a Committee established within the Sons of the American Revolution. This committee has existed from the very beginning of Revolutionary War Rarities and consists of several professional historians, state historians, and the Historian General of our National Society. For more information on this committee, please click on the Content Review Committee below.