Mary McTamaney

Tonight, the two leading candidates for United States President will participate in a televised debate. No one can predict how many people will tune in and pay attention.
No one can be sure what issues those who witness the debates hope to hear discussed.
Political discourse has changed through the generations and so has the media available to follow such discourse.

Once, political leadership was covered in the editorial pages of many local newspapers and easily discussed among neighbors on the sidewalks of Newburgh. Election days attracted the vast majority of citizens to their polling places here in a community where the American Republic was born. Of course, there were strident voices and rude political cartoons back through the centuries but there was robust public engagement. Now, we hear many joking criticisms of our leaders and potential leaders but, when each election day rolls around, fewer citizens show up to cast a ballot. How embarrassing that is when contrasted with the history that Greater Newburgh had as a bellwether place for judging the values of the American republic.

Partly because peace was declared in 1783 on Newburgh soil and America began with that victory over colonialism, this community attracted the world’s writers, philosophers and planners who sought to understand the strength of democracy. Stepping ashore in the shadow of Washington’s Headquarters, visitors through the generations hoped to encounter some of the energy it took to create a new nation.

French General Lafayette walked onto a Newburgh dock in 1824 remembering the struggle that he had joined a generation earlier. As a young man, he had set sail to fight in our Revolution helping our struggling colonies gain independence while learning tactics that he could (and later did) take back home to France to help its citizens shake off a repressive monarchy too. Lafayette’s return tour of America was made to see how well the principles of democracy, that he had fought beside us to secure, had taken root after three decades.

Another Frenchman came to America in the early 19th century to study how American revolutionary ideals had developed into a fully-functioning society. Alexis deToqueville sailed up the Hudson in 1831 and saw the homes and businesses of Newburgh through the light of a massive fireworks display being staged during Fourth of July weekend. Young Mr. deToqueville spent significant time in and around Orange County interviewing and observing as he compiled information for his still-classic book, Democracy In America.

World-renowned feminist author Frederika Bremer came to America in 1849 with the same motivation. She had never fought for freedom in her native Scandinavia, but she intensely studied and wrote about the many ways people, particularly women, struggled for basic human rights. Two weeks in Newburgh was Ms. Bremer’s first immersion in American life. Here she met many notable thinkers who helped her set an itinerary for the months ahead of her.

Again, like Mr. deToqueville, she was seeking to understand if America was able to live up to the promise of its Constitution. She went on to travel the country for over a year, but the impressions she recorded in her visit here spurred her to set an agenda that guided her research on the heart and soul of America.

The 1830’s and 1840’s were a time of great social and political upheaval in Europe. Travelers were seeking solutions to the problems they encountered at home and hoped America would be the beacon of hope they could study and describe for their countrymen.

There are still travelers among us today. Some are hoping to learn from us and take lessons in “good trouble” back to their homelands. They will notice that John Lewis is memorialized on our main street and will question the meaning of his sculpture and its lessons. Some travelers arriving in today’s Newburgh will hope to stay in this interesting gateway community, set down roots and contribute to its growth and success. Is our “Birthplace of the Republic” up to demonstrating the lessons those early revolutionaries set out for us?

May the debate begin.