THE CAUSE

SCENE: The United States of America.

PROLOGUE

Enter [Chorus.]

[Chor.] "O for a muse of fire, that would ascend the brightest heaven of invention, a republic for a stage, Fathers to act, generals to behold the swelling scene. Then should warlike Washington, like himself, assume the port of Mars; and at his heels, leashed in like hounds, should famine, sword, and fire crouch for employment. But pardon, gentles all, the flat unraised spirits that hath dar’d on this unworthy scaffold to bring forth so great an object. Can this cockpit hold the vasty fields of America? Or may we cram within this wooden O the very casques that did affright the air at Lexington? O, pardon! since a crooked figure may attest in little place a million; and let us, ciphers to this great accompt, on your imaginary forces work. Suppose within the girdle of these walls the army of Washington is now confined, whose cold upreared and abutting front the perilous Delaware would part asunder. Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts; into a thousand parts divide one man, and make imaginary puissance. Think, when we talk of cannon, that you see them pounding their loud shells i’ the receiving earth. For ‘tis your thoughts that now must deck our men, carry them here and there, jumping o’er times, turning the accomplishment of many years into an hour glass: for which the supply, admit me chorus to this history; who, prologue like, your humble patience pray gentle to hear, kindly to judge, our play."[Exit.]

Wash. "When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them one 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 inalienable rights, that among theses are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Ham. General Washington, sir, our troops are sore in need of provision. The British are pushing south, toward Philadelphia. ‘Tis bitter cold, sir. Our men are freezing.

Wash. "These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."

"In peace there’s nothing so becomes a man as humility, but when the blast of war blows in our ears, then imitate the action of the tiger; Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, then lend the eye a terrible aspect; Like the brass cannon; let the brow o’erwhelm it as fearfully as doth a galled rock o’erhang and jutty his confounded base, swill’d with the wild and wasteful ocean. Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide, hold hard the breath, and bend up every spirit to his full height." Now, colonel, assemble your men, and prepare to cross. There’s no retreat with our backs to the deep, icy rift. On the morn we attack. [Exeunt.]

Red. My lord, all is set for Philadelphia. We await your command.

Corn. "What shall I say more than I have inferr’d? Remember whom you are to cope withal; A sort of vagabonds, rascals, and runaways, a scum of the earth, and base lackey peasants, whom their o’er-cloyed colony vomits forth to desperate ventures and assured destruction. And who doth lead them but a paltry fellow, long kept at the king’s cost? A milk-sop, one that never in his life felt so much cold as over shoes in snow? Let’s whip these stragglers o’er the lands again; lash hence these overweening rags of America, these famished beggars, weary of their lives, who but for dreaming on this fond exploit, for want of means, poor rats, had hange’d themselves. If we be not turned, let men turn us, and not these bastard Americans."

2. Red. My lord, a most wondrous surprise! The rebels approach!

Corn. O, thou dost jibe. They crouch like...

2. Red. No, my lord. They come hard upon, all puff’d up, and warlike.

Corn. Go every man to his charge. The better for our purpose. Go I pray you! [Exeunt Redcoats.] So now we meet. Grim-visaged war rears his bloody front. "Let us to ’t pell-mell, If not to heaven then hand in hand to hell."[Exit.]

Ham. Arm, gentlemen; to arms! For I have thrown a brave defiance in King George’s teeth, and Cornwallis, that was engaged did bear it; which cannot choose but bring him on quickly. To arms! [Exeunt.]

I Red. The rebel swoops like a famished eagle upon a fat mouse.

2 Red "Reproach and everlasting shame sits mocking in our plumes." Sound the retreat.

All Retreat! Retreat! [Exeunt.]

Sam The British line breaks!

Ham. "From this day to the ending of the world, but we in it shall be remembered, we few, we happy few, we band of brothers." Into the breach![Exeunt.]

Sam I warrant thee, keep up thy hands! [Exeunt.]

Ham. Sir, the redcoat bends. The enemy, he that still breathes, is dropping all arms. We have his cannon, his pennant, and we have Cornwallis.

Wash. Alive?

Ham. Aye, sir; without, guarded.

Wash. Bring him before us.

Ham. Bring in the prisoner!

Wash. General Cornwallis, we, the people, have an epistle, for thy conveyance, to his majesty, the king.

Corn. I’ll rather hang.

Wash. "His Britannic Majesty acknowledges the United States of America to be free, sovereign, and independent, he treats them as such, and for himself, his heirs and successors, relinquishes all claims to the government, proprietary and territorial rights of the same, and every part thereof."

Corn. To spare me, and employ me thus, is a fate worse than death.

Wash. "I anticipate, with pleasing expectation, that retreat in which I promise myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow citizens, the benign influence of good laws, under a free government." [To Sam and Johnny.] Take the prisoner away, and see that he is well us’d. [Exeunt all but Johnny.]

John. All this talk of independence! We should have hanged the bloody governor, ere this ferocity, to spare us this much bad blood. Fie on the governor! He was but the king’s refuse, rascal of a man, who did but o’ertax us to line his own deep pockets; but, independence? Bow to homegrown ideologues? Replace one tyranny with another? Bah! This cannot come to good, or I am not what I am. [Exit.]

John. It rankles my soul to hear our king bandied about thus. I would he restored some law and order.

Sam. Are you mad? It’s been near six years since Washington sent the redcoats packing.

John. Aye, it has never been worse.

Sam Look here, gentlemen from all the several states are gathered here now to forge us a new nation.

John. Aye! They meet in secret, with no report.

Sam. They do well. ‘Twas by the press that the morals of this country have been ruined.

John. It’s by the press that they shall be restored.

John. Mr. Franklin, old man, what kind of nation have you given us?

Fran. A republic, if you can keep it. [Reads from a scroll] "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America." [To Johnny] "Dost thou love life?"

John. Aye.

Fran. "Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of." [Gives Sam the scroll, exits.]

Sam Well spoke! A republic if you can keep it. Well spoke, indeed!

John. Have you read the book?

Sam Book? What book?

John. Why, the Republic, thou snipe! Have you no wits?

Sam Grow you foul with me? ‘A read it in grade school. We are all Greeks.

John. Methinks my Greek grows a bit rusty. Come now; it is time for tea.

Sam A pox on your tea drinkers! Tea’s for the redcoats, for the very crabs. There’s a fine creeping redcoat down ‘a Boston—teas for the bottom. I’ll rather drink ale, for "a good ale hath a two-fold operation in it. It ascends me into the brain; dries me there all the foolish and dull and crudy vapours which environ it; makes it apprehensive, quick, forgetive, full of nimble, fiery and delectable shapes; which delivered o’er to the voice, the tongue, which is its birth, becomes excellent wit. The second property of your excellent ale is the warming of the blood; which, before cold and settled, left the liver white and pale, which is the badge of pusillanimity and cowardice; but the ale warms it and makes it course from the inwards to the parts extremes. It illumineth the face, which as a beacon gives warning to all the rest of the little kingdom, man, to arm; and then the vital commoners and inland petty spirits muster me all to their captain, the heart, who, great and puff’d up with his retinue, doth any need of courage; and this valour comes of ale. So that skill in the weapon is nothing without ale, for that it sets it a-work; and learning a mere hoard of gold kept by the devil, till ale commences it and sets it in act and use… If I had a thousand sons, the first humane principle I would teach them should be, to forswear tea, and drink ale." Lead me to the alehouse. [Exeunt.]

John. [holding scroll] Mr. Hamilton, it says here, that "Congress shall have the right to lay and collect taxes." Is this a revolution?

Ham. "A government ought to contain in itself every power requisite to the full accomplishment of the objects committed to it’s care and to the complete execution of the trusts for which it is responsible free from every other control but a regard to the public good, and to the sense of the people."—We, the people! Would’st thou pay thy taxes to the king, or to thyself?

John. But it says here, "The migration or importation of such persons as any of the states now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight."

Ham. It is the conviction of the far better part of the framers, that that damned and execrable traffic in slaves should at once be forever expunged, but in the interest of union, we have with great pains allowed it license in those states where it is not already outlawed, until such a time as we may develop the means to end it once and for all, that not being more than twenty years hence, then may God forgive us our trespasses.

John. "Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant." Curs’d be the man that liberates my slaves, I’ll blast him to the moon, or ere will I give up my freedom.

Sam Free to have slaves? There’s a fine going out. Thus saith the Lord, "as ye would that men do to you, do ye also to them likewise." "The devil can cite scripture for his purpose."

John. Mr. Burr, my good friend! Oh, it does me good to see you! "I have been in such a pickle since I saw you last." Have you heard? It says here, that "Congress shall have the right to issue coinage, and regulate the value thereof." What say’st thou? [Burr takes scroll and reads.]

Sam [Aside.] He’s for the Wall Street payjocks. "There’s ne’er a villain dwelling in all of the States, but he’s an arrant knave."

Burr "But man, proud man, drest in a little brief authority, most ignorant of what he’s most assured, his glassy essence, like an angry ape, plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven as make the angels weep."Mr. Hamilton, my dearest, most beloved, and most cherished foe, will you then challenge the independence of the banks? I know a bank whereby the wild Thames flows.

Ham. Out with your banks, Mr. Burr. Thou hast made our house a den of thieves. "They are as sick that surfeit with too much, as they that starve with nothing." Thou art "a man whose blood is very snow-broth; one who never feels the wanton sting and motions of the sense," but for his own gain. For a pound of flesh, I’ll rather procure to this nation a National Bank, that we, the people, might heal and grow the whole. ‘Tis done! Now take your stocks, your bonds, and all your trappings of usury and woe, and go home, back to England, and crawl back up the King’s arse from which you fell.

Burr "I met a fool i’ th’ forest. A motley fool." Thou insolent whoreson knave. Art thou prepared to back thy words? [Drops scroll.]

Ham. Would that we could see thy back, what truthful man in all the Americas would not say, amen? From the very rooftops, to all the streets where every ear doth mark, I clepe thee traitor.

Burr Bloody! —For that my honour demands satisfaction. My very bones cry out for the right! [Throws down a glove.]

John. "The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." [Gives his pistol to Burr.]

Sam Defend thyself, and trust him like the angry ape he belched. [Gives his pistol to Hamilton.]

Ham. "We cannot fight for love as men may do," but let us fight like men.

Burr Give me your back, and pace me. [Burr and Hamilton stand back to back] "Men have died from time to time, and worms have eaten them." Prepare thyself for the worms.

Ham. Begin![Burr and Hamilton duel. Hamilton dies.]

Burr Back to dust! [Drops pistol, exits.]

Sam Now look what you’ve done.

John. I done? Thou liest.

Sam Thou egged ‘em on like a jack-ape.

John. He deserved it—knave. ‘A woulda’ blasted ‘em myself for the sport of it. [picks up his pistol]

Sam For that, thou hold’st a place amongst the fiends. "His meanest garment that ever hath but clipped his body, is dearer in my respect then all the hairs above thee, were they all made such men." O, thou art a base-born traitor. [picks up his pistol]

John. Traitor? I, a traitor?

Sam That was my word.

John. "Thou hold’st a place for which the pained’st fiend of hell would not in reputation change. Thy food is such as hath been belch’d on by infected lungs," and thou call’st me traitor. As deep as the throat, I return the lie. Repent, or die! [Aims pistol at Sam.]

Sam Threaten me? Oh, brave!

John. Repent!

Sam Then let the stinking elder, grief, untwine his perishing rot; and may the slaves thou keepest trod thy grave. Die, traitor! [Shots, Sam and Johnny both die.]

Lin. "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure…"

McCl. Mr. President, our troops are victorious at Gettysburg.

Lin. And Lee?

McCl. Fled south. I advise you sue for peace.

Lin. Peace? –whilst Lee’s army stands? There’s no peace for the bondslave, who with bloodied back, sweats and toils to ‘scape further whipping. There is no peace for the wives and mothers, and sons of our honoured dead. Rather, war, till the rebel weeps for forgiveness. A house divided against itself, brother against brother, cannot stand. This nation cannot long endure permanently half-slave and half-free. Either the opponents of slavery will, like warrior angels, strengthened by the will of almighty God, by force of arms, arrest it completely, and crush it, or its advocates will push it forward like a disease to infect the whole, whereupon this nation will die unmourned. General McClellan, you are dismissed. [Exit McClellan.] General Grant?

Gran. Sir!

Lin. Will you fight?

Gran. There are many rogues in Vicksburg who will say I might.

Lin. This bloody deed shall be answered. Take our forces south, but mark, let us judge not, that we be not judged. [Exit Grant.] "…We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Ass. Et semper tyrannis! [Shoots Lincoln. Lincoln dies.]

ACT II

Chor. "Thus with imagin’d wing our swift scene flies in motion of no less celerity than that of thought. Suppose that you have seen the well-appointed Roosevelt embark his administration, and brave fleet with silken streamers the young Phoebus fanning. Play with your fancies, and in them behold upon the metal tackle ship-boys climbing; hear the shrill whistle which doth order give to sounds confuse’d; behold the iron bows, borne with the invisible and creeping wind. Draw the huge bottom through the furrowed sea, breasting the lofty surge. O, do but think you stand upon the rivage and behold a city on th’ inconstant billows dancing; for so it appears this fleet majestical, holding due course to the isles of Japan. Follow, follow! Grapple your minds to sternage of this navy, and leave your America, as dead as midnight still, guarded with grandsires, babies, and old women, either past or not arrived to pith and puissance. For who is he, whose chin is but enrich’d with one appearing hair, that will not follow these culled and choice–drawn cavaliers to the East. Work, work your thoughts, and therein see a war. Behold the ordnance on their tanks, with fatal mouths gaping on girded Europa. Suppose the Minister of England comes back, tells Roosevelt that the King doth offer him his service, and with it, his proffer, some large and profitable colonies. The offer likes not; and the nimbler gunner with linstock now the devilish cannon touches, and goes down all before them. Still be kind, and eke out our performance with your mind."

Roos. Winston, "I can’t believe that we can fight a war against fascist slavery, and at the same time not work to free people all over the world from a backward colonial policy." "I think I speak as America’s president when I say that America won’t help England in this war simply so that she will be able to continue to ride roughshod over colonial peoples."

Chur. Mr. President, I am "not his majesty’s Prime Minister for the purpose of presiding over the dissolution of the British Empire," and the British Empire’s trade agreements [are sacrosanct].

Roos. "Those Empire trade agreements are case in point. It’s because of them that the people of India and Africa, of all the colonial Near East and Far East, are still as backward as they are."

Chur. "England does not propose for a moment to lose its favored position among the British Dominions. The trade that has made England great shall continue, and under conditions prescribed by England’s ministers. There can be no tampering with the Empire’s economic agreements."

Roos. "They ’re artificial."

Chur. "They are the foundation of our greatness."

Roos. "The colonial system means war. Exploit the resources of an India, a Burma, a Java; take all the wealth out of those countries, but never put anything back into them, things like education, decent standards of living, minimum health requirements—all you’re doing is storing up the kind of trouble that leads to war."

John. Communist!

Sam Oh, blow it out your ear.

John. What, are you a communist too?

Sam Hey, look. Take it easy. I’ve got a family, a mortgage; I don’t want any trouble.

Chur. You mentioned India.

Roos. "We look forward to a world founded on four essential freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression—everywhere in the world. The second is the freedom of every person to worship God in his own way—everywhere in the world. The third is freedom from want—which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants—everywhere in the world. The fourth is freedom from fear."—and "let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." [Roosevelt stands, as Kennedy.] "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to insure the success of liberty. We pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have been cast away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny. All mankind waits on our decision, a whole world looks to see what we shall do, and we cannot fail that trust, and we cannot fail to try. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it, and the glow from that fire can truly light the world. And so my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country"…because, [as Martin Luther a King, Jr.] "I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed—we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal."

John. Communist! Communist! Communist! [Several shots fired from within and without.]

Sam Oh God! Somebody help! He bleeds. [Roosevelt dies.]

John. He was a communist!

Chur. He’s dead. "Knavery’s plain face is never seen till used. My medicine, work!" Perhaps he will be reincarnated as a deadly virus, and be of some use.

Sam What kind of babble is that? Did you do this?

John. [To Sam.] What are you, some kind of conspiracy nut?

Chur. Come now. It was a lone assassin—a maniacal zealot.

Sam. But he’s shot through the heart. His head is blown off. Look at this mess!

Chur. Oh, it is plain to see. [Examining the body.] The bullet entered here; it bounced off the bone here, spun around twice, bounced again off the bone here, spun around thrice more, and exited here. Why, it is unambiguous! It was a lone assassin. Besides, he will not be missed. We will endure without him.

Sam He was one of the best Presidents that ever honored this nation and gave its people hope. He gave millions of us productive employment, led the United States out of depression, led us to victory against fascism, and, glory! —He put a man on the moon.

John. He raised my taxes!

Sam For every one penny of tax the government paid to put man in space, this nation received more than ten for its recompense—immeasurable pride!—hundreds of new technologies, discoveries in medicine, new machinery, and more—science for the future of our children.

Chur. Yet we have so many ills here on earth: Poverty, the environment, pollution of the rivers and the air, the threat of nuclear destruction. Why, you could be vaporized in an instant! —and millions of others—by the wellsprings of science. Furthermore, to waste dwindling resources in space is preposterous when the world is so tediously overpopulated.

John. Especially Africa! That’s why they’re always fighting, and starving!

Sam That is absurd. I think you have both lost your minds. This talk is unbearable. [Sits.]

Chur. I have just what you require. Take and smoke on this, and listen to me. [Gives Sam a marijuana cigarette.]

"The white population of the world will soon cease to increase. The Asiatic races will be longer, and the Negroes still longer, before their birth rate falls sufficiently to make their numbers stable without the help of war and pestilence… the less prolific race will have to defend themselves by methods which are disgusting even if they are necessary."

John. I say we sterilize ‘em! They breed like cockroaches! [Sam begins to smoke.]

Chur. "At present the population of the world is increasing at about 58,000 per diem. War, so far, has had no very great effect on this increase, which continued throughout each of the world wars… War has hitherto been disappointing in this respect… but perhaps bacteriological war may prove to be effective. If a Black Death could spread throughout the world once in every generation, survivors could procreate freely without making the world too full. The state of affairs might be somewhat unpleasant, but what of it? Really high-minded people are indifferent to suffering, especially the suffering of others." [To Sam.] Now, are you feeling better?

Sam Yeah! Groovy! But it smells like a rotten corpse in here. [Throws butt toward Roosevelt.]

Chur. Then watch television. Cheerio! [Gives Sam a remote control, exits.]

John. Give me that! I want to see what’s on CNN. [Sits, snatches remote control, pushes button..]

Bush "I am not a crook!" —"A new partnership of nations has begun, and we stand today at a unique and extraordinary moment. The crisis in the Persian Gulf, as grave as it is, also offers a rare opportunity to move toward an historic period of cooperation. Out of these troubled times, our [main] objective—a New World Order—can emerge;" a single empire; a new century of undisputed world dominion of the Anglo-Saxon powers; a world of neo-colonialism, and imperialism, in which the human race is reduced to nothing.

John. Bomb the darkies!

Bush. And now on the domestic front: on education: "We want our teachers to know how to teach the science of reading in order to make sure there’s not this kind of federal cufflink," because "rarely is the question asked: is our children learning?" With respect to the economy, "I know how hard it is to put food on your family," and "I understand small business growth, I was one." "We ought to make the pie higher."

Sam Turn it off. He’s an asshole. [Johnny pushes button, Bush exits.]

John. Who did you vote for, Bore?

Sam There’s no way I would vote for Gush. Give it back! [Snatches remote control.]

John. Let’s watch wrestling.

Sam Alright! [Pushes button.]

John Yeah! Get ‘em!

Sam I’m for The Rock. The Rock rules.

John Yeah! Get ‘em! [Much tumult, then sudden darkness and silence]

Sam What happened?

John. The lights went out, you freakin’ idiot, can’t you see?

Sam I can’t see shit… Let’s get some ice before the beer gets warm.

John. Do you think the stores are still open? [Exeunt.]

[EPILOGUE]

Chor. "Thus far, with rough and all-unable pen,

Our bending author hath pursu’d the story,

In little room confining mighty men,

Mangling by starts the full course of their glory.

Small time, but in this small most badly lived

Bush of America. Fortune made his sword,

By which the world’s worst garden he achiev’d

And of it left his son imperial lord.

George W. Bush in infant bands crown’d King

Of the United States did this fool succeed;

Whose state so many had mismanaging,

That they lost it and made the people bleed;

Which oft our stage hath shown; and, for their sake,

In your fair minds let this acceptance take." [Exit.]