"Ancestors" T-Shirt - Red Brown

...the Saxon Chiefs from whom we claim the honour of being descended and whose political principles and form of government we have assumed"

In 1776, Thomas Jefferson, one of America’s Founding Fathers, suggested including Hengest and Horsa on the Great Seal of the United States. He admired them as symbols of freedom and liberty, seeing in their story the values he wanted to celebrate in the new nation. It was a nod to heritage and principle, reaching all the way back to the Anglo-Saxon roots of English identity....

The design was eventually sidelined but for this t-shirt we've revisited the idea and come up with our own Anglo-Saxon version of the Great Seal - the Great Seal as it would possibly have been if Jefferson had got his way.(read more below)

• Senlak – Angelcynn Outfitters. We put our name on every piece, which means we commit to delivering only the highest quality apparel, crafted to last and as always - everything designed and printed, bagged, tagged and finished in the UK
• Senlak branded woven patch on left arm
• Material and fit: 100% organic premium single jersey cotton. Standard fit - not tight, not loose, just right.
• Weight: 180gsm. 
• Size (to fit) -XS: 34/36", S: 36/38", M: 38/40", L: 41/43", XL: 43/45", 2XL: 46/47", 3XL: 48/50"

In 1776 Thomas Jefferson, one of the revered Founding Fathers of America, proposed that Hengest and Horsa be included on the Great Seal of America because of the values of freedom and liberty that he believed that they represented. He said of them “..the Saxon Chiefs from whom we claim the honour of being descended and whose political principles and form of government we have assumed”

But why would he wish these Anglo-Saxon chieftains, the founding fathers of England  included on the Seal of America? Why did it mean so much to him and what has all this got to do with the English?

Well for starters, many of the "Americans" were Englishmen. From the earliest days of colonisation America had filled with Englishmen who had travelled to the New World seeking greater freedoms and a new life (even now 8 out of the 10 most popular surnames in America are of English origin). Eventually there old life caught up with them and the British state tried to tax them without giving them any political representation. These Rebel Englishmen didn't take kindly to this and so began the American War of Independence. Eventually the British Army which contained large elements of Scottish and German troops was defeated and the Founding Fathers - the vast majority of whom were English - declared independence.......read on.

One of the factors that have marked England out from the very earliest times has been the libertarian instinct of her people, an inheritance of our sea-faring ancestors, who brought with them a confident, stoic and positive outlook on life. Our long history of radical thought and action can be traced directly back to those first boatloads of warriors who splashed up our beeches over 1500 years ago. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle tells us that the first of these Englishmen were the Warrior Chiefs Hengest and Horsa

The idea of an early Anglo-Saxon democracy is at the core of the English radical tradition and it was an outlook that many paid a heavy price for, but it was also the inspiration behind such things as, the English Revolt (peasants' Revolt), the Bill of Rights, Magna Carta, the Levellers, Diggers, Parliamentarians, 19th century trade union movement and the Chartists - all spoke of our Anglo-Saxon freedoms.

It also inspired those who wrote the American constitution, one of the greatest documents ever written. And so it was in 1776 that Thomas Jefferson, one of the revered Founding Fathers of America, proposed that Hengest and Horsa be included on the Great Seal of America because of the values of freedom and liberty that he believed that they represented. He said of them “..the Saxon Chiefs from whom we claim the honour of being descended and whose political principles and form of government we have assumed” For Hengest and Horsa, the warrior brothers who laid the very foundation stones of the modern English nation, there can be no greater tribute than this.