Oliver wendell holmes and many of his readers rallied to save the uss constitution
because
the ship was one on which george washington had served during the
revolutionary war
they viewed the ship as a link to the nation's history and a symbol of its
strength
scrapping the uss constitution would have led to the country's defeat in
the war of 1812
his readers, like holmes, had served on the uss constitution during the
war of 1812