What does the Fourth of July mean to you?
To me, being slightly cynical, one thing it means is a triumph of branding.
July 4th = Independence. And Independence = Freedom. Who could be against that?
Well, some African-Americans, who note that “independence” did not apply to most Black people in America. They say “independence” was a sham, and some American Blacks don’t celebrate it as an expression of freedom.
But a very large majority do.
A few weeks ago, in a Facebook post, I off-handedly described Juneteenth as “the Black Fourth of July.”
By that I mean it celebrates freedom, but I got some pushback both from some Blacks and whites.
OK by me. There is no statement that I can make — from freedom to motherhood — that won’t be challenged by someone. As one wise-cracker wrote, “Freedom of speech is important because it lets us know who the idiots are.”
For most Americans, July 4th means vacation, hot dogs, family, the shore or the mountains, parades, flag-waving — many of the great things in American life.
When my kids were young, one thing I would do on the Fourth of July was read and explain the Declaration of Independence to them. It was as much for me as it was for them. Maybe more.
The Founding Fathers (this is so embarrassing) — white, male, Europeans — produced a document and a plan for government that has stood the test of time, and provided a blueprint for how free people could rule themselves. The American model has been widely emulated.
Perfect? No.
The huge stain on the document was its silence on slavery. Then the Constitution made slaves 3/5s of a person.
You might say the Declaration was the original Grievance Poster. It listed in excruciating detail the offenses the Crown had committed against its subjects.
It was the formalization of a war that had begun a year earlier when Minutemen engaged British troops in skirmishes at Concord and Lexington, Mass.
Ralph Waldo Emerson later commemorated that in his “Concord Hymn”:
By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard round the world.
The Declaration signed by the members of the Continental Congress was a death warrant for the signers, and none used a screen name. Had the war gone badly, they all would have faced the noose as traitors.
And the war did go badly, for a long time.
One of our greatest Americans, George Washington, became a master of hit-and-run and retreat as he faced the world’s largest and most experienced army. He lost battle after battle, but held his army together and never allowed it to be cornered.
Without his leadership and resourcefulness, we would not have won the war, most historians agree. He reluctantly accepted the presidency, and relinquished it with a grace that became American custom, until Donald J. Trump.
Yes, he was a slave holder and that needs to be told, too. He ordered his slaves to be freed only after his death.
But had the colonies lost the war the slaves would not have been freed because it was Britain that introduced slavery to North America.
I mention that because when we talk about slavery, and we should in schools and elsewhere, it must be contextualized against the backdrop of history — slavery dates back to Biblical times and was practiced by Blacks as well as whites — as well as how it was practiced in the Colonial era, which is to say in large swaths of the globe.
That is not a justification. It is just a fact.
And “freedom,” too, should be discussed in the context of those who didn’t have it.
The Constitution opens with the statement that the governing document seeks “to form a more perfect union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility. . . .”
Not “perfect,” but “more perfect.”
The earlier Declaration declared unalienable rights to include “life, liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Not a guarantee of happiness, but freedom to pursue it.
And that’s what July 4th means to me.
I wish I could have said it better, Stu. Especially the last part. Great newsletter!
I believe, then was then, now is now. I can’t go back in time, and I won;t change history. I wore the uniform for what I believed, I served a city, for which I loved. Time has changed, Happy 4th of July.
Dittos Philip to everything you said.
Stu: everything you said, plus we have to always remember freedom is not free. The only way to lose it is to give it away.
Vince, my question to you has nothing to do with any poltical party nor any individual. It is just a general question about you saying “The only way to lose it is to give it away.” I will not use your answer to talk about politicians or parties that I like and don’t like.
My question to you is, besides giving it away, do you agree that freedom can also be stolen?
If anyone else wants to also give their opinion I would like to hear it.
To answer your question: no, it cannot be stolen, it can only be given away– by a nation populated with individuals who are too lazy to care about anything other than self-gratification. I’m sure you are familiar with the stages of a nation’s growth and ultimate demise. If not, I’ll review them here — and you decide where you think our nation finds itself at present:
BONDAGE to SIRITUAL FAITH; then SPIRITUAL FAITH to GREAT COURAGE; then GREAT COURAGE to LIBERTY; LIBERTY to ABUNDANCE; ABUNDANCE to SELFISHNESS; SELFISHNESS to COMPLACENCY; COMPLACENCY to APATHY; APATHY to MORAL DECAY; MORAL DECAY to DEPENDENCE; and finally, DEPENDENCE to BONDAGE. My belief (and its only my opinion) is the USA [presently is in the APATHY to MORAL DECAY cycle. I pray I’m wrong, and may God bless America.
Vince, I appreciate your reply.
Since I just woke up I am too sleepy to go over it with you. I will say I do agree with you as far apathy and moral decay.
I will try to come back here later today for, hopefully, a better reply.
In the meatime I hope you have a great, and safe holiday.
Not a guarantee of happiness, but freedom to pursue it. These words should be be printed on every complaint, lawsuit etc. made by every ethnic group in our great country. There are no guarantees of happiness, get over it. You have the right to pursue you goals, take advantage of it don’t dwell on it.
This is a terrific piece of writing and thought, Stu.
Great compliment from a great writer ❤️
Stu
I sgree with you that the Continental Army would not have overcome the British without George Washington’s leadership.
I believe a big turning point in the war was the Battle of Saratoga.
I bet most Americans don’t know who played a major role for our side in that battle.in that decisive batlle
None other than Benedict Arnold
https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/battle-of-saratoga.
👌
For all of the monumental greatness of the Declaration of Independence, I can’t dismiss out of hand the theory that the phrase “all men are created equal” doesn’t mean what we think (or would like to think) it means:
I find it wholly plausible that when the Founding Fathers put that in, they weren’t declaring equality for all human beings; if so, slavery wouldn’t have existed another 90 years, and women would have not had to wait until 1920 for the right to vote.
Instead, I believe it’s possible that what the FFs were saying to the British aristocracy was that although they were native-born colonists, they were rich, land-owning white men and as such should be viewed as equals by their British counterparts.
I think this concept is not only conceivable but quite likely. The story we’ve made into myth just seems to have serious holes if you look at it logically and objectively. These guys were the 1 percenters of their day. How aware were they of the common American’s plight? And if they owned slaves (as so many signers did), then they obviously weren’t concerned with their problems (all of which were created by slave owners)…The myth really doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.
Clearly, it was a patriarchy, and, as noted, a white one. So that formed how they thought — not including Blacks and women.
Yes, most were wealthy — and thus had time to attend endless meetings that farmers could not.
I hate to see you buy into the (1619) revisionist history that this was rich guys protecting their own.
The rich could live with higher taxes and fewer votes. If fact, in YOUR theory, they should have become quislings. Go along to get along. But they did not.
Was Patrick Henry bullshitting when he said, “Give me liberty or give me death”? Was Sam Adams full of crap, too? And Thomas Paine’s pamphleting for freedom?
As I noted, but was not liberty for all, but it was a turning point in history.