American in progress . . .

I love celebrating “America’s birthday”.  We have amassed a lot of great traditions around this holiday! I love red, white and blue cakes and dresses and streamers and those crazy headbands people wear. I love barbeques and fireworks and history channel marathons about the revolution or the founders.  I love American history, but my favorite period is the revolutionary war.  I mean not that any war is good and even one so long ago should not be romanticized, but I am fascinated by that time period and the men and women who lived it.

On this Independence Day I thought I would blog a little history cause I do love to talk history every now and then.  And by now and then I mean as often as possible.

So here are some facts about the Declaration of Independence so you can be the Know it all next time it comes up!

 John Adams, who happens to be may favorite founding father (what? You don’t have a favorite founding father?), might argue that we should be celebrating our nation’s birthday on May 15^th.  That is when the Continental Congress passed a resolution he had drafted and that he humbly described as “the most important resolution that ever was taken in America” instructing the colonies to draft new constitutions to replace the existent British charters of governance.  This was a de facto declaration of independence.

Wanting to make things perfectly clear on June 7 Richard Henry Lee of Virginia moved and Adams seconded a resolution of independence:

                Resolved, that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.

They decided to postpone a vote because  some of the delegates had to confer with their colony legislatures before voting for independence. In the meantime they decided someone had better draft something to spell out what they meant to say.  A five man committee was appointed which included both John  Adams and Ben Franklin.  Neither felt it was a terribly important assignment and so it was given to the committee’s junior most member – Thomas Jefferson.  He is said to have taken about two days to draft it before bringing it back to the committee.

The Resolution for Independence passed on July 2, 1776.  John Adams actually wrote his wife after the session predicting that this day would be celebrated for generation to come as the great anniversary of our country.

A draft of the Declaration was presented to the Congress on that same day.  They debated its wording for two more days.  In this debate they passed right over the words we have come to value most perhaps because the ALL men and UNALIENABLE rights would have seemed glaringly unfulfilled if examined too closely.  Anyway, apparently each deletion, addition and modification was like a knife to Jefferson’s heart.  He kept original drafts and always resented the interference with his genius.  But agreement was reached on the Fourth and Voila!  We had a Declaration that outlined our divine right and obligation to dissolve the political bands which had connected us, form our own government and eloquently listed our many grievances against our former King.  John Hancock (president of the Congress) signed it (taking up half the space left) but most everyone else did not do so until August 2^nd.

Now don’t misunderstand I realize that the Declaration of Independence while beautiful and meaningful and revolutionary was an imperfect document crafted by imperfect men

It was written by a man who held slaves and yet declared all men to be endowed by their creator with unalienable rights

It did not envision a world where political rights were available to women, blacks or Indians or even men without property for the most part

It did not do everything but it was a beginning – it cast a vision that many have followed and expanded on and I think we can be thankful for and honor that. 

The story of our nation’s founding is an improbable one.  And in studying the Declaration and so many of the events before and after it I find much to inspire me.  In many ways it is a David and Goliath tale.  A group of men come together from all over the colonies agreeing on nothing at first except not wanting to be taxed without their consent, an army with almost no leadership or ammunition, fighting an elite Army and their hired guns, a form of government that’s never been tried on such a scale before.   It shouldn’t have worked.  But it did.  It does.  Sometimes.  Sort of.  I am proud to be an American and ashamed that I too often take it for granted.  It is a privilege and a gift and I am thankful.