A History Lesson
To the Editor:
US citizens are patriotically planning July 4, 2025, and July 4, 2026. The latter will be the 250th anniversary of the posting of the Declaration of Independence. That brilliantly written, inspiring document has been celebrated for decades. Its celebration is exhilarating, but the Declaration of Independence did not achieve independence. It was like spitting into the wind. It gained a purposeful sense of unity among a third of the colonists to throw off the firm rule of a monarch who claimed the divine right of kings. Another third remained Loyalists. The remaining third, struggling to survive, mostly ignored the Revolution.
Britain was the titan of the world. It was fool hardy for “patriots” to assert a liberty which they had little chance to achieve. Colonists’ government, the Continental Congress formed in 1774, was more a committee or debating society than a functional government. The colonial militias, left over from the French and Indian War, had many British loyalists in their ranks. State governments had to assert themselves free from colonial governments installed by Britain. George III sent 22,000 troops plus naval forces to put down the rebellion. Perhaps the day of independence was June 14, 1775, when that Congress established an army led by a Virginia planter.
That army won few battles but avoided defeat. Perhaps the day to celebrate independence was the defeat of Cornwallis at Yorktown, October 19, 1781, six years after the Continental Army was formed. Britain’s surrender, forced by the French Navy, ended most of the hostilities, some of which occurred between colonial patriots and British loyalists, especially in the Carolinas. Should that day in October 1781 be our day of independence?
Perhaps Independence Day should be September 3, 1783, the signing of the Treaty of Paris, which ostensibly ended the revolution of our British colonies against the British government. The Continental Congress struggled to organize a new nation. Britain was cavalier about the Treaty of Paris because it did not believe our new nation would survive. Former colonists believed that too; they decided it needed, more than a confederacy of former colonies, an agreement that forged a stronger central government. The effort to create the US Constitution culminated with its ratification on May 29, 1790. Should that be “independence day”? On the prospect that the Constitution would be ratified, George Washington became our first president on April 30, 1789, the true “independence day.”
Britain was lurking. Not wanting to lose its colonies, it went to war against the new US, which declared war on June 18, 1812, and battled until Feb. 18, 1815, more “independence days.” During the War of 1812, Britain set several new government buildings afire, including the White House and the Capitol. The struggle for independence took 40 years to achieve (1775-1815). After contentious debate, the Constitution was ratified. A prominent US citizen, Elizabeth Willing Powell, asked Benjamin Franklin who championed ratification, “Well Doctor, what have we got a republic or a monarchy?” “A republic if you can keep it,” he replied, aspiring for a democratic republic. Perhaps the date of that reply should be independence day.
In a bit over a year, our country is scheduled to celebrate July 4, 250 years after the first one. Mrs. Powell’s question resonates today. When did we gain independence and defeat monarchy? By the way, here are two trivia questions: Who was the US president on July 4, 1976? How did he come to be president?
Bob Heath Carmine