250 years
As the heat settles over the land, and we begin to slow down during midday to take a break, shade of any sort is always a bonus. But summer is the peak travel season, and people are on holiday. We are traveling to exotic places or those close to home, attending baseball games, World Cup matches (and discovering American fast food and American ingredients, including the now infamous ranch dressing), playing games including tennis and pickle ball, swimming, or, dare I say, even touching the water in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Many of us will be celebrating the 4th of July with friends and family. This year is the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Wikipedia has an excellent and comprehensive feature on it, including the complete text.
" On June 11, 1776, Congress appointed the Committee of Five to draft a declaration, including John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, Robert R. Livingston of New York, and Roger Sherman of Connecticut." (Wikipedia)
Below is the Introduction.
"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation." (Wikipedia)
The Indictment and Bill of Grievances addressed the British government, and its sovereign, King George III. It is a very detailed and long list. Here is the first paragraph of the Indictment.
"Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world. (Wikipedia)
Probably the portion of the Declaration of Independence that is familiar to most Americans is the Preamble.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security." (Wikipedia)
We were in 1776, and still are in 2026, a nation comprised of aliens, except for Native Americans and First Nations people in Canada. This fact was not lost on the people in space alien costumes, nor on the person carrying the No Kings sign on the pole with an American flag at a No Kings Rally in Santa Fe in 2025.
At the time of the writing and signing of the Declaration, there were 13 states that were united as America - Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey - but fragilely so, given the Civil War, eighty five years later. Good old New Mexico and much of the west were barely twinkles in our forebears eyes.
But what a grand experiment in creating a democratic republic the Declaration was. Thankfully, as we celebrate 250 years, the experiment - although still in progress and still tenuous at times - continues.
May all of you celebrate in your own way, perhaps with a red, white, and blue tart.
If you are interested in American Revolutionary War history, I recommend a book that is keeping me out of trouble this summer by Rick Atkinson titled The British are Coming - The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777. It is the first volume of The Revolution Trilogy.
Thanks to Ingrid, Steve, Victoria, Christine, Marilyn G., Catherine S., Sara W., Jean & Sam, Louise W., and Pater for writing about last week's blog.
Have a safe and inspiring holiday weekend!
until next Monday,
DB
a passion for the image©
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