This is going to be a complicated post. As is my want, I’m quite sure I am going to trip over myself rhetorically, so for those who will become incensed-I beg a little indulgence before you set down at your machine to flame me…………
George Will wrote an excellent article in the Washington Post a couple of days ago-pointing out that one can make the case that Mecklenberg County-not Philadelphia is the home of the Declaration of Independence. Accepting that logic means the Americans are a couple of days late celebrating their birthday.
“We the citizens of Mecklenburg County do hereby dissolve the political bands which have connected us to the mother country. . . . We do hereby declare ourselves a free and independent people . . . to the maintenance of which independence, we solemnly pledge to each other our mutual cooperation, our lives, our fortunes, and our most sacred honor.” -May 19, 1775.
Thus did a settlement on the fringe of the British Empire declare war on that empire. It used language — note, especially, the last nine words — that is echoed in the 1776 declaration, for reasons explained in a new book, “The 4th of July and the Founding of America,” by Peter de BollaofKing’s College, Cambridge. He is fascinated by Americans’ fascination with the fact, such as it is, that their country had, as few nations can claim, an “originative moment.” But what, and when, was it?
What is was-was an event that had a couple of things gone just a little differently, may not have happened. In one of my favorite counterfactual histories-What If?-there is an excellent essay, pointing out that until the very last moment-many Americans did not want to break the tie with England. And if -a big if to be sure-King George and the British Parliament had been willing to meet the colonists half way, the history of the American continent and that of the world might have been quite different.
Now I happen to think that even if it had occurred differently, the split with Britain would have come along down the road-most probably during the Napoleonic Wars when Britain would have needed money and soldiers and the same issues would have come to a head again-not to mention whatever affect the French Revolution would have had on the colonies. ( assuming it had happened since the American and French revolutions are interconnected in many ways).
Nonetheless, it points out the accidental nature of the United States and its growth into a World Superpower. The one distinguishing feature of much of American history is that it was not really planned to go the way it did-it just kind of happened by accident.
Consider the unique things that occurred on the American continent that did not occur elsewhere in the world:
-That having expanded across the continent, the nation did not-over time-break apart into smaller nations divided by ethnic groups. (Which happened on every other place in the world). The has been no “Balkanization” of America, as there has occurred in Europe, Asia, and Africa. That alone is, in my mind, a great miracle. Peoples Republic of Massachusetts aside.
-That the United States did not seek to become a power with military forces around the globe. Several accidents of history compelled the nation to break from its long standing tradition of isolationism at the waters edge of Atlantic and Pacific.
-That the national expansion even happened. If Napoleon had not been a greedy ass-and stationed a large garrison of troops in Louisiana and brought over French settlers to develop the land instead of laying waste to Europe-France and the US would be competitors today. Instead France is just a raped old bag.
-That despite all of the political divisions that have occurred in America and the increasing polarization of our politics, there is no one who seriously is proposing breaking the nation apart. Right or Left there is a unique devotion to the idea of “one nation”-under some God. ( The exact identity of the being is still under political negotiation).
-That the American Constitution-despite all the bumps along the way and cries of agitation against Congress, the President and the Supreme Court-still works and is pretty much the same shape as it was in 1789. The fact that it has been amended only 26 times is a miracle unto itself.
-Despite attempts by some, there has never been a Lee Kwan Yew, Vladimir Lenin, Josef Stalin or a (insert name of your favorite dictator here). Even the current occupant of 1600 PA avenue has not been able to use fear and loathing to assert dictatorial power. The system has actually worked as advertised-no one branch can reign supreme. That too has not happened elsewhere in many palces in the world.
-That despite widespread immigration-America is fundamentally a British descendant country and one founded -and is an extension of- British tradition. There is a reason Britain and the US have a “special relationship”-we are from the same stock. (And that has nothing to do with skin color either…). That ought to get more than a couple of people fired up-but I submit to you, if America wants to remain great, it needs to stick to its “American” culture. See Balkanization for what happens if you don’t.
The foregoing list of historical possibilities is a marvel if you ask me and something definitely worth celebrating. Moreso when you consider, that despite our national identity of manifest destiny, the US in its current role and form is a happy accident of history. Could it be repeated in the current era? I wonder.
Nonetheless, it is here, and worth celebrating. Happy Independence Day! Whenever you think it really happened:
What de Bolla calls “the intricate history of the nation’s founding document” does not and should not inhibit Americans from asserting the truth that their nation originated on July 4, 1776. They hold that to be a self-evident truth, which means they have decided to believe it, thereby making it a self-validating tradition. So there.
There has never been a country as diverse as America. The wonder of it all is that there isn’t more conflict between groups/clan/tribe/family.
Sometimes good things can come from the hands of dead white men.
Vis a vis: Napoleon and the raped old bag. Napoleon was attempting to consolidate his interior line of communications and not fight a two front war. Don’t forget, the US was becoming an uppity sea power at the time and would have been troublesome to the French had they decided to reinforce Louisiana instead of sell it to the US. Granted, less than four cents an acre was a give away, the land was worth much more.