Fourth of July

DEAR GEORGE, When we were kids, birthdays and Christmas were our favorite holidays because they involved the most gifts. Halloween was great because of all the candy, and the Easter bunny brought a lot of sweets too. July Fourth took fifth place, mainly because of the fireworks. The fathers in our group took their oldest kids to nearby Peshtigo, and we got to pick out skyrockets and cherry bombs. After sunset we shot them off on the Green Bay shore, thrilled by the wonder of it all.

We learned in grade school that the Fourth of July is the birthdate of our nation — the day on which delegates from the thirteen colonies adopted the Declaration of Independence, declaring the new country’s independence from Great Britain. Actually the date isn’t fixed in stone. John Adams insisted that July 2nd was Independence Day because that’s when members of the Continental Congress voted to declare independence from British rule. The Declaration of Independence was finalized as a written document on July 4th, 1776, but only John Hancock signed it that day. The official signing by most members of the Continental Congress occurred on August 2nd, and it took several more months to get all 56. (As a sidelight, none of the signees were born in the United States.)

In its most famous line, the Declaration of Independence declared that unalienable rights of all men “are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Thomas Jefferson’s original draft referred to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Property.” Some say that Benjamin Franklin convinced Jefferson to change the wording because “property” was too narrow a notion. In addition, despite his owning more than 200 slaves, Jefferson’s early draft called slavery “a cruel war against human nature” and denounced King George III for “creating and sustaining” the slave trade. Jefferson went on to refer to slavery as “piratical warfare” and an “assemblage of horrors.” Jefferson’s language, however, was deleted from the final version of the Declaration of Independence during debate by members of the Continental Congress. Jefferson later blamed the states of South Carolina and Georgia for the clause’s removal, though he acknowledged the role of northern states as well.

During the nation’s early years Independence Day was celebrated with parades, oratory, and ceremonies that celebrated the new nation. Massachusetts was the first to recognize July Fourth as a state celebration in 1781, the White House had its first Fourth of July party in 1801, and the U.S Congress made the Fourth a paid holiday for federal employees in 1870. Nowadays Independence Day is commonly associated with fireworks, parades, concerts, picnics, and mall sales. Given a nation torn by economic inequality, racism, sexism, police brutality, voter suppression, and political polarization, the very meaning of the Fourth of July has become problematic. Patriotism in America has been declining in recent decades, dropping most sharply during the Trump years. A recent Pew Research Center Poll (Fall 2020) found that only 39% of U.S. respondents reported feeling proud of their country most of the time, less than citizens in the UK (41%), France (45%), and Germany (53%). Pride in the U.S. is greater on the political right (55%) than on the political left (16%). Focus group questions revealed that sources of pride for U.S. respondents included freedom, the right to vote, opportunity, history, and diversity. Sources of shame included: racism, the opioid epidemic, and Donald Trump. A 2019 Gallup poll found that males (48%) are more proud to be an American than females (43%), persons 65 and over more proud (63%) than those 18-29 (24%), Republicans (76%) more than Democrats (22%), and Conservatives (70%) more than Liberals (21%).

When I wonder why we celebrate the Fourth of July at all, I remind myself that this holiday isn’t about America in 2021. It’s a celebration of the founding of the nation and of the American ideals expressed by its founders in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution — ideals of freedom, equality, opportunity, human rights, and democracy. Our society has always fallen short of these ideals, but they still ring true. Independence Day provides the occasion to reflect upon and clarify American ideals and to contemplate means to better realize them. LOVE, DAVE

SOURCES: (1) blog.acton.org, “Five Facts About Independence Day”; (2) history.com, “Why Thomas Jefferson’s Anti-Slavery Passage Was Removed…”; (3) news.gallup.com, “American Pride Hits New Low: Few Proud of Political System”; (4) news.gallup.com, “U.S.National Pride Falls to Record Low”; (5) pew research.org, “National Pride and Shame”; (6) rd.com, “20 Things You Didn’t Know About Independence Day”; (7) womansday.com, “These 4th of July Facts Will Change the Way You Look at American History”