Letters from Linden
by JACK LINDEN
Happy July 2nd! We should really be celebrating July 2 as our date of independence since it was on this date that the Declaration was signed. The Declaration was announced on July 4th to give the signers time to leave Philadelphia. We need to remember that the signers of the Declaration were in fact traitors to England. They were radical in their thoughts and in their deeds.
It was a radical idea to believe that the common people could rule themselves. A monarchy was the accepted form of government in 1776 and the signers were denying the accepted. Not only was a monarchy accepted at the time but generally, the idea of the divine right of kings was still in vogue. After all, if God had ordained one to be king, anyone going against the mortal king would be sinning.
The Declaration and the ensuing War of Independence was not wholly accepted by the English colonists. We have history books that show that the Revolutionary War was accepted by all the colonists. In fact, most colonists did not support the war; about a third of them doing so, a third against and about a third that didn’t care either way. It is interesting to visit Colonial Williamsburg, Va. and discuss the war with the docents who are well-read about the period. They certainly understand that the greatest support came from the northern colonies, especially Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania.
The American Revolution came from the Enlightenment of Europe. Writers such as Locke, Rousseau and Montesquieu laid the groundwork for the thinking of the Founding Fathers. We owe much of the foundation of our Republic to those thinkers. While most of the commoners in the Colonies had not read the writings, it was the educated and, to some extent, the wealthy, who took the ideas and applied them to their living conditions and times.
We need to also realize that there was a great deal of disagreement on the type of government that should follow the overthrow of the British king. There were many who wanted a monarchy. There was strong support for a strong central government however, those people lost and we adopted the Articles of Confederation where the central government had virtually no power.
With what some, including me, call the Second American Revolution, businessmen and others met to reform the Articles of Confederation. This second, non-violent revolution came about with the writing of the Constitution of the United States. With its ratification, the people of America were suddenly placed under a republican form of government rather than a confederation. The predominance of states rights had failed to ensure freedom and promote the flow of government. It became obvious that a group of states were not governing effectively without a strong central government.
That Constitution has grown. It was imperfect from the beginning since it was necessary to add 10 amendments before it could even be ratified by the several states. It has been changed by subsequent amendments and interpretations by both the courts and Congress. We must remember that the Constitution is the foundation of our system of government but it is not the end all, be all. Where would this country be were it not for the additions to the document?
We are now faced with a group who believe that we should return to what the “Founding Fathers” meant when they signed the Declaration and wrote the Constitution. They are stating that they know what the Founders meant and that the courts and Congress have usurped the Constitution. Not only are they the arbiters of the Constitution, they are demeaning even the “intelligentsia” as they refer to those who disagree with them.
The signers of the Declaration and the writers of the Constitution were independent thinkers. They saw the need for a change in government and realized that the old ways were no longer viable. We should thank them and celebrate the America for which they laid the groundwork. We are a free people because they stood up against the old ways and gave us a model with which to work. In the future, let’s celebrate the Fourth of July as John Adams implored us to do, but let us remember to celebrate it everyday in our own way.
