JULY 6, 2021 – As I write (evening of July 5), some neighborhood kid reminds me that the Fourth was only yesterday. His leftover “Whistling Poppers” (I’m making up the name) sound like they’re landing on our front doorstep. I trust that his parents will soon restore peace—assuming they aren’t the ones disturbing it.
In any case, the bombs bursting in air cause me to ponder the inspiration for such noisemaking: the Declaration of Independence. Though Thomas Jefferson—with his thin, high voice—is credited with drafting the document, it was edited by committee before adoption by the Continental Congress (it took much longer to gather all the signatures). The main purpose of the Declaration was to list 27 grievances against the British Crown. Over time, however, the writing became most famous for its statement on human rights, especially:
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.
Nicely put, I suppose, if you can get past the awkward syntax—unless, of course, you were a woman, a slave, or an indigenous person. It would take nearly another century to rid the country of slavery and another to end Jim Crow—at least de jure. Women weren’t allowed to vote until 1920—thirty years after my paternal grandmother was born. But by that time, “indigenous persons” had lost the right to be free.
The independence proclaimed by white men with wherewithal was not exactly a revolutionary act. When British soldiers marched across prosperous Long Island farms, the Redcoats were perplexed. “What gives with these people?” the British regulars asked their officers. “These ‘revolutionaries’ are much better off than we are!” British Tories back home, meanwhile, excoriated the Americans for not including slaves among people to be liberated.
In the autumn of 1778—when the Colonies were blessed with abundance, thanks to bumper crops that year—Washington was at his wit’s end trying to convince a reluctant Continental Congress to approve more expenditures for basic military needs—boots, rifles, ammunition, uniforms. Ironically, the War of Independence nearly foundered because of the libertarian mantra, “No new taxes!”
Even in our gestation we were #MeNow. Well—white men were, anyway.
Now a sprawling nation with 330 million citizens, and a $20 trillion/yr. economy (with taxes and a robust military), women have the vote, as do Blacks—if they can overcome electoral suppression by Republicans. (As to “Indigenous persons” . . . sadly, there’s a truly Lost Cause.) Sure, we’ve evolved from a white-male-dominated agrarian society to one in which a broader spectrum of people can and do rise to the top. But make no mistake: however perennial our infatuation with noise, we’re years away from a place in which all Americans enjoy “certain inalienable rights.
I dream of a day when historical knowledge—and acknowledgment—overcome falsehoods treated as truth by mere repetition; when intelligent discourse overwhelms fireworks . . . and firearms.
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© 2021 by Eric Nilsson
