I have a question from the back of the class: When did it become fashionable to turn one’s nose up toward anything patriotic? It seems to me, as one living in the nation with the longest track record of providing for the largest percentage of its population while enjoying the most freedom for those individuals, that we should be a bit proud of that accomplishment.
Instead, every 4th of July, I read Facebook posts that rattle off such uneducated nonsense as this: “On this day 200 years ago, 55 white , rich slave owners took it upon themselves to tell the rest of us what type of government we should live under.”
Seriously? It’s daunting to read and hear such drivel, because I don’t even know where to begin with such a mountain of ignorance. One or two historical bloopers I can deal with. It takes only a moment of my time. But the comments like these, much of it from major news organizations, is nothing more than propaganda in the same league with Nazi Germany (ohhh, sorry about that, I took a favorite Progressive accusation of the Right, except now it’s accurate). Because apparently our Progressive leaders and their sounding boards at CNN, NBC, et al have taken a page out of Hitler’s playbook: tell a big enough lie, and tell it often enough, and people will believe it.
In the case of our Founders, the Big Lie is that they designed this government around a system that supported, even encouraged slavery. Therefore, all that they accomplished is no longer valid. What the designers of the Big Lie keep hidden (possibly they no longer know, the lie has been perpetuated for so long), is that slavery was a key issue in both the debate surrounding the Declaration and the Constitution. In fact, it is nothing short of a miracle that the United States even exists with such a deep chasm fixed between northern and southern states.
Let’s paint the picture. I’ll keep it simple so that even Chris Matthews can understand:
We had 13 independent British colonies. Some, like Massachusetts, were determined to break from Great Britain. Others, like South Carolina, were determined to remain loyal to the crown. Most were in between the two extremes. Defeating Great Britain and winning independence was a near impossible task with 13 colonies. Had they been divided, there would have been no hope. In order to keep the 13 colonies united in the drive for independence, the northern states compromised on the the issue of slavery. Had they not, their little uprising would have ended early in 1776, Britain would have tightened its grip on its unruly American colonists, and the state of the slave would have not changed anyway.
Eleven years later, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention faced the same hurdles. The new United States was coming apart at the seams. There was no common currency, no military, and each state heavily taxed citizens from other states. France, Britain, and Spain were all eagerly awaiting swoop in like vultures and devour the pieces of the former states.
Many would say that the delegates to the Constitutional Convention faced a much more difficult task than their comrades did in 1776. Some states wanted complete independence from the others. Some states wanted a strong central government with no input from the citizens. Some delegates even wanted a monarchy.
The compromise they achieved was ingenious and has, to this day, proven to be the closest this world has ever come to a perfect form of government. But again, the issue of slavery nearly divided our nation in two, as it would again in 1861. The choice was to end slavery, thus killing any chance of ratification in the southern states, or limiting the influence of the slave states. Thus the introduction of the infamous 3/5ths rule.
Ironically, the rule that said each slave represented 3/5ths of a man is used by liberals to point out the racist tendencies of our founders. However, it was the southern states that wanted each slave to represent one man. The northern states did not want slaves represented at all.
Why?
Think about how states are represented in our federal government. A state is awarded congressional districts, therefore congressional votes, based on population. Had the southern slaves been counted as one man, those pro-slavery states would have had greater representation in congress, therefore more votes, than the anti-slave states. This compromise would weaken the southern states a bit, but not so much that those states would fail to ratify the Constitution.
Why is this fact never taught to our kids?
It is little wonder that the liberal elite can so easily peck away at the accomplishments of our founders. We’ve created a nation of the historically ignorant, obvious when one hears a college educated talk show host refer to the “rich, white, slave owners” who founded this nation.
Speaking of, the fact that many of the signers of the Declaration were rich should highlight their courage, not demonize them. Men like Washington and Jefferson could have lived lavishly under British rule. Instead, they chose to risk it all, stick their necks in a noose, and proclaim independence for future generations. I wonder which Harvard professor will give them credit for that?
My Independence Day challenge for anyone, liberal or conservative, is to read a book about the debates surrounding the Declaration or the Constitution. You may be surprised at the words that came out of the mouths of a bunch of rich, white, slave owners. In their day, they fought harder for the issue of equality and civil rights than anyone in our time. While none were one hundred percent successful, they laid the groundwork for following generations to erode the evil of slavery. It is unfortunate that it had to come to war and the cost of over fifty-thousand lives, but the rich, white, abolitionists eventually prevailed (I’m among those who believe the war was unnecessary, but that’s the topic of another article).
What we must all understand this Independence Day is that freedom is most often fought for in town halls and conventions, with the weapons of debate and politics at our disposal, and common ground our only option lest we destroy whatever tenacious progress we have made. A scorched earth policy is born of contempt and arrogance, not upon a love of human dignity and liberty. That is the seed of compromise.
The truth, if you have the courage to look for it, is quite liberating.
Happy 4th of July.
