| The Long Journey for Independence |
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| Feature Articles - General Feature | |
| Written by John Casquarelli | |
| Friday, 04 July 2008 | |
 Many Americans have come to accept the notion that July 4, 1776, the day that the Declaration of Independence was adopted, was glorious and celebratory, yet the history of that day tells quite a different story than the romantic visions that many US citizens have been raised to believe.
Central Michigan University history professor Tim Hall, an authority on early American history and the American Revolution, had this to say on the topic, "Most people think colonists were waiting with bated breath for independence, but in fact the Declaration of Independence took a long time to gain consensus." He goes on further to claim, "Even after war broke out the year before, colonists could not agree on exactly what the war meant. It took at least a full year to hammer out an agreement, and the Declaration of Independence actually ended up alienating many who had supported the protests against England up to that point." It is not surprising to see such diverse opinions regarding the future of the Union and its independence from England. Such is the nature of politics. Neither declarations nor policy initiatives tend to have a sense of immediacy, because, in many cases, political visionaries tend to want such actions built-in to long term commitments, with as little resistance as possible.One of the struggles pertaining to the Declaration of Independence came in the form of language. Historian, playwright, professor and social activist, Howard Zinn, describes in his monumental book, A People's History of the United States 1492 - Present, the difficulty America's forefathers had with the rhetoric of the famous document. "...the language of popular control over governments, the right of rebellion and revolution, indignation at political tyranny, economic burdens, and military attacks, was language well suited to unite large numbers of colonists, and persuade even those who had grievances against one another to turn against England. "Some Americans were clearly omitted from this circle of united interest drawn by the Declaration of Independence: Indians, black slaves, women. "The use of the phrase ‘all men are created equal' was probably not a deliberate attempt to make a statement about women. It was just that women were beyond consideration as worthy of inclusion. They were politically invisible. Though practical needs gave women a certain authority in the home, on the farm, or in occupations like midwifery, they were simply overlooked in any consideration of political rights, any notion of civic equality." With regards to the slaves, Zinn adds, "Thomas Jefferson had written a paragraph of the Declaration accusing the King of transporting slaves from Africa to the colonies and ‘suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce.' This seemed to express moral indignation against slavery and the slave trade (Jefferson's personal distaste for slavery must be put alongside the fact that he owned hundreds of slaves to the day he died). Behind it was the growing fear among Virginians and some other southerners about the growing number of black slaves in the colonies (20 percent of the total population) and the threat of slave revolts as the number of slaves increased. Jefferson's paragraph was removed by the Continental Congress, because slaveholders themselves disagreed about the desirability of ending the slave trade. So even that gesture toward the black slave was omitted in the great manifesto of freedom of the American Revolution." Even after gaining independence from England, many people still faced a long journey to obtain basic civil liberties. Both the suffrage and civil rights movements were major achievements in 20th century American history, well after the creation of the Declaration of Independence (not everyone was created equally in the eyes of our forefathers). Moreover, the struggles among women and minorities to overcome many social inadequacies continue to this day, leaving one to wonder and redefine what the term "independence" truly means in America's 21st century, even on a day when many of its citizens will be preoccupied with barbecues and fireworks.           |
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