I think it is good for white folks to imagine how black folks and Native American Indians feel about the fourth of July, considering that it did not mean independence for their people. Women had few rights either in either the old colonial order, or the new one that was being proclaimed. Nor did poor whites who did not own property. It was a revolution by and for the white landed aristocracy, but they were inspired by the thinking of the philosophical movement known as The Enlightenment, and wove its high ideals into the documents they crafted for the new nation. These ideals, though not adopted in full at the time, slowly took hold and were expanded as the new nation expanded. Those who insist on strict interpretation of the Constitution often want in many ways to take us back to the limited form and letter of the laws of the 18th century, and do away with the expansion of the ideals the nation was founded to the groups that were left outside the door of Independence Hall, and unrepresented among the founding fathers. Let us resolve to carry forward the spirit of 76, without the cultural baggage that does not fit with its high ideals.
Posted on: Fri, 04 Jul 2014 20:45:48 +0000
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