Independence Day
I ponder the question, “How, in July 2018, does one write a blog, article, essay, or anything about the creation of the United States of America on the 4th of July 1776 without it being perceived as a political message?” My dilemma is that my blog posts are fundamentally commercial in nature. Yes, I want to express my thoughts; yes, I want to entertain and engage with readers; yes, my blog posts are free to anyone that wants to read them. Ultimately, though, by building a community around my posts I am hoping to sell books. That is what authors do. So, before I go any further (shameless plug), please, buy my books.
Certain social media outlets have advised me that, because of their mistakes in 2016, I now cannot promote a blog post that is political in nature. It boils down to this. Two years ago a certain foreign government used certain social media to manipulate a certain political event. Surprise, I know. Because of their mistakes I am now not allowed to write and promote a blog post that expresses a political opinion. If it were not for the necessity of using social media to promote and sell books, I would raise a stiff middle finger to these outlets and move on to something else. One must work within the system, right?
All of this said, I will attempt to express what Independence Day means to me in July 2018. It is difficult even without social media censorship. Somehow this Independence Day seems like something Bill Pullman or Will Smith might understand.
George Washington knew what it was like to have a difficult Independence Day. On 4 July 1776 the independence of the United States of America was not a foregone conclusion. In fact, it seemed likely that the efforts of the Continental Congress might be nothing more than an interesting footnote of history.
Washington and his Continental Army were in New York. The British, under brothers General William Howe and Admiral Richard Howe (yes, nepotism was a British thing, too), had just landed a massive invasion force in New York and were entrenching for the purposes of subjugating their rebellious colonials. They outmanned and outgunned the Continental Army, and Washington’s situation seemed hopeless.
To make matters worse, the Americans had invaded Quebec the previous year with the intent of inciting the French population there to join them in a war of liberation. After nearly a century of war in Canada the French colonials had finally been abandoned by their king in 1763, and they had no stomach for challenging their new British masters. Between French Canadian ambivalence toward the American revolutionaries and British advance preparation led by Sir Guy Careleton, the American invasion had been a disaster. In July 1776 the American invading force was in full retreat and Carleton’s Redcoats were in hot pursuit.
General Washington faced the prospect that he could be attacked on two fronts, one from the brothers Howe and the other from Carleton. To make matters even worse, Americans, especially in the battle zones, were growing weary of the two year old rebellion. Washington wrote to President John Hancock (Hancock was President of the Continental Congress, and, by right, the real first President of the United States of America) on 4 July 1776, “The disaffection of the people about that place [Staten Island and vicinity] and others not far distant is exceedingly great, and unless it is checked and overawed, it may become more general and be very alarming. The arrival of the enemy will encourage it.”
The experiment of the United States appeared to be doomed before it could ever take hold, but appearances can sometimes be flawed. General Washington was fighting for something far greater than personal wealth and glory. He was fighting for that, too, but what had started as his ire at potentially losing his investments in the Ohio country, turned into a fight for something better.
Washington and the other founders of our republic had all the human frailties and flaws we all have. By our own standards today some might even seem to have been monsters. Some were greedy, racist, or misogynistic. Some were slave owners. Some were land speculators, and some were pirates.
Whatever their flaws may have been they shared a common goal. They knew their lives could be something better. To be objectively accurate life for English colonists in North America before the Revolution was not bad by global standards of the time. Some were traders, some farmers or plantation owners, some were carpenters, furniture makers, or coopers. Except for those in a form of bound labor (either outright slavery or indentured servitude) most colonials were free to travel. Most people spoke their minds freely, though disparaging the king or God was not advisable. They were generally prosperous and not oppressed, but they knew they could do better.
They had the audacity to dream of a country where people could freely disparage a king or a deity. They imagined a place where citizens, not subjects, could freely pursue their wildest dreams by the sweat of their brows and succeed or fail according to their own merits. They concocted a notion that, by their example, people around the world, who truly were oppressed, would rise up against their own tyrants.
The American revolutionaries of 1776 knew they were not perfect. They knew that the experiment they had started was only a beginning. They were confident that succeeding generations would improve the experiment. I think that those revolutionaries would look at the 240 years of accomplishment between July 1776 and July 2016 and be mostly pleased with what their descendants had done. So on this 4th of July I celebrate the accomplishments of those first 240 years, the abolition of slavery, the enfranchisement of women, the spread of democracy, and the freedom to love. May God bless the United States of America.
https://www.bluewatertales.com
Certain social media outlets have advised me that, because of their mistakes in 2016, I now cannot promote a blog post that is political in nature. It boils down to this. Two years ago a certain foreign government used certain social media to manipulate a certain political event. Surprise, I know. Because of their mistakes I am now not allowed to write and promote a blog post that expresses a political opinion. If it were not for the necessity of using social media to promote and sell books, I would raise a stiff middle finger to these outlets and move on to something else. One must work within the system, right?
All of this said, I will attempt to express what Independence Day means to me in July 2018. It is difficult even without social media censorship. Somehow this Independence Day seems like something Bill Pullman or Will Smith might understand.
George Washington knew what it was like to have a difficult Independence Day. On 4 July 1776 the independence of the United States of America was not a foregone conclusion. In fact, it seemed likely that the efforts of the Continental Congress might be nothing more than an interesting footnote of history.
Washington and his Continental Army were in New York. The British, under brothers General William Howe and Admiral Richard Howe (yes, nepotism was a British thing, too), had just landed a massive invasion force in New York and were entrenching for the purposes of subjugating their rebellious colonials. They outmanned and outgunned the Continental Army, and Washington’s situation seemed hopeless.
To make matters worse, the Americans had invaded Quebec the previous year with the intent of inciting the French population there to join them in a war of liberation. After nearly a century of war in Canada the French colonials had finally been abandoned by their king in 1763, and they had no stomach for challenging their new British masters. Between French Canadian ambivalence toward the American revolutionaries and British advance preparation led by Sir Guy Careleton, the American invasion had been a disaster. In July 1776 the American invading force was in full retreat and Carleton’s Redcoats were in hot pursuit.
General Washington faced the prospect that he could be attacked on two fronts, one from the brothers Howe and the other from Carleton. To make matters even worse, Americans, especially in the battle zones, were growing weary of the two year old rebellion. Washington wrote to President John Hancock (Hancock was President of the Continental Congress, and, by right, the real first President of the United States of America) on 4 July 1776, “The disaffection of the people about that place [Staten Island and vicinity] and others not far distant is exceedingly great, and unless it is checked and overawed, it may become more general and be very alarming. The arrival of the enemy will encourage it.”
The experiment of the United States appeared to be doomed before it could ever take hold, but appearances can sometimes be flawed. General Washington was fighting for something far greater than personal wealth and glory. He was fighting for that, too, but what had started as his ire at potentially losing his investments in the Ohio country, turned into a fight for something better.
Washington and the other founders of our republic had all the human frailties and flaws we all have. By our own standards today some might even seem to have been monsters. Some were greedy, racist, or misogynistic. Some were slave owners. Some were land speculators, and some were pirates.
Whatever their flaws may have been they shared a common goal. They knew their lives could be something better. To be objectively accurate life for English colonists in North America before the Revolution was not bad by global standards of the time. Some were traders, some farmers or plantation owners, some were carpenters, furniture makers, or coopers. Except for those in a form of bound labor (either outright slavery or indentured servitude) most colonials were free to travel. Most people spoke their minds freely, though disparaging the king or God was not advisable. They were generally prosperous and not oppressed, but they knew they could do better.
They had the audacity to dream of a country where people could freely disparage a king or a deity. They imagined a place where citizens, not subjects, could freely pursue their wildest dreams by the sweat of their brows and succeed or fail according to their own merits. They concocted a notion that, by their example, people around the world, who truly were oppressed, would rise up against their own tyrants.
The American revolutionaries of 1776 knew they were not perfect. They knew that the experiment they had started was only a beginning. They were confident that succeeding generations would improve the experiment. I think that those revolutionaries would look at the 240 years of accomplishment between July 1776 and July 2016 and be mostly pleased with what their descendants had done. So on this 4th of July I celebrate the accomplishments of those first 240 years, the abolition of slavery, the enfranchisement of women, the spread of democracy, and the freedom to love. May God bless the United States of America.
https://www.bluewatertales.com
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