Independence Day
Sam Aurelius Milam III
 STATE....
A political body, or body politic; the whole body of people united
under one government, whatever may be the form of the government....
More usually the word signifies a political body governed by representatives....
American Dictionary of the
English Language, Noah Webster, 1828 |
During
the Fourth of July celebration, there'll be a lot of hoopla about the "birth
of the nation". Except for this article, there won't be much acknowledgment
of the fact that the nation wasn't "born" on the Fourth of July.
Prior
to July of 1776, various of the English colonies in America terminated
their political ties with England, and adopted constitutions. That
had the effect of converting them into politically independent states (nations).
State constitutions still exist today, vestiges of the previous national
character of those states.
On
July 4, 1776, the new nations issued a joint declaration, called the Declaration
of Independence. In that declaration, the point was well made
that the states were, in fact, politically independent nations, among the
other nations of the world.
| We,
therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General
Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the
rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the
good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these
united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states;
that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that
all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain,
is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and independent
states,
they have full power
to do all other acts and things which independent
states
may of right do
.
from the Declaration of Independence
<underline added> |
Each
new state was described as being politically independent, acknowledging
for each of them the same status as Great Britain. Thus, the declaration
didn't announce the independence of a single nation. It announced
the independence of each state, as a separate nation.
About
five years later, on March 1, 1781, those nations entered into a treaty
called (its short title) the Articles of Confederation. It
wasn't a constitution, in that it didn't define a nation. It was
a treaty, an agreement between nations. The United States of America,
back then, was a league of nations, not a single nation. As
such, it had a certain resemblance to the United Nations, of today.
The Articles of Confederation might reasonably be compared to the
UN
Charter, as being a treaty between politically independent nations.
The Continental Congress might be viewed as similar in principle to the
United Nations General Assembly. With that in mind, and thinking
in terms of learning from past mistakes, it's advisable to be cautious
about revisions to the UN charter. If the United Nations General
Assembly was to authorize a convention like the Continental Congress did
in February of 1787, then a one-world-constitution might be an unintended
result, as the present U.S. constitution was an unintended result of the
1787 convention. See In
Search of the Supreme Flaw of the Land: Perpetual Union,
in Pharos.
Be
that as it may, the Fourth of July doesn't mark the beginning of the present
government. The present government didn't begin until March 4, 1789,
when the present U.S. constitution went into force. It's ironic that
the centralized, nationalistic, monolithic, U.S. government of today celebrates,
on the Fourth of July, the creation of American states that were, in fact,
politically independent nations. When we celebrate the Fourth of
July, that's what we celebrate, not the beginning of the present state,
but the beginning of the several politically independent states that preceded
it.
About
70 years after the creation of the new constitution that was the unintended
result of the 1787 convention, various southern states terminated their
political ties with that single, centralized government. They intended,
as had the English colonies before them, to become politically independent.
The main difference between the secession of the southern states and the
similar previous actions of the English colonies is that the English colonies
won their war of secession, but the southern states lost theirs.
I suggest that secession should be tried again, peacefully this time, if
possible.
Either
way, viva Independence Day!
| July 2019 | Frontiersman,0c/o
4984 Peach Mountain Drive, Gainesville, Georgia 30507
http://frontiersman.org.uk/ |
Page 1 |
Rethinking
Replacement
