*13 states established their independence --- * Secession from the United States was declared in only eleven states.
On Wednesday, July 3, 2013 12:11:53 PM UTC-5, MJ wrote: > > > *Myths of the 4th of July > *by Kevin R. C. Gutzman > > America’s national holiday is the 4th of July, the anniversary of public > promulgation of the Declaration of Independence. The 4th of July, like many > other government holidays, is surrounded by numerous myths. Some of the > most notable: > > *The 4th of July is a celebration of the U.S. Constitution. * Actually, > the U.S. Constitution’s purpose was to remake the American governments of > the Revolution by making the system less democratic. The delegates from 12 > states who met in Philadelphia in summer 1787 had been sent by the states > to recommend amendments to the Articles of Confederation. Instead, they > instantly decided to meet in secret, and then the nationalists among them > tried to win adoption of a national -- rather than a federal -- > constitution. *The 4th of July was the day that the 13 states established > their independence. * No, it was not. In fact, Virginia established its > independence on May 15, 1776, when its revolutionary Convention adopted > resolutions for a declaration of rights, a permanent republican > constitution, and federal and treaty relationships with other states and > foreign countries. It was because the Old Dominion had already established > its independence -- had, in fact, already sworn in the first governor under > its permanent republican constitution of 1776, Patrick Henry, on June 29 -- > that Virginia’s congressmen, uniquely, had been given categorical > instructions from their state legislature to declare independence. Virginia > was not the only state whose independence was not established by the > Declaration on the 4th, as New York’s congressional delegation did not then > join in the Declaration. In short, the states became independent in their > own good time -- some on July 4, some before, some after. *The chief > legacy of the 4th of July is the political philosophy set out in the > Declaration of Independence. * Since the 18th century, political radicals > have argued for understanding the Declaration as a general warrant for > government to do anything it likes to forward the idea that "all men are > created equal." Yet, that *was not *what the Declaration of Independence > meant. The Declaration of Independence was the work of a congress of > representatives of state governments. Congressmen were not elected by > voters at large, but by state legislatures, and their role (as John Adams, > one of them, put it) was more akin to that of ambassadors than to > legislators. They had not been empowered to dedicate society to any > particular political philosophy, but to declare -- as the Virginia > legislature had told its congressmen to declare -- that the colonies were, > "and of right ought to be, free and independent states." In other words, > the Declaration was about states’ rights, not individual rights, and the > Congress that adopted it had no power to make it anything else. All the > rest of the Declaration was mere rhetorical predicate. *The 4th of July > is a non-partisan holiday dedicated to recalling the legacy of the American > Revolution. * In the Founders’ day, the 4th of July was a partisan > holiday. It was celebrated in the 1790s and 1800s by Jeffersonian > Republicans desirous of showing their devotion to Jeffersonian, rather than > Hamiltonian, political philosophy. If you were a Federalist in the 1790s, > you likely would celebrate Washington’s Birthday instead of the 4th of > July. If you believed in the inherent power of the Executive in formulating > foreign policy, in the power of Congress to charter a bank despite the > absence of express constitutional authorization to do so, and in the power > of the federal government to punish people who criticized the president or > Congress, you would not celebrate the 4th. The 4th was the holiday of the > Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 1798, those great states’-rights > blasts at federal lawlessness. It was the anti-Hamilton, anti-Washington, > anti-nationalist holiday. *The fulfillment of the 4th of July lay in the > establishment of a powerful national government. * Celebrants of the 4th > of July in the Founders’ day rejected the idea that the Constitution had > created a national government, but insisted that it was federal instead. > That is, they said that Congress had only the powers it had been expressly > delegated, chiefly through Article I, Section 8, that the federal courts > had no more jurisdiction than they had been assigned through Article III, > and that the vast majority of government functions had been kept by the > states. When federal courts grabbed for more power in 1793, these people > added the Eleventh Amendment to the Constitution. In response to the > nationalists’ war on France and Alien and Sedition Acts, they first adopted > the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 1798, then elected Republicans -- > Jeffersonian states’-rights/laissez-faire advocates -- to run their > government. *The Declaration of Independence stood for the rights of > white, male property owners alone. * As noted above, the philosophical > material in the first section of the Declaration, although commonplace at > the time, had no legal or moral weight. Congress had no power to commit the > states to it. Yet, given that fact, one might also note that > revolutionaries who accepted the Lockean version of social compact theory > did not necessarily believe that only white, male property holders had > rights. Thomas Jefferson, for example, who was the author of the draft > Lockean section of the Declaration, followed his belief in the idea that > all men equally had a right to self-government, coupled with his belief > that white and black people could never live together peacefully as equal > citizens in America, to the conclusion that blacks must be colonized abroad > to someplace where they might exercise their right to self-government. *The > fulfillment of the 4th of July will come when the United States has > sponsored democratic revolutions throughout the world. * No. Both George > Washington (in an address he co-wrote with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay) > and Thomas Jefferson counseled that the U.S. avoid foreign entanglements, > and thus foreign wars. > > As you observe, or perhaps participate in, 4th of July festivities this > year, note the pervasiveness of these myths. > > http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig8/gutzman4.html > -- -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. 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