On July 4th, we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It was only the first document our Founding Fathers produced. It was the justification for them to break their oath of loyalty to the King. Relations between the King, Parliament, and the Colonies had gotten so repressive that the only possible course was for the 13 former colonies to break away. Of course, this document led to the Revolutionary War.
Once the breach had been announced and before the war could be resolved, the Continental Congress had to create something to use as an operations manual until something more formal could be drawn up. Starting in 1777, they drew up the Articles of Confederation, which wasn’t ratified until nearly the end of the war in 1781. It loosely tied the former colonies together but didn’t provide for significant power or funding for a federal authority to govern.
Although the Battle of Yorktown in practical terms ended the war in 1781, it took another two years to get a Peace Treaty. That only ended the first war. The two nations soon went to war again in 1812, and it took a resolution after that war before the United States was completely free from England.
The foundation of governance is the U.S. Constitution that was drafted in 1787 and ratified in 1789. This document spells out in detail the form of government, who shall govern and how, the separate of powers into the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government. It was the plan of how to govern and the authority to do so. Of course, these documents had to be transported by land and by sea so the ratification and the time to put into use took years.
People love to quote the Constitution and to offer their interpretation and what it does and does not say. It was written by authors who were citizens of that time who carefully skated the issue of slavery. They also lived in a very different world with a very different society than we live in today. We take all the modern conveniences for granted, but they weren’t even dreamed of at that time. The growth of the nation to more than 300 million people also presents new problems not considered by them. They couldn’t even imagine what we have become, much less spell out the possible opportunities/failures that would incur over almost 250 years.
We are unique in our history and with our potential. But democracy is not something that is achieved, and then the rest is just coasting. No, it is earned by each generation both in times of war and peace. Balancing the will of the majority and the rights of the minorities is a tricky act to follow. We have become unable to compromise, and that is the basis for legislation. The Founding Fathers argued, but they got things done. We’ve gotten stalled in recrimination, abuse, lies, and primitive behavior that doesn’t work in a crowded urban country. It’s not just the dysfunctional Congress or failure to be civil; it is a battle for the soul of the nation.
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