Americans are celebrating Independence Day, the 4th of July, this weekend. Even for people who consider themselves to be anti-American, it was one of those turning points in history that had not just a local effect but a worldwide one. July 4, 1776 is the day Americans celebrate that turning point.
However, even turning points are not just one point in time and are not just one event but the confluence of many events, decisions, and 'accidents' over the course of years. Americans also would be wrong to think of independence as an event. That's the day when the declaration was officially considered to be made, but it was the confluence of a long period of debate and struggle and even for the declaration, the last signature was not placed on the parchment until August. Even more, it was only a declaration. It was only words on paper. Obviously the British government didn't agree, but actually, even a third of the American colonists didn't agree, or at least didn't support it. It took many years to make it a reality and though the independence is complete, the creation of the nation continued and, some might say, is still in process today.
But, back to the independence, it was only after years of war that this was achieved, but even then, the meaning of that was not at all clear. It's important to remember that before that, there had been just a collection of colonies in the Americas. These colonies were under the sovereign crown of Britain and governed ultimately by Britain, but they answered to Britain independently, each under separate governance. They had differing institutions and laws and had hugely different personalities. The colonies were started for vastly different reasons and had already existed for more than a century. There was no strong loyalty to each other. They had vastly different economies. Some were even relatively multicultural. Don't forget that New York was originally New Amsterdam. The main thing that brought them together was intense dissatisfaction with King George III and the British Parliament.
So when the independence was won 7 years later, that didn't mean that there was a "United States." It wasn't one nation. It was a collection of 13 nations (that's what the word 'state' normally means). The the first tendency was to go back to something familiar and similar to the old order. The 13 colonies were now independent from Britain and had become states, but there was a strong pull towards independence from each other as well. They feared a strong central government would just be moving Parliament from London to a place closer to home.
They did recognize the need for some cooperation to keep their independence, but they wanted that cooperation to be minimal. That's why they chose to be a confederation (and in some ways, the civil war was an attempt to return to that, though the drive behind that was the desire to preserve the system of slavery). And, there was also the issue of the other lands to the west and extending to the Mississippi River that they had won from Britain that were not a part of any colony. Beyond a few roving trappers and some tiny settlements, the residents of these lands were the Native Americans, but the peace agreement with Britain turned this area over to these new United States. Ironically, part of what kept the 13 states together was that they had inherited an empire.
But, there was an inherent distrust in strong government and even some who espoused anarchist principles, seeing government as a temporary measure that would potentially get weaker and weaker as mankind improved. That's much of the basis for the great prominence of individualism in the US. There has always been a tension between the government and the individual which has been a part of the American psyche from the beginning. By the end of the decade, there was finally a recognition of the need for more than a confederation and the current Constitution was drawn up.
With that constitution there was finally a United States that was now one nation, but it originally wasn't all 13 states. Two States didn't join util a year later. There had been a lot of fighting over what that constitution should be, but in the end, they recognized the need for a strong central government but held in check by strong individual rights, which was the focus of the first ten amendments (which we call the Bill of Rights) that were accepted in 1791.
What resulted was a republic, not a pure democracy. There was no concept of one person one vote, or even one man one vote. And, even that was "rigged" to avoid a winner take all situation. There were two houses of Congress, one with proportional representation (the House of Representatives), but which was, in some ways, the lesser house. The other was meant to make sure that the interest of the smaller states would not be overrun, giving each state two votes, no matter the size of the state and that was the house that in essence had more power (the Senate) with a name that takes one back to the Roman Senate and the sense of a ruling elite.
The founding fathers were very afraid of anything that put too much power in one person or even in one institution. There was a complicated system of checks and balances that were designed to make sure that no person or institution would have too much power. That's what makes our government so inefficient and slow. It also makes it much more conservative (not politically, but in the sense that makes change harder to accomplish).
But, they were also tremendously afraid of giving too much power to the masses. They saw the masses, especially the uneducated, as to easy to manipulate and unable to make good decisions. That's something that we've gradually, but fundamentally, moved away from.
There are two things that I believe have made this system work so well for so long and both are deeply rooted in Christianity, but I will be dealing with those later. For now, it's time to celebrate the nation that has had such a huge impact on the world in so many ways.
Happy 4th.
