A Lesson in Irony — American Independence Day
The “Representatives of the united States of America” declared their independence from “the State of Great Britian” on July 4, 1776. They made a further point:
“…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…”
Seven years later, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay negotiated the Treaty of Paris that contained the following. “His Brittanic Majesty acknowledges the said United States, viz., New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, to be free sovereign and Independent States…”
The first State to ratify the United States Constitution was Delaware on December 7, 1787. The last State to ratify was Rhode Island on May 29, 1790. The Constitutional Convention required that nine States ratify the Constitution for it to take effect. New Hampshire was the 9th State, and the Constitution was law on June 21, 1788.
Each State held State Conventions to make the decision. Much of the discussion was about State sovereignty and the power of the central government. There were debates about whether States could leave once they joined. New York State had this sentence in their Ratification Statement:
“That the Powers of Government may be reassumed by the People, whensoever it shall become necessary to their Happiness…”
Over the following 70 years, several States and sections (North and South) threatened secession and nearly came to blows over nullification. Then, late in 1860 a State seceded. This was the beginning of the end of the compact or voluntary Union. The central government would not allow States to leave the Union. A great war was waged to save the Union. The original Union was not saved, but the question of secession was settled forever. You may join, but you can never leave.
We Celebrate independence from Great Britain like it is a tradition we all cherish. Yet, we live in a country that crushed the last American independence movement. Some even say those who sought independence were traitors. Oh, the irony.
