Declaration of Indifference

Fifty years ago, the Bicentennial of the Declaration of Independence was a big deal. The celebration sparked a patriotic wave that saturated the culture.

Flags waved, bunting was everywhere, commemorative quarters were issued, and pop culture embraced the event. The theme of independence infused everything. As it often did in those days, Coca-Cola captured the mood:

As we approach the 250th anniversary, the occasion has been much more subdued. Many seem unaware it’s happening. Some are almost hostile, as if the Declaration of Independence shouldn’t be celebrated.

Millions have no idea who wrote it, or why. Since Lincoln, most have emphasized the “self-evident” truths of the second paragraph. It’s a beautiful sentiment that’s almost always (often intentionally) misinterpreted.

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Civil, Peaceful, and Humane

Contrary to conventional platitudes, the Declaration didn’t “found a new nation”. It asserted the sovereignty and secession of thirteen countries, and proclaimed their “separate and equal station”… “among the powers of the earth”.

Great Britain later agreed, by “treating with them” in the Treaty of Paris as “free sovereign and Independent States”. The states that signed the Declaration became their own countries, like France, Spain, or Sweden. That’s why they were called “states”.

The Constitution later created a confederation, not a “nation”. It didn’t reconfigure the states into a consolidated blob. The state ratifying conventions would’ve rejected the Constitution had they known it would produce the “United State” we have today, and Constitution’s advocates assured them such fear was unwarranted.

It wasn’t.

In the early years, states still remembered what the Declaration meant. They guarded their sovereignty and were willing to assert it.

At the Hartford Convention of 1814, the New England states considered seceding. Few denied their right to do so, or would’ve used force to stop them. That would’ve seemed preposterous to a people whose fathers left Britain less than forty years earlier.

During the Missouri Crisis at end of that decade, some Southern states threatened to leave the union if Missouri weren’t admitted as a state; several Northern ones said they’d go if it was. Almost no one wanted leave, but not many thought secession would precipitate a war.

Why should it? It simply means going separate ways. Few acts are more civil, peaceable, and humane.

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The Main Problem

But if misunderstanding the Declaration explains some of the indifference toward its semi-quincentennial, it’s not the main problem.

It’s not like most people in 1976 were devoted Jeffersonians who considered the Bicentennial a celebration of secession. Like today, few thought of it that way. Americans just knew they loved the country, and wanted to honor it.

Now many of them aren’t so sure… some for political reasons, others because of historical ignorance, cultural illiteracy, or societal grudges. Others may be reluctant to cheer the upcoming anniversary for fear receiving “racist” aspersions.

A few decades ago, demographic grievances were subsiding. But in recent years, they were revived and orchestrated (and new ones invented) to pit Americans against each other. Many believe the Declaration doesn’t matter because they’ve been told it doesn’t apply to them.

Up for Grabs

In 1976, the founders were almost universally admired. Washington and Jefferson were unambiguous heroes. But in subsequent decades, they’ve been “contextualized” into theiving genocidal bigots half the country has been trained to hate.

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No wonder there’s ambivalence about the Declaration. It’s almost like that’s the intent!

Half a century ago, in the midst and wake of Vietnam, urban riots, stagflation, and Watergate, tumult was rampant and political differences ran deep. But most Americans still claimed to cling to Jefferson’s observation that “every difference of opinion isn’t a difference of principle”.

Now they barely bother with the pretense. These days, principles are the basis of disagreement. It’s not that disputants have competing proposals to get to a place we all agree we need to go. They want to go entirely different directions.

The very meaning of America is up for grabs: Maybe this place isn’t so great… and never was.

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