[Rhodes22-list] History lesson for Independence Day
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Wed Jul 4 11:15:33 EDT 2007
.
:
Wall Street Journal: COMMENTARY
'Wonderfully Spared'
By JOYCE LEE MALCOLM
July 3, 2007; Page A17
'You and I have been wonderfully spared," Thomas Jefferson wrote John Adams
in 1812. "Of the signers of the Declaration of Independence I see now living
not more than half a dozen on your side of the Potomak, and, on this side,
myself alone." Jefferson and Adams were not merely signers of the Declaration.
Both sat on the committee that drafted the document, and Jefferson wrote it.
And while they later became bitter political opponents, they reconciled in
their last years.
Adams, the Yankee lawyer, revolutionary, Founding Father and ex-president,
was 77 in 1812; Jefferson, the Southern aristocrat, revolutionary, Founder and
ex-president, was 69. Both were mentally acute but frail. Jefferson spent
three to four hours a day on horseback and could scarcely walk, Adams walked
three to four miles a day and could scarcely ride.
John Trumbull's "Declaration of Independence"
They would never see each other again. But from a modest farm in Quincy,
Mass., and a plantation in Virginia they corresponded and reminisced about the
days when they were "fellow laborers in the same cause, struggling for what is
most valuable to man, his right of self-government."
It's easy now, in a nation awash with complaints about what our Founders did
not do, what imperfect humans they seem to 21st century eyes, to overlook
how startlingly bold their views and actions were in their own day and are, in
fact, even today. Who else in 1776 declared, let alone thought it a
self-evident truth, that all men were created equal, entitled to inalienable rights,
or to any rights at all? How few declare these views today or, glibly
declaring them, really intend to treat their countrymen or others as equal, entitled
to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?
Certainly not America's 20th century enemies, the Nazis and communists;
certainly not today's Islamic radicals, who consider infidels unworthy to live
and the faithful bound by an ancient and brutal code of law. We are fortunate
that the Founders of our nation were enlightened, generous, jealous of their
rights and those of their countrymen, and prepared to risk everything to
create a free republic.
Breaking with Britain was a risky and distressing venture; could the
American colonies go it alone and survive in a world of great European powers? If
not, what better empire than the British? It took a year of fighting before the
Continental Congress and the states were prepared to declare independence.
"We might have been a free and a great people together," Jefferson sighed.
But if we were angry at British treatment, we were also lucky that Britain
was our mother country. The British taught us respect for the rights of
individuals, for limited government, for the rule of law and how such values could
be realized. "An Englishman is the unfittest person on earth to argue another
Englishman into slavery," Edmund Burke insisted, pleading our cause before
Parliament in March, 1775.
Scores of distinguished British officers refused commissions to fight
against us. Some, who were willing, were reluctant to press their advantage over
our literally rag-tag army. The British parliament wrangled day after day over
the fitful progress of the war. And when it was over and, thanks to French
assistance, we had won, Britain was careful in negotiating the peace treaty for
fear we would fall under the influence and control of the French or the
Spanish. We would fight against Britain again, but over the centuries the common
heritage that connects our two peoples has brought us together as close
allies.
We were lucky in our generals. Unlike the commanders of nearly all
revolutionary armies before and since, George Washington resisted the temptation to
seize power. After England's civil war between King Charles I and parliament,
Oliver Cromwell, Parliament's leading general, evicted what remained of
parliament and made himself "Lord Protector." The great expectations of the French
Revolution ended when Napoleon Bonaparte staged a coup against the republican
government and later crowned himself emperor.
Not only do victorious generals have a nasty habit of taking over, but once
an army becomes entangled in politics it is extraordinarily difficult to
remove it from public affairs. Numerous modern countries have tried to control
their armies and failed.
Washington prevented a coup by his officers; and when the war was over, he
bid a moving farewell to his men and staff before appearing before Congress to
resign his commission: "Having now finished the work assigned to me, I
retire from the great theatre of Action . . . and take my leave of all the
employments of public life." Then he hurried off to spend Christmas with Martha and
their family. Although it sounds sentimental, trite even, it happened that
way.
In their correspondence, Adams wrote Jefferson that the future would "depend
on the Union" and asked how that Union was to be preserved. "The Union is
still to me an Object of as much Anxiety as ever Independence was," he
confided.
He was right to worry. The union has always been difficult, from the first
fears that the 13 separate states would behave as competing countries or
bickering groups, through a brutal and painful civil war whose wounds have yet to
entirely heal, to a vast, modern land whose residents, taking for granted the
blessings bestowed upon them, are deeply divided and quick to vilify each
other.
More tragically, some seem to enjoy vilifying America, everything it has
been and stands for, seeking and finding fatal shortcomings. Adams and Jefferson
were not blind to those shortcomings. "We think ourselves possessed or at
least we boast that we are so of Liberty of conscience on all subjects and of
the right of free inquiry and private judgment, in all cases and yet," Adams
admitted, "how far are we from these exalted privileges in fact." Recent
moments of real unity after 9/11, when members of Congress stood together on the
steps of the Capitol and sang "God Bless America," have been fleeting.
In 1825 Jefferson wrote to congratulate Adams on the election of his son
John Quincy to the presidency -- an election so close it was decided in the
House of Representatives. "So deeply are the principles of order, and of
obedience to law impressed on the minds of our citizens generally that I am persuaded
there will be as immediate an acquiescence in the will of the majority,"
Jefferson assured him, "as if Mr. Adams had been the choice of every man." He
closed: "Nights of rest to you and days of tranquility are the wishes I tender
you with my affect[iona]te respects."
On July 4 the following year, as the nation celebrated the 50th anniversary
of the Declaration of Independence, its two frail signers died within hours
of each other. Their cause, "struggling for what is most valuable to man, his
right of self-government," continues in the nation they launched, still
fraught with aspirations and anxieties, flaws and divisions but, one hopes, with
the ability to reconcile as they did, to work together for the joint venture.
Ms. Malcolm teaches legal history at George Mason University School of Law
and is the author of several books, including "Stepchild of the Revolution: A
Slave Child in Revolutionary America," forthcoming from Yale University
Press.
************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.
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:
http://online.wsj.com/img/b.gif
http://online.wsj.com/img/b.gif
Wall Street Journal: COMMENTARY
http://online.wsj.com/img/b.gif
http://online.wsj.com/img/b.gif
http://online.wsj.com/img/b.gif
http://online.wsj.com/img/b.gif
'Wonderfully Spared'
By JOYCE LEE MALCOLM
July 3, 2007; Page A17
'You and I have been wonderfully spared," Thomas Jefferson wrote John
Adams in 1812. "Of the signers of the Declaration of Independence I
see now living not more than half a dozen on your side of the Potomak,
and, on this side, myself alone." Jefferson and Adams were not merely
signers of the Declaration. Both sat on the committee that drafted the
document, and Jefferson wrote it. And while they later became bitter
political opponents, they reconciled in their last years.
Adams, the Yankee lawyer, revolutionary, Founding Father and
ex-president, was 77 in 1812; Jefferson, the Southern aristocrat,
revolutionary, Founder and ex-president, was 69. Both were mentally
acute but frail. Jefferson spent three to four hours a day on
horseback and could scarcely walk, Adams walked three to four miles a
day and could scarcely ride.
[Wonderfully Spared]
John Trumbull's "Declaration of Independence"
They would never see each other again. But from a modest farm in
Quincy, Mass., and a plantation in Virginia they corresponded and
reminisced about the days when they were "fellow laborers in the same
cause, struggling for what is most valuable to man, his right of
self-government."
It's easy now, in a nation awash with complaints about what our
Founders did not do, what imperfect humans they seem to 21st century
eyes, to overlook how startlingly bold their views and actions were in
their own day and are, in fact, even today. Who else in 1776 declared,
let alone thought it a self-evident truth, that all men were created
equal, entitled to inalienable rights, or to any rights at all? How
few declare these views today or, glibly declaring them, really intend
to treat their countrymen or others as equal, entitled to life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness?
Certainly not America's 20th century enemies, the Nazis and
communists; certainly not today's Islamic radicals, who consider
infidels unworthy to live and the faithful bound by an ancient and
brutal code of law. We are fortunate that the Founders of our nation
were enlightened, generous, jealous of their rights and those of their
countrymen, and prepared to risk everything to create a free republic.
Breaking with Britain was a risky and distressing venture; could the
American colonies go it alone and survive in a world of great European
powers? If not, what better empire than the British? It took a year of
fighting before the Continental Congress and the states were prepared
to declare independence. "We might have been a free and a great people
together," Jefferson sighed.
But if we were angry at British treatment, we were also lucky that
Britain was our mother country. The British taught us respect for the
rights of individuals, for limited government, for the rule of law and
how such values could be realized. "An Englishman is the unfittest
person on earth to argue another Englishman into slavery," Edmund
Burke insisted, pleading our cause before Parliament in March, 1775.
Scores of distinguished British officers refused commissions to fight
against us. Some, who were willing, were reluctant to press their
advantage over our literally rag-tag army. The British parliament
wrangled day after day over the fitful progress of the war. And when
it was over and, thanks to French assistance, we had won, Britain was
careful in negotiating the peace treaty for fear we would fall under
the influence and control of the French or the Spanish. We would fight
against Britain again, but over the centuries the common heritage that
connects our two peoples has brought us together as close allies.
We were lucky in our generals. Unlike the commanders of nearly all
revolutionary armies before and since, George Washington resisted the
temptation to seize power. After England's civil war between King
Charles I and parliament, Oliver Cromwell, Parliament's leading
general, evicted what remained of parliament and made himself "Lord
Protector." The great expectations of the French Revolution ended when
Napoleon Bonaparte staged a coup against the republican government and
later crowned himself emperor.
Not only do victorious generals have a nasty habit of taking over, but
once an army becomes entangled in politics it is extraordinarily
difficult to remove it from public affairs. Numerous modern countries
have tried to control their armies and failed.
Washington prevented a coup by his officers; and when the war was
over, he bid a moving farewell to his men and staff before appearing
before Congress to resign his commission: "Having now finished the
work assigned to me, I retire from the great theatre of Action . . .
and take my leave of all the employments of public life." Then he
hurried off to spend Christmas with Martha and their family. Although
it sounds sentimental, trite even, it happened that way.
In their correspondence, Adams wrote Jefferson that the future would
"depend on the Union" and asked how that Union was to be preserved.
"The Union is still to me an Object of as much Anxiety as ever
Independence was," he confided.
He was right to worry. The union has always been difficult, from the
first fears that the 13 separate states would behave as competing
countries or bickering groups, through a brutal and painful civil war
whose wounds have yet to entirely heal, to a vast, modern land whose
residents, taking for granted the blessings bestowed upon them, are
deeply divided and quick to vilify each other.
More tragically, some seem to enjoy vilifying America, everything it
has been and stands for, seeking and finding fatal shortcomings. Adams
and Jefferson were not blind to those shortcomings. "We think
ourselves possessed or at least we boast that we are so of Liberty of
conscience on all subjects and of the right of free inquiry and
private judgment, in all cases and yet," Adams admitted, "how far are
we from these exalted privileges in fact." Recent moments of real
unity after 9/11, when members of Congress stood together on the steps
of the Capitol and sang "God Bless America," have been fleeting.
In 1825 Jefferson wrote to congratulate Adams on the election of his
son John Quincy to the presidency -- an election so close it was
decided in the House of Representatives. "So deeply are the principles
of order, and of obedience to law impressed on the minds of our
citizens generally that I am persuaded there will be as immediate an
acquiescence in the will of the majority," Jefferson assured him, "as
if Mr. Adams had been the choice of every man." He closed: "Nights of
rest to you and days of tranquility are the wishes I tender you with
my affect[iona]te respects."
On July 4 the following year, as the nation celebrated the 50th
anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, its two frail signers
died within hours of each other. Their cause, "struggling for what is
most valuable to man, his right of self-government," continues in the
nation they launched, still fraught with aspirations and anxieties,
flaws and divisions but, one hopes, with the ability to reconcile as
they did, to work together for the joint venture.
Ms. Malcolm teaches legal history at George Mason University School of
Law and is the author of several books, including "Stepchild of the
Revolution: A Slave Child in Revolutionary America," forthcoming from
Yale University Press.
_________________________________________________________________
See what's free at [1]AOL.com.
References
1. http://www.aol.com/?ncid=AOLAOF00020000000503
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