Independence Day and What it means to be independent
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ndependence Day, commonly referred to as the Fourth of July or July 4th in the United States is an annual celebration of independence and nationhood. It is a celebration to commemorate the passage of the declaration of independence by the continental congress on July 4, 1776. INDEPENDENCE DAY IS ONE OF THE MOST UNIVERSALLY RECOGNIZED AMERICAN HOLIDAYS. Until 1776, the 13 American colonies which today are represented by the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia were all under the British Empire. These colonies were governed by a series of charters under the authority of the then England King, George III. the American colonies and Great Britain were separated by the vast Atlantic Ocean which was a six-week journey. Because of this distance and a partial state of self-governance, the 1760s saw the rise of colonists who greatly resented British rule. Part of this resentment was borne out of the Crown’s taxation of the colonies and the refusal to allow a voice in the governance of the region. Consequently, this led to tensions in the region causing hostility and at times very violent confrontations, for instance, the Boston Massacre of 1770, the Boston Tea party of 1773, the Intolerable Acts of 1774 among many others. On July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress secretly voted for the colonies to declare independence from Great Britain. On July 4, 1776, the official statement was out, declaring the independence of the American colonies. The followed a publication of the document and delegates from all the 13 colonies began signing it a month later. Fully knowing that this was an 124
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act of treason against Great Britain, the delegate’s signatories included the words at the end of the statement that read; “we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.” Thomas Jefferson was the one who drafted the Declaration and would later become the third president of the United States. Both John Adams (second President of the United States of America) and Thomas Jefferson died on July 4, 1826, exactly 50 years after the declaration of independence was published. The declaration of Independence stated that the colonies considered themselves a sovereign collection of states and that each state was fully independent and free from any allegiance to Great Britain. However, true freedom would not materialize immediately, it took 7 more years. The American Revolutionary War was still underway for a year and it would not end until the Treaty of Paris, which was signed in 1783. This treaty officially recognized the United States of America as an independent nation. SWEEPING THE DIRT UNDER THE MATT! We often talk about independence Day with great pride and we should but for far too long, we have failed to recognize that even though we boast of unity, history proves that right from the start, we were not unified. It is important that we acknowledge that before the country was the glorious country it is today, it did not originate or expand its territories on unoccupied lands. Long before the European settlers came, there were about 2 and 18 million people already living in the current continental United States. We rarely talk about the harsh brutality of the nation’s treatment of the indigenous people THE POWER IS NOW MAGAZINE | JULY 2021
