Why Celebrate the Fourth of July on Central Street?

The Declaration signed on July 4, 1776 did not by itself create a nation; it “only” declared that the colonies, though united in resolve, were free and independent States. It did not set forth any governmental structure. Viewed in a vacuum, the piece of parchment could be dismissed merely as a list of colonists’ grievances, or symbolic act. But context matters. Britain was an empire, the most powerful on earth, with military and economic resources dwarfing those of the Americans that collectively committed to shed that empire’s shackles. There was zero chance that King and Parliament would accept the rebellious claim of the Declaration that the thirteen colonies not only should be but now “were” free and independent. Not without a deadly fight.

So it is no mere rhetorical flourish that the last clause before the signatures of John Hancock and company is a mutual commitment by the signers that they were risking their “lives,” their “fortunes,” and their “honor.” Both the act of signing and the document itself were revolutionary for their time. Although armed skirmishes between colonists and royal troops had sporadically occurred for over a year, the signing of the Declaration gave unified form and purpose, from New Hampshire to Georgia, to what had been disconnected resistance, posing an existential challenge to a monarch. Failure would have meant not only forfeiture of wealth and position, and becoming a tragic footnote of history, but almost certainly would have resulted in the signers’ death, probably by hanging.

It is tempting in our time to take human rights and freedoms for granted, and to judge by modern standards the Founders’ words and acts. We should resist that unfair urge. The catalogue of what we now consider obvious rights did not exist before 1776. The Declaration had no template to follow. Globally, conquest and force governed relations between peoples. Kings, queens, emperors, khans, sultans, chieftains, and warlords ruled by force, claim of supernatural entitlement, and incontestible decree. Slavery had been abolished almost nowhere. Before the Declaration, no comparable document anywhere asserted as a bundle that all men were created equal, that all persons had rights, that government was legitimized only by the consent of the governed, and that people had a right to change and even cast off a regime that disserved them. Only the Magna Carta’s constraint on royal power came near the sweep of the Declaration’s principles, but the Declaration went far beyond, concisely yet radically rejecting claim of divine right and, on the contrary, invoking God to justify self-determination.

The Revolution is often cast in terms of military or economic conflict. Ultimately, however, it was the Declaration itself, and what it symbolized, that was revolutionary. If the entire list of colonial grievances were deleted from the document, its short, bold statements about equality, freedom, and self-determination would still mark it as an epic historical landmark.

In the 2-1/2 centuries since 1776, countless nations have formed. Most have looked to our Declaration and Constitution for example and at least inspiration, even if not followed exactly or faithfully, even here. The DNA of our Declaration pervades the fundamental documents of most democracies. It changed the world.

The 250th anniversary of that momentous event, a quarter of a millennium in which the fundamental ideals that informed the American Revolution have endured, matters. It is not necessary to endorse everything done under every manifestation of American government in 250 years, let alone the present, to celebrate both what was put into motion, and the courage of those who did. The Constitution itself, enacted 13 years after the Declaration, recognizing that the new nation was not “perfect,” aspired to create an engine for constant improvement. This capacity for positive change, and for remedy of wrongs, made America a hopeful nation. We need to persevere in that hope, confident that, as Dr. King said, “the moral arc of the universe is long, but bends toward justice.” No politician, party, or faction has a monopoly on patriotism. Not just this anniversary holiday but the republic that the Declaration fostered belongs to all. The best way to make that claim live and breathe is for every American to help commemorate it.