Independence Day
This is Steven Petrick Posting:
Two hundred and thirty-three years ago fifty-six radicals assembled to bring a plot of treason to fruition. Citizens of King George, the Third, of England, these men plotted the theft of part of his kingdom by continuing a then ongoing rebellion against the Crown's rule. These radicals, while claiming to represent the "will of the people" actually only conveyed the views (according to modern historians) of about 33% of the population in the rebellious region. Their action was actually opposed by another 33% of the population, while the remainder simply wanted to be left alone. Those population numbers are themselves misleading, as there were no Africans, Native Americans, or even women included in those numbers.
Today, we celebrate the action of these radicals, some of whom did not live to see their plot come to fruition.
That plot created a new nation out of thirteen disparate colonies of King George, although it failed in its effort to include the King's Colony of Canada (despite military operations designed to add it to the new nation).
The nation that was founded was, largely, incomplete, operating under the ineffective Articles of Confederation, until the Constitution of the United States was created to address the divisiveness the Articles were creating between the various states. It would be the Constitution that would truly create one nation from the thirteen rebellious colonies.
What those 56 treasonous men continued on that day (a war of rebellion already begun), but more importantly created (the formal declaration that the rebellion was now a war for Independence from the Crown) that we celebrate has led to the nation we, citizens of the United States of America, live in today. Yes, they were traitors to their king, and had the rebellion gone differently, the legitimate government would have doubtless hanged them all (had they been caught).
Their unanimous vote, however, led to the creation of our nation, and therefore it is right, proper, and indeed just that we should remember them as our founding fathers.
Two hundred and thirty-three years ago fifty-six radicals assembled to bring a plot of treason to fruition. Citizens of King George, the Third, of England, these men plotted the theft of part of his kingdom by continuing a then ongoing rebellion against the Crown's rule. These radicals, while claiming to represent the "will of the people" actually only conveyed the views (according to modern historians) of about 33% of the population in the rebellious region. Their action was actually opposed by another 33% of the population, while the remainder simply wanted to be left alone. Those population numbers are themselves misleading, as there were no Africans, Native Americans, or even women included in those numbers.
Today, we celebrate the action of these radicals, some of whom did not live to see their plot come to fruition.
That plot created a new nation out of thirteen disparate colonies of King George, although it failed in its effort to include the King's Colony of Canada (despite military operations designed to add it to the new nation).
The nation that was founded was, largely, incomplete, operating under the ineffective Articles of Confederation, until the Constitution of the United States was created to address the divisiveness the Articles were creating between the various states. It would be the Constitution that would truly create one nation from the thirteen rebellious colonies.
What those 56 treasonous men continued on that day (a war of rebellion already begun), but more importantly created (the formal declaration that the rebellion was now a war for Independence from the Crown) that we celebrate has led to the nation we, citizens of the United States of America, live in today. Yes, they were traitors to their king, and had the rebellion gone differently, the legitimate government would have doubtless hanged them all (had they been caught).
Their unanimous vote, however, led to the creation of our nation, and therefore it is right, proper, and indeed just that we should remember them as our founding fathers.
posted by Federation Commander at 4:20 PM
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