Frederick Douglass’s Strong Critique, and Defense, of America

Frederick Douglass’s lengthy 1852 speech “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” is blistering in its critique of American immorality and hypocrisy on the issue of slavery:

Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? . . .

Happy Independence Day!

 

(Madeleine Stowe as Cora Munro in the great Last of the Mohicans, 1992, on the spirit of America and freedom:

They do not live their lives “by your leave”! They hack it out of the wilderness with their own two hands, burying their children along the way.

)

Santorum: Fiscal Conservative

Appearing in three Fourth of July parades in Iowa last week, Rick Santorum said, “What we need is an Independence Day candidate that believes in the independence of the American people, not its dependence on government and government programs.”

I think Rick Santorum may be that candidate.  Any number of the current contenders might make an excellent president, but as Santorum points out, he already has a record of doing the work that needed to be done, even when it was unpopular—even when it cost him his senate seat.  We could do with more principled politicians like him. 

Happy Independence Day

Eleven score and fifteen years ago, a group of visionaries brought forth a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

We’re still here.  America is one of the oldest continuously functioning constitutional republics in the world, and she’s still a relatively free country, at least for now.  I think that’s something to celebrate.

As you celebrate today, here’s something to think about:  Why did we declare independence from George III?  Do you think we should have?  Why or why not?