The more I watch the Broadway play Hamilton, the more I appreciate the early founding of our country. I’ve probably “played” it now at least eight or nine times. I turn it on when I’m doing work around the house, or chopping something in the kitchen. What a cast of characters we had back then.
Of course, we can forget this date, August 2nd, in 1776. That is when the Declaration of Independence was signed. And what an event that turned out to be. After much debate, the Second Continental Congress ultimately agreed to the final document. They gathered in the Pennsylvania State House. Benjamin Rush (of Pennsylvania) described it, saying there was a “pensive and awful silence which pervaded the house when we were called up, one after another, to the table of the President of Congress,” to sign “what was believed by many at that time to be our own death warrants.”
That King George III, and all. It was an act of high treason against the British Crown.
The famous text of the Declaration of Independence states “In Congress, July 4, 1776.” But curiously, that was not the date of the actual signing. It was August 2nd, with John Hancock, the President of the Congress signing first and largest.
It worked out okay. We won the war. Although lately, we aren’t acting like it. The proud notion of “my fellow Americans” has been thrown out the window. Half the country won’t even wear masks in the midst of a pandemic, saying their civil liberties are being violated. Oh, for crying out loud. It is a little piece of cloth that will save American lives. Buck up, little campers. It isn’t a violation of civil liberties. It is an act of humanitarianism. Call it Patriotism if that’s what you need to do. But quit being so damn vain and selfish, and give a little, for once in your lives.
Anyway. Off my soapbox now. Back to our founding fathers and mothers.
You want to talk about giving of themselves? They certainly gave. They gave up the “normalcy” of their lives to fight for our freedom. They pushed aside civil liberties so that in the end, all of us would know freedom. That’s what America was born on. Eliza Hamilton is my new hero, shero.
Oddly enough, it was on this date, fourteen years later, that the first Census was officially taken. In 1790, the population of our new country was 3,939,214 including 697,624 slaves. The largest state by population was Virginia, with 19.2% of the people living there. The smallest was weeny little Rhode Island, with 1.5%. Pennsylvania was second largest, 11.2%; and North Carolina was third, 10.1%.
The biggest cities in those days were New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. I can’t even imagine what those places would have been like.
There seems to be quite a bit of contention around the modern-day census. Again, people feeling their rights are being violated. But it is a necessary tool to assess the current trends of population. The census will determine congressional representation, for one thing. Not to mention that it will inform hundreds of billions in federal funding every year. The money will go where the people are, people. All of this, just another part of how this country works.
One of my favorite quotes came from a truly great American, who came later, Abraham Lincoln. He so wisely said.
“Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves.”
And it is true. With every little thing we do.
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“People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.”
― Søren Kierkegaard
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“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
― Benjamin Franklin, Memoirs of the life & writings of Benjamin Franklin
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“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it.”
― Thomas Paine
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