What to the American is the Fourth of July?
Why Independence Day is for Celebration and Optimism
By the time you read this, my wife may very well have delivered our third child into the world. This child will immediately and irrevocably be a citizen of the United States of America, entitled to all of the rights and responsibilities inherent within that citizenship. By accident of birth and the blessing of God, that child will be an American. The date on which this child becomes an American citizen may very well be July 4.
As he or she grows in age and wisdom, what should be the meaning of this great American holiday to my child? What should the Fourth of July mean to an American? In 1852, the great abolitionist Frederick Douglass asked a variation of this question in a speech. We are still asking it today.
As of this writing, my third child has yet to be born. How, then, do I already know that my love for this young soul will be deep and unconditional? This is partially the experience of having two children already. It is also an understanding of the human condition. I know I will love this child despite his or her imperfections. I will love this child because he or she will be constantly striving to improve. This child will, as will the union between us, be always working to become more perfect. I will love this child because I will assist in that effort in every way I can. I will love this child because this child will be mine.
I love America despite her imperfections. I love America because she is constantly striving to improve. I love America because she is always working to become a more perfect Union. I love America because it is my job to assist in that effort in every way I can. I love America because she is mine.
All those born within the borders of this great land have not always felt the same affection for it as do I. Citizenship, and even freedom itself, was not always granted to all. The stain of slavery was not eradicated from the United States until 1865. The blessings of citizenship were not bestowed upon all Americans until the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868. From July 9 of 1868 forward, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” From this day forward, the color of one’s skin was no longer a factor in determining one’s citizenship.
When Frederick Douglass gave his beautiful oration “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” in 1852, the gift of citizenship had not yet been bestowed on all Americans regardless of their race. Born a slave, Douglass was a free man and ardent abolitionist by 1852. In 1852, Frederick Douglass was a free man in the United States. He believed in the founding principles of the United States. He wanted to claim the nation as his own, but the nation was not yet ready to claim him as one of its own. He spoke of “the birthday of your National Independence, and of your political freedom.” He did not speak of it as if it is his own…yet.
Douglass went on to lament, “I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary!” Slavery still existed. Frederick Douglass, though free, was not yet an American in the full sense of the word.
That for which Douglass longed was the promise of the Constitution and of the Declaration of Independence. He did not denigrate the American Founding or the Founders. Douglass argued, “interpreted as it ought to be interpreted, the Constitution is a GLORIOUS LIBERTY DOCUMENT. Read its preamble, consider its purposes. Is slavery among them? Is it at the gateway? or is it in the temple? It is neither.”
Douglass abhorred the existence of slavery in America, but he did not believe our nation to be beyond improvement. “Allow me to say, in conclusion, notwithstanding the dark picture I have this day presented of the state of the nation, I do not despair of this country.” Douglass concluded by quoting the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison.
God speed the day when human blood
Shall cease to flow!
In every clime be understood,
The claims of human brotherhood,
And each return for evil, good,
Not blow for blow;
That day will come all feuds to end.
And change into a faithful friend
Each foe.
Douglass despaired for his hour, but not for all of time. He despaired for the reality of America in his day, but not for the promise of America in the days and years to come. He believed that the pursuit of a “more perfect Union” was just as possible in 1852 as it was in 1787. Although yet to fully happen, he believed that all Americans would one day be slapped in the face with Thomas Jefferson’s “self-evident” truths that “all men are created equal.”
Indeed, Jefferson himself - a slave-owner for the entirety of his life - never fully internalized these truths. Jefferson did not approve of slavery as an institution, but could not bring himself to free his own slaves. He likened the maintenance of slavery to holding “a wolf by the ear, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go.” Does this truth about the author of the Declaration of Independence make the truths held within the document any less self-evident? Does it make them any less true? Douglass did not believe so. Neither do I. Though flawed, Thomas Jefferson was a great American who authored arguably the greatest political document in human history. The flaws of the messenger do not detract from the truth of the message.
The ideals of our Founding have been through the fire. There are those who wished to see them undone, and worked toward that end. In his “Cornerstone Speech” of 1861, Alexander Stephens, the Vice President of the Confederate States of America, made clear his disdain for the principles articulated by Jefferson. He and his cause did not work toward a more perfect Union, but its dissolution. His words were antithetical to the words of the Declaration, the principles of the Founding and America itself.
Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition.
I believe America to be more perfect today than it was from its outset. I believe it will become more perfect still. We will make it so. If we wish to endure, we must make it so.
We moved toward perfection because of the Civil Rights Movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. As did Douglass, King recognized that America is an imperfect nation. We are an imperfect nation because we are made of imperfect humans. That is to say, we are made of humans. The fact that we will constantly fall short of our goals does not mean those goals are not worth pursuing.
Dr. King knew that the promises of the Declaration, the Bill of Rights, the Fourteenth Amendment and the 15th Amendment had yet to be realized by all Americans.
In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our Republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men - yes, black men as well as white men - would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note as far as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”
Despite this, King did not give up on America. He did not despise her. He did not leave her. He did not curse her name. Instead, he asked America to live up to her promise. Not only that, but he give his toil, his tears and his life to make a more perfect Union a reality for generations to come. We are still reaching for that more perfect Union, but Dr. King could see it on the horizon. He could see it in his dreams. He could feel it in his faith.
With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.
America is not yet perfect. She never will be perfect, and she need not be in order to love her. As long as great and everyday Americans alike continue to strive to make our Union more perfect, we will love America, for she will be ours. Our ideal is not a destination, but a journey. It is a constant battle we must fight, but it is one worth fighting.
There are those who do not believe in this ideal. They will work to tear us apart the only way we can be torn apart: from within. Let their goal suffer the same fate as the Confederacy did in 1865. Don’t love America because she is perfect. Love her because she is trying to reach that unattainable goal every day. This is what the Fourth of July means to this American. I hope it does to you as well.
In the words of George F. Root:
The Union forever,
Hurrah boys, Hurrah!
Down with the traitor,
Up with the star;
While we rally round the flag, boys,
Rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom.