Fourth of July Story

 

People from many countries think they are a chosen, special case. Surely Russians think so, and the English often have. The Chinese and Japanese will make their own cases. You can go down your own list.

But if you're looking for some celestial sign, you need look no further than July 4, 1826. It was the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. 

In Virginia, at his plantation, Monticello, Thomas Jefferson, who had written the Declaration, lay dying in his bed and hearing some indications of celebration, he asked, "Is it the Fourth?" And told it was,  he smiled and died, 50 years to the day of the signing of the Declaration.

A little over 500 miles to the north, outside Boston, on July 4th, 1826, that very same day, John Adams, second President of the United States, the man who with Jefferson arguably did as much or more to win the Revolutionary War for the American colonists as Washington, was also lying in his death bed, and feeling death close in, his last words were, "Jefferson survives."

(No Facebook or texting then.)

Adams

Both of these men knew what the most important achievements of their lives were, and that dated back to July 4, 1776 and the 5 years which that day unleashed.

The Declaration spoke of the self evident truth that all men are created equal, but of course, Jefferson did not believe all men are created equal, as he held slaves, unless you argue he did not see Africans as men. 

And Adams signed the Alien and Sedition act which allowed for the arrest of any citizen criticizing the President, First Amendment be damned.

So neither was perfect. 

But, they both knew one big thing and stuck to it: asserting that they were equal in God's eyes to the King of England.

 And participating, as both did, in the war to deny the King of England had any right to govern his countrymen, those steps were radical and revolutionary enough for these men to carry with them to the grave the importance of the objections they made. Franklin observed, as the Declaration was signed: "We had better all hang together, for surely, otherwise, we'll all hang separately."

They pledged their fortunes, their lives, their sacred honor to the Declaration and the revolution it declared.

Three Stalwarts & 6 Monarchists

Now, facing a nation restructured by the Supreme Court, a nation which, in the words of Justice Soto-mayor writes in her dissent, the Supreme Court has now made "the President a king above the law," and now  we can understand just how important and revolutionary Adams and Jefferson really were. The ease with which kings can be created, the fragility of our American constitutional guarantees are today, more than ever, apparent, as the work Jefferson and Adams did now lies shredded upon the floor of the Supreme Court at 1 First Street, NE, Washington, DC. 

We can say, as our nation lies on its bed July 4, 2024, "The Constitution Survives," but we'd be as wrong as Adams.