Death of America

When thinking of the United States, many things come to mind such as a global bully which has overthrown several democracies to establish dictatorships such as in Panama, Chile, and Iran. A nation which uses “aid” and “peace keeping” as a way to actively interfered with almost every nation on the face of the earth. A greedy, insatiable consumer which devours around seventy percent of the world’s resources. A nation which has sent thousands to their death to protect rubber plantations in Vietnam or oil fields in the Middle East and killing far more in the process. An empire which several of my friends have expressed a desire for its collapse. That’s the empire, not the country. A land which has become like many others where the rich rule and the rest work. It has become a nation where citizens have been reduced to employees clinging to their paychecks. It has become a nation I believe most of our Founding Parents were attempting to escape.

Yet there is another vision of the United States. For most of his history, it has been seen as a land of freedom. Founded as a land of free trade with all and alliances with none. It was a beacon of opportunity, of self-determination. It was a land which people in other nations sought to emulate. It was a land which the oppressed escaped to so they could gain control of their lives. Most importantly, it has been a nation where everyone has the right to be heard. It was a land of ideas being combined with other ideas to evolve into better ideas.

But what has happened to produce the negative actions and thoughts of this nation? Why has it fallen so far from what it started out as? Unfortunately, to truly understand what has happened is the only way to fix the nation. To do this, we need to look at the problem from several different perspectives. Only by doing this can we realize what has happened and what can be done. Over the next few weeks, I will attempt to explain this all in several installments. Once all the parts have been explained we can put it all together to see the larger picture. In our first section, I feel we should start in the beginning to see why the United States was different than most.

It started out as a narrow stretch of land running from what is now the Maritime Provinces of Canada to the southern boundary of Georgia. At the time, Florida was a possession of Spain. It was a thin stretch of land sandwiched between the North Atlantic Ocean to the east and a seemingly never-ending forest to the west. Within this strip of beach front property European communities started to be established during the 17th and 18th centuries. Even though this territory had been claimed for the English Crown, the colonists weren’t all English. By the way, a little sidenote, with the reign of Queen Anne, it would become known as the British Crown.

Europe as well as the British Isles were not only embroiled in identity crises of what religion was the right one to which to subscribe but also several territorial disputes as well as wars over who was going to become the ruler of what, known as ‘wars of succession.’ There were over one hundred conflicts recorded during this time. England in particular was wheeling from the War of the Roses which was followed by the flip flopping back and forth from Catholicism and Church of England which was established by Henry VIII. This would lead to persecutions and the English Civil War followed by a reoccurring Jacobite Rebellion. Along with powerful people doing what they could to remain powerful, Europe had become a dangerous place. Just imagine how dangerous and oppressive a situation would have to be for you to take what you could carry to leave civilization and everything you know and go to an unknown wilderness. Think about it. These weren’t heavily armed and trained conquistadors. They were in many cases families. The entire colony of Roanoke was lost. Almost half of the Pilgrims died by the end of their first winter. Really puts a lot into perspective.

People who were settling along this thin strip of land were from many different backgrounds. There were Dutch and Swedes looking for a new life and possibilities. There French trappers establishing a fur trade. There were those from Central Europe escaping both the horrors and oppression of various wars including the Thirty Years War. Various groups from the British Isles including Catholics in Maryland, Quakers in Pennsylvania, and Puritans in Massachusetts. One of the children of Puritans, Benjamin Franklin, would leave his home and relocate to Philadelphia and become a printer’s apprentice. No matter where they came from, they were all in the same boat.

When they came, there was nothing but an untamed land. They brought only what they could carry and what they knew. They had to harvest the wood and quarry the stone they needed to build the towns and roads they required to maintain themselves. They had to clear the fields and build ports. They had to develop relationships with and learn what they could from the indigenous people. They had to do all of this while keeping on their guard. With help which wasn’t always reliable from the homeland over a month away, they were on their own for their security.

Puritans, Quakers, Catholics, Dutch, Swedes, Amish, Mennonites, British, French Trappers, Calvinists, Huguenots, and others. All weren’t necessarily known for helping one another in Europe. In their homelands they were even pitted against each other. There was occasional fighting between various groups in the colonies. But with their lifelines over a month away, they had no one to turn to in emergencies. When it came down to it, they were all they had, especially, in the face of wars with indigenous populations such as King Philip’s War in the 17th Century and the Yamasee War at the beginning of the 18th. Out of necessity and convenience, they eventually learned that it was a good idea to work together and work through their issues. They learned to trade for those things which they couldn’t produce themselves. In the process of developing relationships with each other, they traded ideas.

Ideas are an amazing thing, especially when they are in a fertile environment which allows them to develop. Just think, someone in the dark past of humanity had an idea to explore fire instead of running away. With that exploration, others developed ideas of how to capture a flame, control it, and maintain it. Those ideas were followed by ideas of how to use fire for the benefit of humans such as cooking food, warming shelters, to illuminate the darkness, make tools, and for protection. Eventually, metallurgy was developed, and other sciences found more ideas and uses for the flame. Ideas took us from running in terror to harnessing fire to the point of controlled explosions for internal combustion engines and sending rockets to the moon, as well as to being able to reduce the dangers of fire to us.

Our Founding Parents knew how important ideas could be when allowed to be free. They also realized that ideas could be a dangerous thing when controlled and limited as ideas were controlled and limited by the agenda of a ruling class as in Europe. They had to develop relationships with people of different backgrounds and cultures to survive and develop their communities. They had learned the value of bringing different ideas together, of how it could lead to even better ideas. Thomas Jefferson even wrote about the wonderful outcomes of healthy debate. He knew that you could learn a lot about yourself and your viewpoints as well as your opponents. All of which could serve to make you a better person.

Working together became so important to them and was understood to be of so much value they held numerous meetings to discuss things. They understood the value of newspapers in disseminating information and ideas as well as inviting more ideas. They understood that the best way to get people to work together for mutual survival was to have a system which was centered around developing resolutions of mutual benefit. They developed meeting places emulating Parliament such as the Virginia House of Burgesses. Even to this day, town hall meetings are important in many areas.

One important idea did pop up which changed everything for them. In their need to resolve their own issues. In their need to depend on one another. In their realization of how bringing many different ideas together could create better ideas. In their understanding of the value of communities working together while the rulers were thousands of miles away. In their understanding of the value of the individual. They started to realize that they could do it all on their own. They didn’t need the Crown. In fact, they started to see the Crown and its agents as they pursued an agenda which kept the Crown in power as a hindrance to what could be accomplished. They decided to declare independence and rule themselves. In 1775 fighting started and in 1776, the colonists wrote the Crown a Dear John letter called the Declaration of Independence. After numerous battles and with the help of Britain’s historical enemy, France, in 1781, De Grasse managed to cut off Cornwallis’s escape to the sea and George Washington was able to force Cornwallis to capitulate. Two years later, the Treaty of Paris was signed, and the United States was up and running.

So now they needed a government. In their first attempt, before and during the war, they had the Continental Congress which was a meeting of representatives from various parts of the colonies. It was a place to present issues and ideas. They would debate, drawing on their ideas and experiences. They would throw ideas around and see which ones flew. They would combine ideas or develop whole new ideas from the debate. When they voted on something, it wasn’t necessarily the end of it. It was just resolved for the moment. If the resolution didn’t work, they would learn from it and attempt to develop an even better one.

As Simon Bolivar would note about sixty years later, “America cannot be governed,” was the similar feelings of our Founding Parents. There were too many interests and unique local issues for a ruler to be making the decisions. New England fishermen had very different concerns than Georgia plantation owners or Pennsylvania quarriers/miners. They wanted a government which could listen and help guide. They definitely didn’t want a government which would control and demand or a powerful ruler which would squash ideas they considered a threat while pushing those which aided in the ruler maintaining their power. They created the Articles of Confederation which was a guideline for a government which was centered on a large forum or national congress for the presentation of ideas and issues by representatives from around the nation. It was a forum in which to work out national issues and handle interstate concerns. The individual colonies which were now referred to as states would take care of their internal concerns. But there were a lot of weaknesses with this government and Shay’s Rebellion would point them out quickly.

Framers decided to take what they learned from the experiences of the Articles of Confederation and fix the issues. Again, this wasn’t one or two imposing their views on all, but a group of individuals from various regions bringing their experiences, perspectives, and ideas to work together on the problems. This is one of those things which shows how much freedom they had and how important the development of ideas was to them. Instead of fixing the Articles of Confederation, they decided to design a whole new government. They created the Constitution.

Again, it maintained the individuality of the states and allowed the states to resolve their internal issues but at the same time the states were a part of republic. Federal laws and rulings counted in all states, but federal laws were about national and interstate concerns. At the center of this government was a large forum of two houses. House of Representatives in which a state’s representatives were based on the population of that state. It was a place where all people’s concerns could be heard. In the upper chamber is the Senate where each state has two senators to even out the power of the population distribution. All voted on bills must be the same in each house. If the Senate decides to make a change, it must be represented back in the House.

Acting as sideline referees is the Supreme Court of nine justices appointed for life. They are to ensure laws don’t interfere with the rules of the Constitution. There is a president to be the representative of the entire nation and enforce the laws. Basically, towns and communities take care of their issues. States would help to resolve inter-community issues and statewide concerns. Federal government would protect the nation, set national standards as far as weights, measurements, and currency, deal with the international situation, and assist states with their issues and interstate concerns. It was a nation designed to listen to and assist its citizens.

In all of this, you see the concern about a person or group gaining too much power and restricting the rights of others as well as controlling ideas. This was evident with the division of the government into three distinctive elements and their ability to check each other. More importantly, they were answerable to the people. The government belonged to the people. The nation belonged to the people. The people had rights guaranteed by the Constitution’s first ten amendments known as the Bill of Rights.

Here we have a nation with a structure in which the people have the ability to develop ideas. People were free to do as they pleased as long as they were not harming others. There were a lot of possibilities to experiment and grow. People were allowed to speak their minds, and they were encouraged to work together. There was a flow of ideas. This presents a situation which could produce potential. This potential was realized in many ways such as universal suffrage for adult citizens and the end of slavery.

In future installments, we will go over what happened and why. We shall go into the mechanics of what happened. Until then, I wish you the best.