Celebrate unity, too
Today is the 238th anniversary of the day Congress formally issued its Declaration of Independence. As Bruce Kauffmann explained in his History Lessons column Sunday, John Adams predicted July 2 – the day the document was approved by the representatives of the 13 colonies – would be joyously celebrated for many generations to come.
Adams was wrong about the date but right about everything else.
Adams also knew getting the colonies to finally agree on a plan of action, though extremely difficult, was the easy part; keeping them together through what might follow would be much harder. That unity would come at the highest price 85 years later.
The United States’ experience with independence and its struggle to survive as one nation are not unique. Consider the situation in Ukraine, which won its independence from the Soviet Union a generation ago. For Ukrainians, that, too, was the easy part. Now, that nation is on the brink of civil war. How can they hold together people of different language, culture and ethnicity without authoritarian rule?
The United States is proof to the world that doing so is possible. That, even more than independence, is worthy of celebration.