Taxes, treason, and the birth of a Nation.
Today, we celebrate the treasonous act of men assembled in Philadelphia. For on that day, it was announced to the World that 13 colonies had banded to together to secede from the British Empire. An Empire, in many respects, even greater than that of Rome and China.
But why? The commonly held belief was that it was about taxation. (“No Taxation without Representation!”) And that is a good one to hold. The major taxation acts that pissed people off started in the mid-1760 with the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act. Finally ending just before War with the infamous Tea Act. (Had a little Tea Party in Boston concerning that one.)
Yet there was more to this revolution then people like to talk about. A big one was the economics that our leaders wanted more control of. Raw material had to be sent to England to be manufactured into most consumer goods the mills, the forges, and the Factories in England had strong voices in Parliament. Most of the leaders of Parliament looked upon the colonies as hicks. And in some ways, we were.
Our Founding Fathers were also very rich men. They wanted these businesses to be domestic. Profits would be high, for no need of long and dangerous ship travel. Slave trade was going great in the south as was the cotton trade. The plantation owners want to keep and increase their profits. While the New Englanders liked the profits of whaling and want to be prime ship builders. So, once again, Money talked.
Finally, the other thing that was happening was expansion. The colonies were starting to look westward. In fact some had already started that move. The Ohio valley and the Mississippi River were calling to people. (Granted, the great westward migration would not really start until 30 years later.) They wanted to be in charge, not some far away King.
The Second Continental Congress got together in 1775 and start the talks about this great Treason. Much has been said and written about this. Heck, a pretty good musical was created about this. But why call this Treason? At the time, we were not a country. We were part of the British Empire. Benjamin Franklin was credited with the quote “Gentlemen, if we do not hang together, we shall surely hang separately.” He said this to remind the delegates that what was happening was Treason and that only unity would protect them.
Treason was a hanging offense. Even today, treason is a capital crime. It is a very specific crime. But why is what they did important?
On July 2, 1776, the Founding Fathers signed what would become the greatest Dear John/FU letter of all time. It had never been done before. Nobody knew what do next. They had some ideas, but the newness was overwhelming. The British Empire want to crush them and bring them back into the fold. Heck, even a third of the population was in favor of staying with the Empire. (A third were also neutral)
This was an act of war from a band of people with limited resources and organization. A real government did not even form until March of 1781 (Articles of Confederation). If they lost the war, then they would all hang.
Today, when you are having that cook out, watching the parade, or “ooh” and “aahing” over the fireworks. Remember those that that took the ultimate risk and gave us a strong and free country with a little bit of treason.
Note: the date July 4 is because that was when the Declaration of Independence got to the printer and he changed the date on the top of the document.
