The bicentennial year of the Declaration of Independence provides an opportunity not just to celebrate but to reflect upon the direction in which a country that started out as a colony has progressed to become one of the leading powers of the world both economically and militarily. The Revolutionary War, sparked by the belief in the principle that there should be no taxation without representation, resulted in the Continental Congress declaring independence on 4 July 1776 after approximately ten years of rising conflict. The history that came afterward is much more complicated than what we usually read in national celebrations.
Perhaps the single largest rupture within the history of the United States was that of the Civil War from 1861 to 1865, where the more industrial North opposed the agricultural South on the issue of slavery. The end of this conflict, under President Lincoln, led to the abolition of chattel slavery, but the existence of discrimination up until the present day through the means of covert racist actions suggests that equality could not be said to have been achieved in the way that it might otherwise appear. Equality and inequality continue to clash at many moments within American history, but it is also useful to see this tension as a fruitful way of analyzing the issues surrounding race in a nation founded through immigration, but also the displacement of native inhabitants.
The USA is frequently ahead of Europe in setting economic and social standards, for example in terms of early participation of women in wage employment despite low female political representation when compared to other democracies, an issue which remains unresolved even after the candidacy of famous women in the presidential races. On one hand, the notion of the American Dream, that hard work will ensure social mobility, remains the self-concept of the country, while on the other hand, social mobility statistics favor other developed countries, such as Scandinavia.
This contradiction applies to the reputation of America on the international stage as well. The country is the leading power in organizations like NATO and still commands the respect of both friends and enemies but the idea of America as a prime example of liberal democracy has certainly lost some credibility. The lack of health care for all Americans, inequality, discrimination in the legal system, and capital punishment laws in many states make it hard to celebrate American exceptionalism on the country’s birthday.
All of this, however, does not lessen the historical importance of 1776, nor the progress made by the civil rights movement in the 1960s. On the contrary, this all seems to imply that anniversaries like this one should not be celebrated blindly, but rather that we should view the country’s principles at the time of its birth along with the contradictions it continues to hold.
