Mourning in America

Commemorating the quintessential American act on the 250th anniversary of the day the states decided to do it, and remembering when their original republic was laid to rest.

Atlanta, GA

July 2, 2026

This weekend Americans mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Most of them mistakenly call its adoption their “nation’s birthday”.

But as we’ve explained before, no “nation” was founded on July 4, 1776, nor was any new government born. Thirteen of them already existed. That was the point.

The States proclaimed their independence, not their creation (and certainly not the establishment of one country). They seceded as sovereign entities, distinct from Britain… and each other. Secession is a (perhaps the) quintessential American idea. It’s the only reason the United States exist.

But the Fourth of July is a day not only to celebrate secession, but to mourn its demise. Today, we’ll do both.

“A Happy Talent”

On the Fourth, as on any momentous occasion, myths mingle with reality. Even the date we’re supposed to remember was initially in question.

Congress voted for independence 250 years ago today, two days before it was formally declared. John Adams always thought July 2 the more appropriate day to celebrate, and expected it would be the perpetual date to do so. There was some merit to his argument, and more than a little envy that prompted it.

As relations with Great Britain deteriorated and war raged to the north, separation seemed inevitable (albeit to only about 40% of colonists). Adams suggested to Thomas Jefferson that Jefferson write a declaration of independence.

Adams viewed the document as something of a press release, and certainly nothing epochal. After the tumult passed… either with new states on the world scene or a hangman’s noose around signatories’ necks… few would remember it. The actual vote was what mattered.

Jefferson was reluctant, and wondered why Adams shouldn’t write the announcement himself. Other than Robert Livingston, Jefferson was the youngest member of the committee of five assigned by the Second Continental Congress to draft a rationale for independence.

How was he qualified?

Jefferson brought unique ability… what Adams called “a reputation for literature, science, and a happy talent for composition”, as well as a “peculiar felicity of expression.” Adams then elaborated, with three additional reasons he preferred to defer to his younger colleague.

“Reason first”, he began, “you are a Virginian, and a Virginian should be at the head of this business.

“Reason second”, he continued, “I am obnoxious, suspected, and unpopular. You are very much otherwise.

“Reason third”, he concluded, “you can write ten times better than I can.”

Adams was right, and won that battle. But Jefferson won the war. From then on, the former always thought the latter had run away with the revolution. With a bit of retrospective bitterness, Adams continued to think July 2 was the date that truly mattered.

The Declaration ended up meaning more than Adams thought it would (or should), and the date atop the document became the one the rest of us would celebrate. That Adams and Jefferson both died on July 4… fifty years to the day after independence was declared… further cemented its mystique, reinforced their reputations, and gave us a day to remember.

And to misconstrue.

A Dirge for an Idea

This week front porches, lamp posts, and parade floats will flaunt patriotic bunting and fluttering flags. As they should.

People should have pride of place and love where they live, even (or especially) if they don’t understand why. True affection for our country is akin to what we feel for our mother. We don’t need a “reason” to love her. Who she is is reason enough.

Chesterton chided Kipling for admiring England because she was “strong”. As Chesterton put it, “we admire things with reasons, but love them without reasons. [Kipling] admires England because she is strong, not because she is English.”

As Chesterton said elsewhere about Rome, we don’t love America because she’s great. She’s great because we love her.

But who is “America”? Does she still exist?

Or should black veils, crepes, and arm bands accompany bunting, banners, and fireworks, to grieve a bequest its beneficiaries wasted? Between strains of America the Beautiful and the Star Spangled Banner, we spare a dirge for a departed idea.

The relatively inconsequential central government of the original union has become the most powerful regime the world has ever seen. It surveilles its citizens, pilfers their property, prescribes and proscribes which substances they ingest, and tells them who they can’t or must associate with. It’s perpetually at (undeclared) war, relegates the states to provinces, and has debased the culture and economy by destroying the money.

This weekend may not honor a birthday, but it commemorates a funeral. Sixteen decades ago… four score and seven years after the Declaration was adopted… the federal republic of the founders was laid to rest. A few months later, the undertaker came to Gettysburg to give the eulogy.

The battle he memorialized was devastating. But the mortal wound was inflicted further South the following day.

About the moment Pickett’s charge was failing in Gettysburg, General Pemberton asked Grant for terms. The next day Vicksburg fell. It was July 4, 1863. Like this year, it was a Saturday.

The defenders were reluctant to capitulate on Independence Day, thinking it would amplify their humiliation and provide fodder for Yankee propaganda. General Pemberton conceded the point, but offered a competing one.

Tho’ a Confederate general, Pemberton was a Pennsylvanian who knew the Northern mind:

“I know my people”, he assured objectors on his staff. “I know their particular weaknesses and their national vanity. I know we can get better terms from them on the Fourth of July than on any other day of the year. We must sacrifice our pride to these considerations.”

Fighting persisted almost two more years, with unspeakable carnage inflicted on the South. But the fall of Vicksburg severed the Confederacy, and effectively decided the war that extinguished the republic.

Separate and Equal

The meaning of this day, as Jefferson put it, is to recall the right of free people “to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them.”

The final paragraph of the Declaration removed any doubt:

“We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these [note the plural] United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States.”

These states seceded as “separate” sovereignties, no different than Finland or France. “State” and “country” were synonymous. Jefferson regularly used the latter appellation when referring to Virginia, as most founders did regarding their own states.

Their people wanted to be left alone to manage their own affairs, without interference from external busybodies. Similar to the Catholic notion of subsidiarity, the idea was to enable empowerment at the most local level… to prioritize family over community, precinct over town, city over state, state over union. This is the core and essence of Jeffersonian philosophy, and of self-government.

Worthy Remedy

The notion that states had a right to self-determination was precisely Jefferson’s argument in his Summary View of the Rights of British America. The states never yielded their sovereignty to a central government.

This was obvious under the Articles of Confederation. But even under the Constitution, states simply delegated specific powers they remained free to reclaim.

The state ratifying conventions were emphatic about this, with advocates for the Constitution assuring skeptics that fears of usurpation were overblown… and that the document included adequate provisions to thwart any attempts.

As is abundantly evident in our own day, these safeguards weren’t good enough. But when they fail, the Declaration of Independence remains a welcome reminder of a worthy remedy.

JD