Some Things Your High School History Teacher May Not Have Told You About The Fourth Of July

Make no mistake about it. The Declaration of Independence is one of the most significant documents in the history of the world. It introduced the idea that government derives its power from the governed–the people– not the other way around. What a concept. Nothing like that had ever been done before. We all studied the Declaration of Independence in our high school history classes. But some teachers may not have pointed out the level of abject courage that was required on the part of the men who signed it. Keep in mind that, in putting their names on that document, these guys were dissing the King of England. By signing the Declaration of Independence, they were, in essence, signing their death warrants. They and their families could have lost everything. But they had simply had enough of British domination, taxation without representatio, and existing at the pleasure of an arrogant king an ocean away. 

When the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776, the American Revolutionary War had already been underway for a decade– and it was not going all that well for the Patriots. Increasing numbers of well-trained British combat troops were being shipped in to regain royal control and the powerful British navy was blockading American ports. And another thing your high school teachers may not have told you: The support for the independence movement was by no means universal among the colonists. Only about 40 percent openly supported independence. Another 40 percent were neutral or kept their mouths shut to stay out of trouble. And about 20 percent were Loyalists, openly supporting the King.

The tide began to turn, however, when Benjamin Franklin persuaded the French to enter the war on the side of the Americans in 1778. Even so, fighting continued for three more years. Finally, an impressive victory at Yorktown by American and French forces in 1781 effectively ended the war in the United States. A peace treaty was signed in 1783, giving the United States all of the formerly British territory east of the Mississippi River and south of the Great Lakes.

Our Fourth of July holiday commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress. In essence, this was the birth of the United States of America. Actually, the legal separation of the 13 colonies happened on July 2, 1776, when Congress voted to approve the drafting of a resolution of independence. It took a couple of days for the formal Declaration, with future President Thomas Jefferson as the principal author, to be finalized and approved. But who’s counting? The Second of July just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

Happy Birthday, America!

NOTE: Another thing our high school teachers didn’t tell us is what happened to the Loyalists after the war– those colonists loyal to the King. Needless to say, they were not the most popular residents in the neighborhood. Many left the new USA. Down south, some Loyalists who owned plantations moved their entire operations to the nearby British-ruled Bahama Islands — houses, slaves and all. Descendants of those slaves now run the independent Bahamas.

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Dennis Reeves Cooper founded Key West The Newspaper in 1994 and was editor and publisher for 18 years, until he retired in 2012.