An Unlikely Revolution

As we near Independence Day, I have been thinking about the American Revolution and the improbable reality that the 13 British colonies in North American became the United States. Just getting representatives from all 13 colonies to agree in declaring independence (after battles had already began) defied the logic of the colonies’ relationship with each other.

Each colony had a negative view of the others, and this became more exaggerated the farther away a colony was from another (say Massachusetts and the Carolinas). They went to the multiple Continental Congress meetings wary of each other’s goals and motives. And many representatives came from colonies whose population barely supported independence (some had populations with large percentages of loyalists to Great Britain).

And then we consider that these barely united colonies actually defeated the British. How illogical was that? That those colonists pulled together in militias and joined a barely funded was able to beat the most powerful military in the world seems impossible today. Everyone who supported the Revolution faced great odds. Many men lacked appropriate weapons, some even lacked shows. A handful of women, disguised as men, even joined battles and fought the Red Coats. More women boycotted British goods and instead create their own goods and clothing.

And after we won, the U.S. still pushed through. The original government system, held together under the Articles of Confederation, proved unable to govern the 13 former-colonies, now-states. The leaders of the nation recognized the flaw, met to revise the Articles and instead created an entirely new government system with the Constitution. They changed it all, with a document that could be changed with amendments and could be interpreted a multitude of ways (as current times easily demonstrate). And the nation respected this new government. The nation survived.

In a time of great partisan strife, wars, recession, and environmental disasters, remembering that our nation’s beginning emerged out of difficult times with a people divided seems more relevant than ever. And since that time, we have faced a multitude of difficulties and continued to survive. On this Independence Day-eve,  let’s forget the disagreements and instead as a nation remember the odds we faced some 200+ years ago.

Defining Citizenship

Today in 1868, the 14^th Amendment was added to the U.S. Constitution when Secretary of State, William Seward, issued a proclamation that certified the ratification of the amendment. The amendment had passed the Senate on June 8, 1866 (33 to 11) and passed the House on June 13, 1866 (120 to 32), but took over two years to receive ratification from the states (July 9, 1868). Ratification is necessary to make any changes to the Constitution.

The amendment granted citizenship to “all personals born or naturalized in the United States,” which included former slaves that had been recently free. It was the first time African Americans could legally claim citizenship without reproach (many white Americans believed that African Americans were not fit for citizenship. The amendment continued, forbidding states from denying any person “life, liberty, or property, without due process of law” or to “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of its laws.” The 14^th Amendment has been so important that it has been cited in more litigation than any other amendment

The amendment purposefully used broad language. By keeping the language broad it allowed for future Congresses and federal courts to give meaning to the guarantee of legal equality. Also, the ability for the Constitution define who was a citizen and giving the nation the power to restrict states from denying citizenship also greatly empowered the federal government.

Not surprisingly, the amendment created an intense division between the Republican and Democrat parties. Not a single Democrat in Congress voted for the amendment and only four of the 174 Republicans opposed it. Despite the lack of support from Democrats (who typically hailed from the South), the amendment had the potential to increase southern political power. Before the change, African Americans accounted for 3/5 of a person in the calculation of population that determined representation in the House. By claiming that African Americans were now citizens, they could each be counted as a full person, increasing the number of Southern Representatives in Congress. Democrats, full of rage from the lost Civil War and suffering a painful Reconstruction, failed to recognize this potential and saw only another way Republicans and Northerners were forcing the South to lose its identity.

The amendment made equality before the law regardless of race a fundamental right of all American citizens. However, African Americans still suffered as second class Americans, as the amendment did not give them suffrage. This would be provided to them in the 15^th Amendment ratified in 1870.