THE “glorious Fourth” is celebrated as the anniversary of the day on which this country became independent of Great Britain.
Independence was desired not because the seat of British government was the British Isles; it was desired not to secure a difference location of the government, but a different government. The aim was not to establish a government on separate territory, but upon separate principles.
Now that these separate principles have been abandoned, what real propriety will there be in a celebration of Independence Day? Now that it is no longer held that all men are created equal, or that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, why should we celebrate the anniversary of the day when those principles were announced to the world? But for the fact that Americans of that time held those principles, the Declaration of Independence would not have [386] been written, and independence would not have been attempted. Why celebrate a day which stands for that which is not held to by Americans of to-day?
The government of Great Britain was imperial; and being such, it was oppressive. That oppression was felt by the people of the American colonies. Now that Americans are again under an imperial government, why should not the Fourth of July pass as it did priot to 1776?
Independence Day was not designed to celebrate the transfer of imperial government from the shores of England to those of America; and unless something far more than that remains to-day for the benefit of the people, there remains no point in the observance of the Fourth.