July 4th,
the Declaration of Independence, and Immigration
I am not sure what it means to celebrate the 4th of
July. My town celebrates the 4th
with the usual family activities in the parks and the fireworks over the bay in
the evening. I do not mean to minimize
family times, but we seem to be missing the whole point. I have long imagined such celebrations to
include a day of citizen seminars in libraries, bookstores, parks and homes all
over the country where citizens actually read and discuss some the founding
documents and their implication to current events. What an inspiring education for our children.
Well, I decided this morning to actually read the Declaration of
Independence before the evening’s firework display. All of us are familiar with the moving words
from the beginning of the document:
We hold these truths to
be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and
the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are
instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the
governed.
But I wonder how many of us actually have read the entire document. So I decided to read more about the grievances that were enumerated and found this rather interesting one against King George III:
He has endeavoured to
prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws
for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their
migrations hither…
Apparently King George III was also concerned about immigration
of non-British Europeans who would not be sufficiently loyal to the crown. It looks like it was Germans especially that
were the target in those days.
So here is my suggestion (which will never be a reality but I
make it anyway as a candle in the dark). Let’s take some time today to actually
read and discuss this document. It
seems the founders were finding such immigration policies to be a grievance and
an affront to freedom loving people.