When Rodney King asked his famous question,"Can't we all just get along?" I for one, pictured the ghosts of our founding fathers frantically waving their hands and yelling,"Call on me; call on me, I know; I know!".
Most of us from any generation (I hope) know that before there was a United States of America, there were thirteen colonies in its place. Yet, if the million dollar question was to name them, how would we do? If the money's ever on the line, here's the answer in no particular order: New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delware, Maryland, Virginia,North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia.
If, on the other hand, the million dollar question was "When the United States of America was formed, why did the colonies become states instead of remaining colonies?", I have a feeling the percentage of us with the right answer would go way down.
Hint 1: colony (a group of people who leave their own country and go to settle another land,but remain citizens of their own counrty)
Hint 2: state (a group of people occupying a given area under a government)
When the original thirteen colonies were settled, not all the people who settled them were from England, and neither were they all from the same ethnic, religious, or economic backgrounds. Ever hear the old saying "Birds of a feather flock together."? That's exactly what happened in the original thirteen colonies. The diverse groups tended to seek each other out and settle where those like them were. That's is why we ended up with thirteen colonies instead of one big one. The truth is, the thirteen colonies were more like thirteen separate countries than they were like one big country.
Hopefully, everyone remembers that it was an overall disagreement with England that motivated the thirteen colonies to break away from England. But, did you know that they were so motivated to break away from England that they did it before they decided how to govern themselves once they did?
That's right; the Revolutionary War was fought and won before the original thirteen colonies came up with a new form of government that all thirteen colonies could agree on. Today, we might imagine it something like the founding fathers high-fiving each other as they watch the last of the redcoats high-tailing it back to England when one of the founding fathers says, " Oh,crap! You know what we forgot? We fogot to create a new government!"
These days we hear the term "states rights" thrown around fairly frequently, but do we know what the term means? At its historical roots it means that once upon a time all thirteen colonies had their own way of running their respective colonies. In order to function as a unit, two things had to happen, 1. A new country had to be created (enter the United States of America) 2. Each colony had to give up some of their individualism in order to become part of that new country, which they were willing to do. But, all thirteen had things they insisted on keeping in order to retain their individual identities when they became states.Enter "states rights".
Sounds simple doesn't it? Everybody get together, make up a list of what you will give up and what you insist on keeping, figure out how to manage it, sign the piece of paper the plan is written on, and BANG! you have a new country. How long could that take? A week? A month? A year? How about roughly 12 years? That's right, 12 years! Can you say, "more than a few rough spots to iron out"?
On June 21, 1788, (remember the whole thing started on July 4, 1776) the Constitution was ratified, which meant everyone was happy and we could get on with this new country thing we had going. Right? Actually,no. Only nine states voted to ratify the Constitution that day (New Hampshire was #9). The states were having such a hard time coming to terms that they agreed that as soon as nine states ratified the Constitution that would be good enough to get the thing rolling.
Virginia and New York came onboard shortly thereafter, followed by North Carolina. That left one to go. Who was the last of the original thirteen colonies to ratify the Constitution? It was Rhode Island, and wait they did, not signing until May 1790.
So, "Why can't we all get along?" Maybe the answer is that we have collective historical amnesia when it comes to remembering the differences we had that made us what we are in the first place. We tend to toss off stereotypes of our fellow "state-izens" even more casually then we toss off ethnic stereotypes. Maybe there's more to this than we think. Why is it wrong to mock, pigeonhole, or ridicule someone based on their ethnic background, but not their geographical background?
But, then again the problem might just correct itself. Maybe fifty states could become fifty colonies just as easily as they gave up being the colonies and territories they were before they were states. It takes pride, respect, and understanding for each other to motivate individuals to give up part of themselves in order to be part of something bigger, like say one big country. Without those things, it just might be easier ( and more "get a long-ish") for everyone to simply turn their state back into a colony and just deal with their fellow colonies like neighbors in a very large subdivision. Then maybe someone would start a Neighborhood Colony Association and we could all finally get along.
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Comments: 14
he said that, but just after the revolutionary war you referred to, he and his buddies found themselves living among a nation-to-be of poor people with guns.
something had to be done.
iow, this scam called politics has been going on for a veeerrrrrry long time.
good post, but history ain't always as it appears.
Pure gold, George, you put your finger on a big problem of our era. I was in a grocery store with an acquantence who had just gotten back from teaching in Japan. A child was throwing a temper tanturm and the mother was scolding the child for misbehaving. My friend said, "that is the difference between Japan and here. In Japan the mother would be scolding the child with "You are embarrasing the family".
The point is that in this country we so value our individualism that we are too frequently loathe to consider ourselves part of anything.
I like your" mother in a grocery store" story; it definitely reminds me of of my own youth. My mother made it clear to us kids that embarassing the family was not an option on many occasions.
Her explanation was usually followed by an , "Ow!" on our part.
I think back to the implicit trust that used to exist in the neighborhood I grew up in.
My brother and I were once raiding an apple tree far enough away from our house not to be known. We would knock down fresh apples by tossing windfall apples at the tree. We had been doing it for quite a while when an apple my brother tossed soared right through the tree and banged into a window. A second latter, a huge red-faced man blew through the doorway screaming at us. We took off and he gave chase.
The guy was older and slow but he gave us a good chase. Just as we began to pull away from him, he yelled "get those kids"... to another guy walking on the sidewalk across the street. Now we really had to kick it into gear.
As we neared our house we still had not lost the second guy, and with him in distant tow we came upon our old man painstakingly de-weeding the front-lawn with a butter-knife (which is how he entertained himself). We ran into the yard and the old man yelled at us "Now what did you do?" to which we protested our innocence.
My dad then turned to our pursuer and asked "What did they do?"
The guy said, "I don't know, but someone else was chasing them".
That was all the old man needed to take off his belt and go after us. We got a whupping but we didn't mind because what we did was secret
My dad was satisfied because we got punished for whatever it was that we did.
we're not sure exactly what the administration has done, but their guilt is plain as day. i'd be satisfied by punishing them and they can even keep it secret.
Niiiiiiice connection-Smiling, Big-Time!
Do any of these names ring a bell?
John Hanson
Elias Boudinot
Thomas Mifflin
Richard Henry Lee
John Hancock
Nathaniel Gorham
Arhtur St. Clair
Cyrus Griffin
Here's a hint:They all held a job that George Washington took over on April 30, 1789. Give up?
These men were the first eight presidents of the United States! It's true! Do you know why they've been tossed out by history?
Here's an even quirkier bit of ""presidents you never knew existed trivia. David Rice Atchison was President of the United States for one day. Legend has it that he slept through his entire day as president.
Check back and I'll post the whole story It's a good one.
And George, tell me more!
As for David Rice Atchison, that's a doozy.
David Rice Atchison died on January 26, 1886 and it does say on his tombstone that he was President of the United States for one day. Here's why:
When Zachary Taylor was elected President, former President James Polk resigned early (before Taylor was sworn in) so he could attend to matters at home. Vice-President George Dallas also resigned early. This left Atchison next in line to be President until Taylor was sworn in.
Here's the kicker: both Polk and Dallas resigned on a Sunday,Taylor refused to be sworn in on a Sunday for religous reasons. So, for one day (Sunday) David Rice Atchison was President of the United States.
According to legend, Atchison had partied so much during an inaugural celebration Saturday night that he slept all day Sunday. He literally slept through his entire Presidency!
And they yelled at Reagan for falling asleep, go figure.
;p