Well, the States reached their current state of Union in 1787 with the ratification of the current Constitution, so that would make more sense as the date of birth of these united states. And based on a perusal of letters to the editor and blog posting, many Murricans are blissfully ignorant of its contents.
The Declaration of Independence (formally "The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America") was a statement of the independence of the original 13 colonies from Great Britain; not of a single entity which did not yet exist. The Revolutionary War was fought more by a military alliance than by a nation (hence Washington's problems in rounding up troops). On Jul 4, 2012, at 12:29 PM, Michael Palij wrote: > There are times when I wonder what the hell U.S. Citizens are thinking. On > the Fourth of July, the sort of birthday of the U.S. (one feels one > should supply > a confidence interval to cover the dates that can serve as the birthday of the > U.S.), it is useful to wonder what other U.S. Citizens think of the > Declaration > of Independence, the signing of which caused the U.S. to come into existence. > > Well, the Rasmussen polling folks (I believe a conservative leaning > organization) > asked U.S. citizens whether they agreed with the central tenet of the > document, > namely: > > “governments derive their only just powers from the consent of the governed.” > > The partial results of the poll can be read here: > http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/happy-holiday-70-percent-u-s-agree-declaration-independence-poll-finds-article-1.1107796#ixzz1zfvG1Q9U > The Rasmussen site provides more info but I'll leave it to the interest reader > to locate it. > > The "good" news is that a whooping 70% agree with the central tenet. > This really is good news because only 66% agreed with it in 2011 and > only 56% agreed with it in 2005. > > Like I said, what were they thinking. > > It makes one wonder if U.S. citizens have read the Declaration ever. If it > has been a while since you read it, it's available on Wikipedia along with > commentary; see: > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence Paul Brandon Emeritus Professor of Psychology Minnesota State University, Mankato [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=18801 or send a blank email to leave-18801-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
