Or a least -Franklin's- real reason. Each of the Founders had their own independent reason for independence, hence independence day ;-)
On Jul 4, 2012, at 2:14 PM, Christopher Green wrote: > Do we get to the part soon where Ben Franklin concedes that the real reason > for revolution is to reverse the Québec Act of 1774, (by which the British > Parliament formally gave control of the Ohio River Valley to the French > Catholics and Indians who had already been trading there for over a century) > so that they could be replaced by the "good" English Protestants of the east > coast? Huh? Are we there yet? > :-) > Happy Day! > > Chris > --- > Christopher D. Green > Department of Psychology > York University > Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 > Canada > > [email protected] > http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ > ========================== > > > > On 2012-07-04, at 1:41 PM, Paul Brandon wrote: > >> 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=18804 or send a blank email to leave-18804-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
