BY MICHAEL S. JOHNSON  |  JULY 4, 2024

This week we celebrate national independence. By “we” I mean both Canadians and Americans. So let’s start at the first of July and trace the unique moments we share on days in July.

Canadians got their crack at tearing off the British yoke on July 1. On that day in 1867, the Constitution Act was adopted by the British parliament essentially creating the Dominion of Canada, still under the authority of the British Crown but essentially free to form its own national parliament and provincial governments. It is marked 157 years later with celebrations replete with picnics, hot dogs, and fireworks.

Oh and a day off. It was twelve years later in 1879 that a federal law was enacted making July 1 a statutory holiday as the anniversary of confederation. It later became “Dominion Day” and still later “Canada Day.”

The celebration moves back across the border the next day, July 2. It was on that day in 1776 that the Continental Congress actually voted to declare our independence from Britain, not July 4th.

John Adams, one of the editors of the Declaration of Independence, told his wife, Abigail, on July 3:

“The second day of July 1776, will be the most epochal (Greek term, from which we got epoch) in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn actions of devotion to God Almighty; it ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.”

He left out golf.

On July 3, 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg ended, giving the Union its first major victory and turning point in the Civil War that preserved the Union from that day forward and, drum roll please, Tom Cruise was born on July 3, 1962.

July 4th of course is celebrated as Independence Day because the Declaration of Independence, drafted by Thomas Jefferson and edited by Mr. Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston, was formerly adopted by the Continental Congress on that day.

And the celebration to this day is much as Mr. Adams predicted it would be with parades, picnics with hot dogs and hamburgers, shows, games, sports, bells, “bonfires and illuminations.” In fairness to him, the first 18-hole golf course had just been built 12 years before in Scotland. It was a long way to travel.

Livingston and Sherman eventually got lost in the pre-eminence that Franklin, Adams, and Jefferson enjoyed in American history. It is a shame because their service to the cause of independence and the extent of their public service during that tumultuous time deserve recognition and appreciation. They epitomized what Jerry Climer and I focus on in our new book, Fixing Congress: Restoring Power to the People – the critical need for citizen participation in governance at all levels.

My knowledge of the two needed a boost from Google. Robert R. Livingston (whose middle name was Robert, too, according to family custom) devoted most of his life to public service. He served as the Recorder of New York and a member of the state’s provincial Congress. He served as Chancellor of New York for 25 years and during that time administered the oath of Office to George Washington. He was appointed by the Continental Congress to the committee to draft a declaration of independence. President Jefferson appointed him Minister to France and in that capacity negotiated the Louisiana Purchase with the future President James Monroe. In private life he and Robert Fulton invented the steamboat.

Mr. Sherman, a Connecticut surveyor and publisher, was the only one to sign four major founding documents: the Continental Association of the first Continental Congress, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution of the United States. The Continental Congress appointed him to the drafting committee for the Declaration. As a member of the Constitutional Convention he was the author of the Connecticut Compromise, which led to the creation of our bicameral Congress in which the smaller states gained equal footing with the larger states in the Senate and the larger states were given greater representation in the House.

There were many unheralded public servants like them who sacrificed so much, including for many their lives, shaping the new Republic. There were countless citizens who defined the responsibility of citizenship that would become the cornerstone of our new system of government. They cleared the way for two centuries of sustained progress in governance, social order, individual rights, scientific innovation, growth, and security.

Our nation, to be sure, is still a work in progress more than two centuries on. We have stumbled and fallen and gotten up again. We have lost our way and found our way back. We have lost our virtue and found it again. But we have survived and thrived through it all. And, it has been a journey still unequaled in history.

Americans have lost pride in their country, according to surveys. But we shouldn’t. The celebrations this week in July are still a celebration not just of what was done, but what is and what can be. The hot dogs, the parades, picnics, proclamations, games, sports “bonfires and illuminations” are staples of progress and pride.

The Declaration of Independence still defines us, just as the Constitution still protects us, just as that one great battle (mentioned above) of the civil war preserved us as one nation, a Union.
America remains an incredible place, even though we again have serious challenges to confront and disturbing questions to answer about whether our leaders and our institutions of government are up to the job. I’ve got my doubts, but I’ve also got faith in the solid foundation on which we all stand, and to the irresistible attraction of the great American hot dog. Celebrate what we have and pass the ketchup.

Editor’s Note: Mike Johnson is a former journalist, who worked on the Ford White House staff and served as press secretary and chief of staff to House Republican Leader Bob Michel, prior to entering the private sector. He is co-author of a new book, Fixing Congress: Restoring Power to the People and an earlier book, Surviving Congress, a guide for congressional staff. He is co-founder and former Board chair of the Congressional Institute. Johnson is retired. He is married to Thalia Assuras and has five children and four grandchildren.