1 00:00:02,960 --> 00:00:03,960 Hello, everybody. 2 00:00:03,960 --> 00:00:07,120 Welcome back to another episode of The Way the World Works. 3 00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:11,760 So as Independence Day approaches the Fourth of July, as we celebrate it, I think we know 4 00:00:11,760 --> 00:00:13,480 kind of what to expect, right? 5 00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:17,560 Now America 250 is going to be a bigger year, but when we think of Independence Day, there 6 00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:19,840 are some signature things we think about, right? 7 00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:25,960 Maybe barbecues or outdoor grilling, you know, hot dogs and hamburgers, fireworks, of course. 8 00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:27,360 That's a big thing. 9 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:32,160 You know, people wearing American flag t-shirts or sparklers and red, white and blue. 10 00:00:32,160 --> 00:00:36,960 We have an image in our head of what a Independence Day celebration is supposed to look like and 11 00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:42,720 has looked like, but I wonder, do you think that the founding fathers, especially those 12 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:48,640 who were in the room and signing the declaration, do you think they had any idea what was going 13 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:53,040 to happen that we would celebrate Independence Day like we do today? 14 00:00:53,040 --> 00:00:56,760 And how did they celebrate it in the years right after the declaration was signed? 15 00:00:56,760 --> 00:00:59,120 Well, we're going to talk about that today. 16 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:03,360 So John Adams, who was one of the drafters of the Declaration of Independence and was 17 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:08,240 also one of the signers, he was there when it was signed, he predicted in a letter to his 18 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:13,560 wife Abigail Adams that we would celebrate the Fourth of July for years to come through 19 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:18,600 parades, through, you know, re-readings of the declaration, through illuminations, which 20 00:01:18,600 --> 00:01:23,400 you can kind of think to mean fireworks, illumination, the light, bonfires. 21 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:28,920 So he actually predicted something that's pretty close to how we celebrate it before. 22 00:01:28,920 --> 00:01:32,560 The only thing John Adams got wrong about the predictions of how Americans would celebrate 23 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:37,280 the Fourth of July is the date he believed they would celebrate them on, because the declaration 24 00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:40,880 was actually signed on July 2nd, not July 4th. 25 00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:45,200 And so John Adams assumed in his letter to Abigail that it would be July 2nd would be 26 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:48,920 this day of parades and bonfires and celebrations. 27 00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:53,600 So he was so close, he was just two days off, but he wasn't that far off, right? 28 00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:57,520 And we look back to his predictions and what we do today, and those are pretty similar. 29 00:01:57,520 --> 00:02:00,960 I mean parades, of course, I know, because I live in Washington, D.C., and let me tell 30 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:02,440 you, all the streets get closed down. 31 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:06,740 You can't go anywhere because of all the parades, you know, bonfires. 32 00:02:06,740 --> 00:02:09,480 Maybe if you live in California, you live near a beach, definitely. 33 00:02:09,480 --> 00:02:12,960 I know that there were summers that we did bonfires at the beach for Fourth of July and 34 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:14,880 roasted hot dogs. 35 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:18,760 And you know, of course, the illuminations, the fireworks, that is one of the key things 36 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:20,600 that we do on the Fourth of July. 37 00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:25,160 So it's really interesting to see how close he got, but how close was he right after 38 00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:26,960 the declaration signed? 39 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:30,920 After the declaration of independence was signed, it became very important to the people 40 00:02:30,920 --> 00:02:36,400 to reread it every year as a reminder of what it stood for, of what the country stood for, 41 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:39,280 of why they fought and of what was at stake, right? 42 00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:42,840 Because the American experiment, right, it's ongoing. 43 00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:45,280 Can we live up to the ideals of our founders? 44 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:48,800 Can we live up to the rules and requirements of the Constitution? 45 00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:50,800 Can we remain a free people? 46 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:55,600 And so rereading the declaration every year, especially publicly, like in a public square, 47 00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:59,400 that was a reminder of what they were actually doing, right? 48 00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:00,800 What was this all about? 49 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:04,360 What was the point, you know, as the kids say, like, they don't want to lose the plot. 50 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:08,600 They want to make sure that they remember why they even exist at all. 51 00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:12,200 And so public rereadings of the declaration became very common. 52 00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:16,600 Also church services, because at this point, there were different kinds of religions, but 53 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:20,520 church is still a very important part of, of most people's lives. 54 00:03:20,520 --> 00:03:24,000 So you're going to have a lot of church gatherings, you're going to have church bells ringing, 55 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:28,280 you're going to have celebrations, you're going to have, you know, town gatherings. 56 00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:30,960 And so there were, it did start pretty early. 57 00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:34,560 It's not like we suddenly have this modern interpretation of the 4th of July. 58 00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:39,400 You know, maybe they weren't having the exact, they weren't eating the hot dogs from the store. 59 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:40,880 It is a little different. 60 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:45,040 But they were still doing these celebrations because it was important to them to remember 61 00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:48,840 everything that they had gone through and why they had gone through it. 62 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:53,920 And it was also to reinforce these beliefs, you know, back in different cultures where there 63 00:03:53,920 --> 00:03:57,320 aren't written, they didn't have like a language that they wrote with. 64 00:03:57,320 --> 00:04:01,320 Maybe they drew symbols and things like that, but where the primary way of passing down knowledge 65 00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:05,640 was through storytelling, which is again, very innate to all of us humans. 66 00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:09,160 We love to learn through storytelling, but it's powerful, right? 67 00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:14,320 Rereading things or saying things out loud to people helps keep the story alive, helps keep 68 00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:16,560 the reason alive. 69 00:04:16,560 --> 00:04:22,800 And so the other reason for having these speeches or people rereading the declaration was to remind 70 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:28,000 the younger generations what was going on because even for the ones who, you know, people 71 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:31,000 who were alive at the time may have remembered the revolutionary war, it was very fresh in 72 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:35,160 their mind, but their kids might not or the kids born after the revolution might not. 73 00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:41,320 So it was also a way of passing down the lore, the history of America to the younger generation. 74 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:45,520 For the July has always been something I've really been excited about and it wasn't even 75 00:04:45,520 --> 00:04:49,600 just, you know, the barbecues and the fireworks and things like that or the family gatherings. 76 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:53,760 I always have just loved American history and I've always found it, no matter how, you 77 00:04:53,760 --> 00:04:57,800 know, short, we've fallen and sometimes we're not able to fully live up to the Constitution. 78 00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:01,800 If you look at other countries who have tried to model their Constitution after the United 79 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:06,480 States or other countries that even just have written constitutions, most have failed. 80 00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:10,840 The fact that we have prevailed now for 250 years, you know, we're not perfect all the 81 00:05:10,840 --> 00:05:12,960 time, but this is really impressive. 82 00:05:12,960 --> 00:05:15,400 That's that's unheard of, right? 83 00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:18,520 And so I think there's a lot of things to look to an American history to get excited 84 00:05:18,520 --> 00:05:23,840 about to to celebrate, but one thing that really bummed me out a few years ago is there 85 00:05:23,840 --> 00:05:25,880 was a girl I didn't really know very well. 86 00:05:25,880 --> 00:05:30,160 She wasn't a friend, but she was an acquaintance and I don't like to get political or things 87 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:34,040 like that with people I don't know super well, but we were sitting there and it was the day 88 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:39,400 before the 4th of July and she was telling me that she felt guilty celebrating it because 89 00:05:39,400 --> 00:05:43,040 we should probably be ashamed of the country now like it's shameful what we're going through 90 00:05:43,040 --> 00:05:46,280 and it's shameful the kind of people we've become. 91 00:05:46,280 --> 00:05:51,230 And in those situations, like I said, because it's such a hot topic, I kind of just smile 92 00:05:51,230 --> 00:05:56,270 and nod and be like, but I think I said something kind of quietly of, well, I really love celebrating 93 00:05:56,270 --> 00:06:00,950 it, but I didn't go into too much detail just because it it's a it's a sensitive topic. 94 00:06:00,950 --> 00:06:05,390 But what I want to bring up here is why do people suddenly feel like we shouldn't celebrate 95 00:06:05,390 --> 00:06:06,550 it all? 96 00:06:06,550 --> 00:06:09,190 And should they be allowed to say that? 97 00:06:09,190 --> 00:06:12,470 Well, the first thing is we know that we love free speech, right? 98 00:06:12,470 --> 00:06:16,270 And free speech should be celebrated and you should be allowed to do it. 99 00:06:16,270 --> 00:06:20,670 But why are there people who, while people have parades that are celebrating the 4th 100 00:06:20,670 --> 00:06:25,470 of July, maybe have parades saying things like, oh, you know, you should be ashamed because 101 00:06:25,470 --> 00:06:28,070 the slavery existed in this country once upon a time. 102 00:06:28,070 --> 00:06:32,190 So how can we celebrate this or we haven't fully realized these principles? 103 00:06:32,190 --> 00:06:33,750 So why do people do that? 104 00:06:33,750 --> 00:06:35,390 Let's talk about that a little bit. 105 00:06:35,390 --> 00:06:39,750 There are absolutely times throughout America's history where we have failed to live up to 106 00:06:39,750 --> 00:06:42,070 our own ideals and our own principles. 107 00:06:42,070 --> 00:06:46,390 You know, Native Americans, there's issues there, slavery, there's issues there. 108 00:06:46,390 --> 00:06:49,630 And these are absolute real things that did happen. 109 00:06:49,630 --> 00:06:53,150 And for these people, you know, they think, how can we be celebrating a country whose government 110 00:06:53,150 --> 00:06:55,670 has fallen short so many times? 111 00:06:55,670 --> 00:06:57,470 And there are some good points to that. 112 00:06:57,470 --> 00:07:00,990 But is that the point of celebrating the 4th of July? 113 00:07:00,990 --> 00:07:04,750 Celebrating the 4th of July and celebrating the Declaration of Independence, that first, you 114 00:07:04,750 --> 00:07:09,710 know, big declaration that we are our own country, that isn't about whether or not we 115 00:07:09,710 --> 00:07:11,590 have been perfect about something. 116 00:07:11,590 --> 00:07:14,070 It's what were those original ideals? 117 00:07:14,070 --> 00:07:15,510 What did it stand for? 118 00:07:15,510 --> 00:07:20,510 Listen, were the founding fathers, men of their era who were not willing to take a huge 119 00:07:20,510 --> 00:07:24,870 stand against slavery at the time because they were trying to incrementally make some changes? 120 00:07:24,870 --> 00:07:25,870 Absolutely. 121 00:07:25,870 --> 00:07:26,870 That is a very real thing. 122 00:07:26,870 --> 00:07:30,790 But if you read letters from Thomas Jefferson, if you read letters, even journal entries 123 00:07:30,790 --> 00:07:36,310 and letters from George Washington, they understood that slavery was immoral. 124 00:07:36,310 --> 00:07:39,670 They understood that it was the antithesis of freedom. 125 00:07:39,670 --> 00:07:44,990 They understood that every man was born free and ought to have those rights to life, 126 00:07:44,990 --> 00:07:46,510 liberty, and property. 127 00:07:46,510 --> 00:07:48,510 They were not perfect in the execution. 128 00:07:48,510 --> 00:07:49,830 That's absolutely true. 129 00:07:49,830 --> 00:07:52,670 So let's celebrate the spirit of the Declaration. 130 00:07:52,670 --> 00:07:54,510 Let's not celebrate the shortcomings. 131 00:07:54,510 --> 00:07:57,590 Let's say this is what we stood for. 132 00:07:57,590 --> 00:07:59,390 This is why we fought a revolution. 133 00:07:59,390 --> 00:08:00,390 We weren't perfect then. 134 00:08:00,390 --> 00:08:04,750 But let's remember those things and try a little harder to be better the next year and 135 00:08:04,750 --> 00:08:05,910 the next year. 136 00:08:05,910 --> 00:08:07,590 So it's not about shortcomings. 137 00:08:07,590 --> 00:08:09,870 It's about what those ideals were. 138 00:08:09,870 --> 00:08:14,510 And I think that is something worth celebrating because the fact that we have all men are created 139 00:08:14,510 --> 00:08:20,750 equal and our Declaration of Independence, our first document in this country during 1776, 140 00:08:20,750 --> 00:08:21,750 that is huge. 141 00:08:21,750 --> 00:08:25,390 That is something to be looked at in awe and say, wow, were they perfect? 142 00:08:25,390 --> 00:08:29,670 No, but man, that's crazy that we were even founded on such a revolutionary idea. 143 00:08:29,670 --> 00:08:31,950 It shouldn't be, but it was at the time. 144 00:08:31,950 --> 00:08:38,030 So I don't think that it's shameful to be celebrating the country if we have some periods 145 00:08:38,030 --> 00:08:42,310 where we fall in short, of course we have, but it's those ideals that were put forth in 146 00:08:42,310 --> 00:08:47,710 the Declaration that make it worth celebrating and worth remembering. 147 00:08:47,710 --> 00:08:51,830 And to that end, we should be rereading the Declaration every year. 148 00:08:51,830 --> 00:08:56,750 We should be rereading even the Constitution every year and reminding ourselves, this is 149 00:08:56,750 --> 00:08:58,350 what we were supposed to be doing. 150 00:08:58,350 --> 00:08:59,350 Are we doing that? 151 00:08:59,350 --> 00:09:03,630 How can we hold our government accountable to be even closer to the ideals of the Founding 152 00:09:03,630 --> 00:09:04,630 Fathers? 153 00:09:04,630 --> 00:09:06,550 These traditions are so important. 154 00:09:06,550 --> 00:09:11,030 The fireworks, the hot dogs, the hamburgers, those are symbols for a bigger thing, which 155 00:09:11,030 --> 00:09:13,390 is our country's traditions. 156 00:09:13,390 --> 00:09:15,670 We have these traditions just like your family has traditions. 157 00:09:15,670 --> 00:09:18,870 They probably do certain things on birthday celebrations, right? 158 00:09:18,870 --> 00:09:21,750 Or maybe even some Easter celebrations or Christmas traditions. 159 00:09:21,750 --> 00:09:26,390 We have these traditions for holidays that kind of shape who we are as a country and the 160 00:09:26,430 --> 00:09:30,310 values that we center our principles around. 161 00:09:30,310 --> 00:09:34,990 And so I think these traditions are really important as stand-ins, again as symbols for 162 00:09:34,990 --> 00:09:41,670 the greater purpose, which is this belief in liberty and individual rights in our ability 163 00:09:41,670 --> 00:09:46,630 and our capability of living in a free society without government always telling us what to 164 00:09:46,630 --> 00:09:47,630 do. 165 00:09:47,630 --> 00:09:48,630 We need a limited government. 166 00:09:48,630 --> 00:09:53,150 And so these traditions are really important on shaping who Americans are. 167 00:09:53,150 --> 00:09:57,870 We will leave it there for today, but as we're about to celebrate the 250th birthday 168 00:09:57,870 --> 00:10:03,110 of America, which is an even bigger Independence Day celebration than normal, let's really 169 00:10:03,110 --> 00:10:04,390 think about these traditions. 170 00:10:04,390 --> 00:10:05,910 Let's think about why they are important. 171 00:10:05,910 --> 00:10:11,310 Let's think about why it is that we are celebrating the way we are celebrating and what it is 172 00:10:11,310 --> 00:10:12,310 that we are celebrating. 173 00:10:12,310 --> 00:10:16,710 What traditions, what values, what principles are we here to say yes, those are who we are 174 00:10:16,710 --> 00:10:20,430 as American people and we need to really honor them and celebrate them. 175 00:10:20,430 --> 00:10:22,630 So all right, we will wrap it up there. 176 00:10:22,630 --> 00:10:26,430 So as always, don't forget to like and subscribe to the podcast and until next time, I will 177 00:10:26,430 --> 00:10:27,230 talk to you later.