Declaration of Independence

Independence Day 2017 – July 4 – Happy Birthday America!

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“The American, by nature, is optimistic. He is experimental, an inventor, and a builder who builds best when called upon to build greatly.” – – John F. Kennedy

Happy Birthday America!!

On July 4th, in the United States of America, we celebrate our  freedom, liberty, and nationalism with festive Independence Day celebrations! Whether you are celebrating locally (see Deerfield Family Days information) or out of town, it’s always nice to reflect on our national freedom, our country’s history, and about what the foundation of our culture is based! We should give thanks and take pause at the realization that we are free and we live in a society that aims to give liberty and justice to all.

The United States culture is complex. It is one of mixing, melding, combining, and evolving. The public schools in the United States serve to protect and preserve the democratic way of life as well as promote the American “culture”. Part of our culture is a fierce belief in self-governance, voice, vote, representation, and input. Part of our culture is the rich integration of cultures, races, creeds, languages, customs from all corners of the world. Part of our culture is patriotism and allegiance to our flag and our core values.

As we embark on the celebration of freedom and independence in 2017, it’s essential, in my opinion, for we Americans to look very deeply at our core values. To what do we now hold self-evident? Is it still life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Is that what unites us and drives us toward our uniquely free lives? Is it pride in success, growth, creativity, innovation, accomplishment, strength that unites and drives us toward our patriotism?

All of the above probably … whatever makes a US citizen, resident, friend, etc. “American” and whatever motivates us to guard our Bill of Rights, our Constitution, our freedom, our inalienable rights to pursue happiness, enjoy liberty and live our lives without excessive governmental interference; whatever makes us American and proud and patriotic comes alive on the 4th of July. As we celebrate the birthday of perhaps the greatest nation of all time, the long running experiment in limited government, it’s nice to take the time to be proud of our heritage and contemplate our future as we never forget our past.

 

Historical Fun Facts: In a remarkable coincidence, both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, the only signers of the Declaration of Independence later to serve as Presidents of the United States, died on the same day: July 4, 1826, which was the 50th anniversary of the Declaration. Although not a signer of the Declaration of Independence, but another Founding Father who became a President, James Monroe, died on July 4, 1831, thus becoming the third President in a row who died on this memorable day.Calvin Coolidge, the 30th President, was born on July 4, 1872, and, so far, is the only President to have been born on Independence Day.

Observance

  • In 1777, thirteen gunshots were fired in salute, once at morning and once again as evening fell, on July 4 in Bristol, Rhode Island. Philadelphia celebrated the first anniversary in a manner a modern American would find quite familiar: an official dinner for the Continental Congress, toasts, 13-gun salutes, speeches, prayers, music, parades, troop reviews, and fireworks. Ships were decked with red, white, and blue bunting.[13]
  • In 1791 the first recorded use of the name “Independence Day” occurred.[citation needed]
  • In 1870, the U.S. Congress made Independence Day an unpaid holiday for federal employees.[16]
  • In 1938, Congress changed Independence Day to a paid federal holiday.[17]

 

Independence Day fireworks are often accompanied by patriotic songs such as the national anthem “The Star-Spangled Banner“, “God Bless America“, “America the Beautiful“, “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee“, “This Land Is Your Land“, “Stars and Stripes Forever“, and, regionally, “Yankee Doodle” in northeastern states and “Dixie” in southern states. Some of the lyrics recall images of the Revolutionary War or the War of 1812.

 

Learn from the past to disrupt and create the future

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“If you try to do something and fail, you are vastly better off than if you had tried nothing and succeeded.”
– Lloyd Jones

The old state house in Boston, MA. The balcony is where the Declaration of Independence was read publicly in 1776 and 1976.
The old state house in Boston, MA. The balcony is where the Declaration of Independence was read publicly in 1776 and 1976.

Often I write about our need to prepare for the future and how our education system must innovate and change in order to stay relevant in our world. Professionally I have served in many educational roles from social studies teacher to school administrator. When teaching social studies to eighth and sixth grade students I endeavored to bring history to life and make social studies the most engaging class it could be. I have learned and I have often reflected on the quote from Shakespeare: “What is past is prologue” and that we should learn from the past to prepare our future.

Arguably more has changed in our society in the past five years than in the previous two hundred and the rate of change, disruption, innovation, creativity, etc. is moving at a tremendous pace. Perhaps the pace is too fast for the education system. Perhaps the pace is too fast for educators and leaders and communities. Perhaps – but I think that in partnership toward the same ends, the community public school system can change, I submit it has changed in many areas, and with foresight and an understanding of the complexities of the past we can and we do prepare our students for their futures.

A friend shared the following story with me about a tale of foresight from New Oxford College in Cambridge. Its message speaks volumes about impact and legacy. The actions of today have impacts and are far-reaching in more ways than we often know. That we lay a foundation of innovation I submit will oxford_1410375cserve to prepare the future generations and equip them to thrive in whatever society throws at them. Our challenges include seeing as far ahead as we can while we establish learning environments and systems that will sustain our way of life, culture, and education system.

In the 1300s at Cambridge University in England, a chapel was constructed for one of the colleges. The vaulted roof was supported by huge beams fashioned from old-growth oak. Seven hundred years later, the beams had so deteriorated that the roof was in danger of collapsing. The building required extensive renovation, including replacing the beams. But where, in our time, could those repairing the building find giant oak trees of such an age and quality as had been available to the original builders?

The answer lay right outside the chapel door. The original builders of the chapel had known that at some point far in the future, the structure would need new oak beams, and so they had planted acorns in the churchyard. Over the centuries, a grove of oak trees had grown to full maturity.

• The vision of those chapel builders—to ensure the survival of the chapel— extended hundreds of years into the future.
• Their mission—planting the acorns as a means of achieving the vision—was a step-by-step process that required planning and organization.
• Their vision and their mission were built upon their values—a solid foundation that gave direction and meaning to those things they set out to achieve.

**note the story above, while popular, is not 100% factually accurate: “…Somewhere on the land owned by the New College are oaks that are, or will one day, be worthy of use in the great hall, assuming that they are managed in the same way they were before. It is in this management by the Forester in which lies the point. Ultimately, while the story is perhaps apocryphal, the idea of replacing and managing resources for the future, and the lesson in long term thinking is not. In conjunction with the Long Now Foundation. Modified from original video and text by Stewart Brand at the Long Now Blog. –this information was retrieved on the web

 

We today are the acorn planters for the future! In public schools we can and we must ensure that our impact is everlasting and purposeful. The social experiment called the United States of America is still working and we can reclaim our rightful place in the community of nations by planting the right acorns today! The concept of bold, disruptive change and innovation is strong and our charge in education is to be bold like our founding fathers were in Revolutionary times.

Like they wrote in the Declaration of IndependenceDeclaration-of-Independence, our founders wrote:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”, and they close this powerful document with “…And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor”.

They risked their lives, sacred honor and good fortune in pursuit of what they believed. The did not know for certain it would work – and they could have been killed – in fact many were killed in support of the Declaration. The point is What is past is prologue – we learn from bold leaders upon whose honor our nation was founded to guide our bold work in support of our futures!

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