Happy 4th

Happy 4th of July 2023 from across the pond. I don’t know all the details of this holiday but I know it’s important over there.

I know it’s independence day, and that there was the Boston Tea Party and the declaration of independence. We don’t have a written constitution here and we don’t pledge allegiance to the flag.

I hope today is harmonious and friendly for you. That you have fond memories of the day. Wishing you all the best X

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16 thoughts on “Happy 4th”

  1. Many countries in the world — like Britain — evolved over centuries. The US was invented and had to define itself. A constitution is just a statement defining the laws of a nation. In school I learned that the Magna Carta was the beginning of what became the Declaration of Independence in the US. They share a lot of the same principles.

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      3. I have a British ancestor who was the lord mayor of London during the Tudors. Another, a Scot who fought in the battle of Dunbar, was a prisoner of war, made an indentured servant in Barbados, ended up in Maryland, got his freedom… Others came from Ireland during “the starvin'”. Kennedy, obviously. I am MOSTLY some kind of British — 3/4. Thank god or I’d have NO sense of humor! The rest is 25% Swiss and Scandinavian and some other random stuff. I imagine most of you Brits have some kind of distant relative over here. When I was teaching international students they thought it was strange that many of us know where our ancestors came from. They didn’t realize how many of our customs are from our European ancestors, but a lot of Americans don’t, either. We’re not really a “new country.” More an extension of other countries. People here don’t think of us that way, but it’s true. Since I wrote about my Swiss ancestors, I have a deep appreciation for what that migration cost people. I was in Switzerland in the 90s standing on a dock beside the Rhine. It had a date over the doorway, 1649. I saw that and I knew in that moment what they left behind. I don’t think I could have done that, but it also made me realize how bad things had to have been for many of them — famine, religious wars and persecution, all that. I prefer Europe now, but I think of the years of the migration? It was pretty bad over there.

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      5. That generosity is a problem here. The far right is opposed to it. My Swedish ancestors (my grandmother’s mother and father) came through Ellis Island in the late 19th century. The rest were here long before. For my Swiss Mennonite ancestors (1743) who came here (Pennsylvania) the English law had a beautiful and kind solution to the problem of oaths. Mennonites don’t take oaths. The English law respected that and all it required of them was that they say they had no allegiance to any foreign nation. Mennonites only allegiance was to God. I think that’s very cool of the British crown. There are a lot of good stories…

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      13. That’s cool. I learned about it relative to American history, how there is a British tradition about resisting bad kings. I dimly remember an illustration in my text book of King John and the angry lords. 6th grade — 12 years old.

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