sociedad y valores estadounidenses.
Por Andrei Illias
E pluribus unum. "De muchos, uno."
Este fue el lema que un patriota incluyó en el escudo nacional de las Colonias Unidas durante la revolución. Hasta la fecha, Estados Unidos celebra con fervor casi religioso lo que logró el Cuatro de Julio de 1776: independencia, libertad y soberanía.
La forma en que los estadounidenses deciden celebrar el cumpleaños de su nación, sin embargo, es tan diversa e individualista como ellos mismos. Lo celebran con amigos, con la familia, con extraños, tanto en el país como en el exterior, con compatriotas y con extranjeros. Es una tradición tan antigua e incrustada en la psiquis estadounidense como el país mismo. "Que el Cuatro de Julio, ese día glorioso y memorable, sea celebrado en todo Estados Unidos por los hijos de la libertad, por siglos y siglos, hasta que el tiempo deje de existir", escribió un revolucionario 
estadounidense.
¿Pero qué evento es el que conmemoran realmente los estadounidenses? ¿Qué hace que "éste, el día de fiesta más típicamente estadounidense" sea la base de toda una sociedad? ¿Como une a los estadounidenses, no importa de donde vengan o cuáles sean sus opiniones? Los estadounidenses pueden acordar estar en desacuerdo, es uno de sus derechos más inalienables, pero todos están de acuerdo en celebrar el Cuatro de Julio. El congresista Lee Hamilton describió la diversidad de las festividades como "una celebración maravillosa del nacimiento de nuestro país .... Celebramos de muchas formas diferentes, pero son todas actividades organizadas alrededor de la familia y de los amigos".
Cuando los estadounidenses celebran el Cuatro de Julio, recuerdan que "los padres de nuestra patria, con pelucas y ... levitas con adornos de encajes, se reunieron y debatieron, y con una tremenda ansiedad, y con delicadeza e ingenio, urdieron la trama del tejido de nuestra nación, en medio de un verano de calor bochornoso e insectos pululantes, propio de la Filadelfia de antes del advenimiento del aire acondicionado y los pesticidas", escribió John Updike.
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El 7 de junio de 1776, Richard Lee, delegado por Virginia, elevó ante el Segundo Congreso Continental la cuestión más urgente jamás presentada ante esa entidad. Declaró que "estas Colonias Unidas son y por derecho deben serlo, estados libres e independientes; eximidos de toda lealtad a la corona británica y todo vínculo político entre ellas y el estado de Gran Bretaña es y debe ser totalmente disuelto".
Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman y Robert Livingston fueron nombrados para redactar la declaración formal de independencia. El documento afirmaba lo que ha llegado a ser el punto de apoyo de la ideología política estadounidense durante más de dos siglos: "Sostenemos como verdades evidentes que todos los hombres nacen iguales; que a todos les confiere su Creador ciertos derechos inalienables, entre los cuales están la vida, la libertad y la búsqueda de la felicidad; que para garantizar estos derechos los hombres instituyen gobiernos que derivan sus justos poderes del consentimiento de los gobernados; que siempre que una forma de gobierno tienda a destruir esos fines, el pueblo tiene derecho a reformarla o abolirla, a instituir un nuevo gobierno".
El Cuatro de Julio de 1776 los representantes de 12 colonias ratificaron el documento, y la decimotercera colonia lo hizo el nueve. El Congreso había declarado, en teoría, el derecho de todo norteamericano a participar en el gobierno. Cuando se leyó la declaración en alta voz en la "Plaza de la Independencia" en Filadelfia, los ciudadanos celebraron el acontecimiento con gritos de júbilo, desfiles y toque de campanas. Se había concebido un nuevo país en las mentes de los "padres de la patria", pero todavía faltaba pasar por la experiencia del parto.
El fervor por la independencia se afirmó fuertemente entre las colonias y norteamérica se encontró en guerra con la potencia occidental más grande del siglo XVIII, Gran Bretaña. "De tanto en tanto debe reavivarse el árbol de la libertad con la sangre de patriotas y tiranos", escribió Thomas Jefferson. Habría de ser necesaria la determinación de las colonias unidas para nacer del movimiento revolucionario. En octubre de 1781 el ejército continental aceptó la rendición de las tropas británicas en las colonias en Yorktown, terminando así en efecto la lucha de Gran Bretaña por mantener sus posesiones en el Nuevo Mundo. En la década subsiguiente Estados Unidos eligió su primer presidente, el héroe de la Guerra de la Revolución, George Washington.
No pasó mucho tiempo antes de que los estadounidenses se dieran cuenta del significado de su recientemente adquirido día de fiesta. El primer Cuatro de Julio fue celebrado el 2 de julio de 1777. Quizá los "padres de la patria" exageraron un poco su fervor anticipando el cumpleaños de la nación, pero pronto se estableció la fecha del cuatro, día en que se ratificó la declaración.
El Cuatro de Julio no es simplemente el aniversario de un solo evento, sino un ejercicio en libertad estadounidense. La diversidad de la celebración quizá explique su atracción casi universal para los estadounidenses. "La libertad", ha escrito el socialista contemporáneo Robert Bellah, "es quizá el valor de mayor resonancia y de mayor profundidad para los estadounidenses. En cierta forma define lo bueno tanto en la vida personal como política. Con todo, resulta que la libertad significa que los demás lo dejen a uno en paz; que no se le impongan los valores, las ideas o el tipo de vida de otros; vivir libre de autoridad arbitraria en el trabajo, la familia y la esfera política. Qué es lo que uno podría hacer con esa libertad es mucho más difícil de definir para los estadounidenses".
John Adams dijo del Cuatro de Julio que "Debe celebrarse con pompa y desfiles, con espectáculos, juegos y deportes, salvas de cañones, campanas, fogatas y luces, de una a otra punta de este continente, de este momento en adelante y para siempre". Cada verano se anuncia la llegada de la fiesta nacional con banderas al aire, meriendas al aire libre en las tardes y la venta de grandes cantidades de fuegos artificiales. Los estadounidenses contemporáneos celebran la fecha del nacimiento de su nación con la recreación de la lectura de la Declaración de Independencia en Boston; una carrera de automóviles a la cumbre del Pico Pike, de 4.300 metros, en Colorado; un "Festival Internacional de la Libertad" en Detroit; rodeos en Arizona y un Concurso Nacional de Pintura de Cercas en Missouri. Filadelfia prolonga sus festividades en su "Semana de la Libertad".
Este próximo Cuatro de Julio, al acercarse el atardecer, se reunirán las multitudes en pequeños pueblos y ciudades en todo el país; retumbarán unos pocos fuegos artificiales anticipados. Los vecinos harán su picnic unos juntos a otros. Y, finalmente un cohete ascenderá hacia el cielo y explotará en un calidoscopio de colores. El ritual más antiguo del país habrá llegado a su clímax y los estadounidenses sabrán que son libres. Los muchos se convierten en uno.
Publicado: 4 julio 1998 Actualizado:
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Independence Day July 4th * |
"The Star Spangled Banner"
The Defense of Fort McHenry
by Francis Scott Key
20 September 1814
Oh, say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines on the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! O long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wiped out their foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner forever shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
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“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” |
The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen ColoniesIn CONGRESS, July 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
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. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain [George III] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained, and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies, without the consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
- For protecting them by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
- For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
- For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
- For depriving us in many cases of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
- For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
- For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
- For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
- For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms. Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren.
- We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us.
- We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here.
- We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence.
They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare.
That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown,
and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved;
and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce,
and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.
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.
The signers of the Declaration represented the new States as follows:
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samual Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
