The force of morality. Although I have to admit that isn’t what won the revolutionary war and gained our independence, it was the impetus. Akin to religious conviction the force of morality will make people do the impossible.

We weren’t supposed to win that war. If there had been a Vegas at that time the odds would have been quite high. But we got help from France and Spain. In 1763 France lost all their north American colonies to the British. They joined us in the hope of regaining some power and prestige in Europe. Spain joined in for most of the same reasons.

It was the force of morality that existed in the American colonists that drove them to rebellion. Taxation without representation and all of that. Not much different from today when hearing about LGBTQ+ communities and other groups being marginalized. It’s an appeal to morality.

We made our declaration. We cited the laws of nature and nature’s God as a basis for that declaration. A morality statement! We were endowed by our creator. A carefully phrased sentence designed not to ruffle the feathers of any religious groups. The creator being a generic term in that case.

Here’s the thing, morality is determined by the majority. All morality is subjective; there is nothing objective about it. Law attempts to codify a societies morality. It’s why we called ourselves the UNITED states. The idea was to create a government that combined all the moral values of the colonists.

It took 116 days of debate, of concessions made, and ideals expressed to write the constitution. It wasn’t signed until 1787. That was a full eleven years after the declaration. Four years later the first ten amendments were added to that document. There was great concern for the morality of government! The bill of rights protects the people from the government.

Today we celebrate the year 1776 as the birth of the nation. It’s been 250 years. Has the morality of the nation changed? Yes, the answer has to be, it certainly has. We are all aware of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments, a definite shift in morality. The 19th gave women the right to vote. (1920) The 24th concerned a poll tax. And then in 1971 the voting age lowered to 18.

Now the big debate centers around just who is a citizen. Is it really anyone born in America? Was that the intent in the fourteenth amendment? I don’t believe that. A reconstruction amendment, it was focused on morality. “All persons” in the context of that amendment meant former slaves or indentured servants. It was an affirmation of their humanity, not nationality.

It has to be understood that prior to that, generally speaking, the holding of slaves wasn’t considered immoral. There was no law delineating that at the federal level. No mention of slaves or slavery appear anywhere in the constitution of the United States.

It was one of those hotly debated topics when writing that document. A compromise between morals and political and financial expediency was reached. They are contained in four clauses, a very uneasy compromise. The 14th amendment made it clear that it was, indeed, immoral.

That debate was settled! A shift in morality at the national level. As we all know, morality remains at a personal level and isn’t always in compliance with the national. The Jim Crowe laws being a prime example of all that.

Morality and Patriotism would, in an ideal world, be in lock step. If all the world shared the same moral fabric that would be so. We don’t. The United States of America, with our Constitution, our Republic, is an attempt at just that. We do so by the exclusion of any religious tests, or official governmental recognition; instead relying upon the moral force of, We the People! God Bless America. May the creator bless America.