LISNews: Librarian News

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A happy Fourth of July to you! Hope you enjoy this picture of this decked out gas pump from Douglas Depot.

As you celebrate the 4th, I hope you will take a moment to read the Declaration of Independence, some of the other primary documents of the revolution, or perhaps an official history of the revolution.

Perusing these documents, I find the Founders to be men (and presumably women) who questioned authority. If they followed the instructions of today's political elites on both sides of the aisle, they would have never broken away from the lawful gov't of Great Britain. Their lives were secure, they had a mostly free press and they had the same "virtual representation" afforded to most Englishmen in the mother country.

They not only questioned being a part of a state without direct representation, they dared to criticize the government's arrangements for national security.

According to our own government, the colonials would not pay for their own defense as required by the British Executive (Emphasis mine):

More serious in its repercussions was the new British revenue policy. London needed more money to support its growing empire and faced growing taxpayer discontent at home. It seemed reasonable enough that the colonies should pay for their own defense. That would involve new taxes, levied by Parliament -- at the expense of colonial self-government.

The first step was the replacement of the Molasses Act of 1733, which placed a prohibitive duty, or tax, on the import of rum and molasses from non-English areas, with the Sugar Act of 1764. This act outlawed the importation of foreign rum; it also put a modest duty on molasses from all sources and levied taxes on wines, silks, coffee, and a number of other luxury items. The hope was that lowering the duty on molasses would reduce the temptation to smuggle the commodity from the Dutch and French West Indies for the rum distilleries of New England. The British government enforced the Sugar Act energetically. Customs officials were ordered to show more effectiveness. British warships in American waters were instructed to seize smugglers, and "writs of assistance," or warrants, authorized the king's officers to search suspected premises.

Both the duty imposed by the Sugar Act and the measures to enforce it caused consternation among New England merchants. They contended that payment of even the small duty imposed would be ruinous to their businesses. Merchants, legislatures, and town meetings protested the law. Colonial lawyers protested "taxation without representation," a slogan that was to persuade many Americans they were being oppressed by the mother country.

Any people can follow orders from their government. It takes Americans to question their government and try to make something better. Any people can accept whatever their government does as the price to "keep us safe." It takes Americans to question the measures of our leaders and insist we live up to our original values.

Happy Independence Day!