A tale about how Ben Franklin invented the US

https://jmsdnns.com/history/july-4th-is-no-birthday/

by jmsdnns • 3 years ago

62 60 3 years ago

jmsdnns.com

bavell• 3 years ago

Headline a little click-baity but good article so far

dang2• 3 years ago

If anyone can suggest a better title, we can edit it

ufmace• 3 years ago

I think it'd be better with the clickbait simply cut out: "A tale about how Ben Franklin invented the US"

systemvoltage3• 3 years ago

Idk, I found the writing style and the incessant snarks distracting from the central message.

jmsdnns11• 3 years ago

This is my first time writing about history. Would you mind elaborating?

jmsdnns11• 3 years ago

It was my intent to describe the article.

The post actually is a tale about how Ben Franklin invented the US, no?

realce• 3 years ago

One of John Adams' famous criticisms of Franklin came in a letter to James Lovell dated April 14, 1781. In it, Adams writes:

"The history of our Revolution will be one continued lie from one end to the other. The essence of the whole will be that Dr. Franklin's electrical rod smote the Earth and out sprang General Washington. That Franklin electrified him with his rod—and henceforth these two conducted all the policy, negotiations, legislatures and war."

aswanson4• 3 years ago

[flagged]

jmsdnns11• 3 years ago

That is probably how Ben Franklin would describe it too, depending on the audience.

bombcar3• 3 years ago

This sounds like a direct quote from Soldier in TF2.

nothingbutthe• 3 years ago

It is the greatest nation if you believe in Locke and human flourishing.

The 20th century fundamentally changed the structure and nature of the US, and has since just been war, empire and fleecing the poor, the middle class and soon the rich.

vkou• 3 years ago

It's a little odd for a nation that invented democracy and freedom to have human chattel slavery as a government policy in checks notes 1863.

Freedom and democracy for some people at the expense of others wasn't exactly a novel invention, you could look back to other slave societies like ancient Athens for it.

croes3• 3 years ago

Dangerous times for sarcasm

smcin3• 3 years ago

Very funny. America is nowhere near "the oldest nation on earth".

Denmark has existed as a unified country since the 8th century AD [https://japan.um.dk/en/about-denmark/denmark/history]

San Marino since 301 AD [https://www.timetravelturtle.com/visiting-san-marino-oldest-...]

and many others.

Let's make revisionism fun: "Asterix in the USA" (1994 film): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asterix_Conquers_America

RichardCA• 3 years ago

The story of Franklin's role in the history of Physics almost never gets told properly.

The PBS Mechanical Universe series did a good job with it, given that they only had 25 minutes to work with.

https://youtu.be/N72oYRZvFzA

russellbeattie• 3 years ago

"...he means well for his Country, is always an honest Man, often a wise one, but sometimes, and in some things, absolutely out of his senses."

- Ben Franklin in a letter about how Adams is (to paraphrase) a clueless, paranoid, anti-social, self-righteous loudmouth. Adams had issues.

krapp2• 3 years ago

Bit of the pot calling the kettle black, there.

RcouF1uZ4gsC• 3 years ago

July 4th is the US’s birthday.

The article is describing the conception and pregnancy of the US.

akomtu• 3 years ago

The authors don't understand what birthday means.

jmsdnns11• 3 years ago

No, it isnt. July 4th happened after the Union was already a thing.

tedunangst• 3 years ago

I mean, your birthday also happens after you are already a thing.

parineum2• 3 years ago

Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the Declaration of Independence, which was ratified by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing the United States of America.
The main thing to understand, before I go into detail, is that the Declaration of Independence is one of the founding documents, but it did not create a nation. Some of the colonists got together and wrote a historically eloquent letter to the world that basically said, “ayyyy England, F your king!”

Saying "F your king" is an integral part in being independent of England which is a prerequisite to being an independent nation. The Declaration of Independence established the United States as an independent nation. Any previous forms of the United States would have been a colony of England.

The Continental Association is first time the colonies expressed a collective will to work together in the form of a legal document. It was published October 20, 1774 but went into effect December 1, 1774. The US does not observe December 1 as a national holiday, though it should. It is barely in the cultural memory at all.

The Continental Association is, essentially, where the colonies got together and discussed the idea of independence. The word "colonies" is a dead giveaway. After July 4th, there were no more colonies.

"The Union", referred to by Lincoln. Is not synonymous with the Nation.

The independent nation of the United States of America declared its sovereignty on July 4th, 1776. That's the "correct" way to think about July 4th, aka Independence Day.

exabrial• 3 years ago

I prefer to think of it as April 19, 1775

wdkrnls• 3 years ago

That was just a dispute about taxation. January 10, 1776 was when the clarion call sounded.

jmsdnns11• 3 years ago

Yes! That is how I think of it too.

They had crossed the chasm and the second adoption bump was starting to explode.

1776 is also the year Adam Smith published Wealth of Nations, and Thomas Paine published Common Sense.

dabluecaboose• 3 years ago

The battles of Lexington and Concord were not (directly) about taxation. It was over confiscation of militia cannons and other weapons.

arbuge• 3 years ago

He got the French on-board with the US cause by repeatedly lying to French leaders about how well the war against the British was going! He told them the colonies were kicking ass left n right and he urged them to join in while English ass was still available. History books typically mention the shock of the French when they arrived in the colonies and find Washington’s Army in poor health, with many barely clothed at all, but they don’t usually say why they were so shocked. The truth here is classic Franklin. The French Army would already be fighting by the time France learned of it, and Franklin could surely find a way to talk himself out of that.

Smart. Exploiting the fact that transatlantic communications took a couple of months at the time. Franklin would have had to use a different strategy today!

thisisit• 3 years ago

One if the earliest examples of fake it till you make it?

A tale about how Ben Franklin invented the US

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