Imagine if there had never been a Declaration of Independence.
There are, after all, plenty of places once ruled by Britain — Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Belize — that gradually acquired their independence over time. What if the 13colonies had done the same: not broken with the motherland, but gradually drifted from her, becoming a collection of Canadas?
Some historians think had George III possessed a different temperament, that is almost certainly what would have happened. Instead of a Congress and a President, we might have a parliament and a prime minister, as they do in Ottawa.
Thank goodness America did declare independence. Had she not, the world would be a much worse place.
It’s not that I have anything against Canada, or Australia — or indeed my own country, Britain. It’s that the moment Jefferson and asserted the supremacy of natural rights over pre-modern claims of authority, the American model was born. The United States was conceived in the Declaration of Independence, delivered at the Constitutional Convention in 1787, and grew to become the pinnacle of human achievement. The Declaration was the essential moment — the assertion that natural rights come first, and that power flows from We the People.
The longer I live in America, the more I appreciate being here — and the more I realize just how precious and distinctive this country really is. America is the indispensable country. Founded 250 years ago on a document proclaiming the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, today she underwrites those things across much of the planet.
We all know about Elon Musk — a titanic figure of our times, who has built one world-changing technology and industry after another. He is part pioneering engineer in the mold of Nikola Tesla, part businessman in the mold of Vanderbilt, and part hero of liberty in the mold of John Wilkes. But stop and ask a basic question: could Elon have done any of it had he stayed in one of the countries he passed through before he came to America?
Had Musk remained in South Africa, or Canada — or, heaven forbid, moved to Europe — would he have achieved a single one of his achievements?
You only have to ask the question to see the genius of America. The laws of physics are no different here; nor is the air, or the water. It is what Jefferson and set in motion with their signatures 250 years ago.
My only regret about America declaring her independence from Britain? That I missed so much of the first 245 years, having moved here only five years ago.
Douglas Carswell, President & CEO, Mississippi Center for Public Policy.
