Goodwill, Freedom, Justice, and Opportunity

The Fourth of July has always been a special holiday to me. I can’t say specifically why, though it has to do with observing my parents’ reverence for our nation as a young child. My family has a VHS tape of the 1992 Fourth of July celebration at Cal Expo in Sacramento, CA, when I was 10 years old. The fireworks display was incredible, like nothing I had ever seen. My dad had briefly turned the camera towards me, and he caught me in a moment of absolute awe — my mouth was hanging open, and 

Dalton Shotwell

the vibrant colorful flashes from the fireworks could be seen reflecting off the tears in my eyes. I was as proud of my country as any 10-year-old boy could be, and this fireworks show was reinforcing my young belief that it is worthwhile and good to love and celebrate our nation and its story. My love for our nation has only grown since then.

It might also just be in my blood — down the family line, I can list General Artemas Ward (second in command behind George Washington himself during the Revolutionary War), as well as the second and sixth presidents, John Adams and his son John Quincy Adams, as members of my direct family lineage. My paternal grandmother’s maiden name was Ward, and my maternal grandmother’s maiden name was Adams — no idea where Shotwell comes from though …

I used to study U.S. revolutionary history quite a bit. My first declared major in college was in U.S. History (but I changed it once I realized just how much reading and writing were required … I did want to have some kind of social life … and I did meet Jenny in choir, after all!). So I’ve always held with great admiration the accomplishments, the risks taken, the challenges engaged, and the steadfast determination of the people who created the nation we live in today. In my opinion, it is nothing short of a miracle that the colonists of the late 1700s were somehow able to fend off the greatest military power on earth and create a new nation unlike any other that had ever existed, with new founding laws that put unprecedented control into the hands of its citizenry. We take it for granted today, virtually 250 years removed from those events, but it is truly one of the greatest stories in human history. It really should not have worked out. At all. But it did.

(Fun big-word-of-the-day -- next year’s celebration will be the “Semiquincentennial” Fourth of July … go impress your friends with that one at this year’s BBQ! If you can even say it …). 

Somehow, our Constitution made it out of the battlefield and into our halls of government and has remained ever since. And certainly not without problems and challenges! That’s obvious enough, and there’s no reason here to go into the various and very serious internal problems this nation has had to overcome (and is currently overcoming, and will continue to overcome). But that’s one of the most beautiful and genius things about our Constitution -- it was designed to be flexible for the inevitable and ceaseless changes of the future, so brilliant was the historical foresight from the likes of Jefferson, Madison, and Adams, just to name a few. 

Now, this is a church blog. I haven’t mentioned God at all so far. And I’ll be honest, I’ve been delaying so far and avoiding it as I write this. Adding God to the equation of the American Revolution can be a sticky subject for many people, I understand that. I wanted to write about our nation’s founding, particularly because I’ve always loved the topic. But this is a church blog, not a history blog. So --

As a Christian and as a student of our national history, I have my own beliefs about these things. And with the utmost respect toward all other views, I personally believe it was in God’s will to assist this nation in its founding. I feel like evidence of His influence is everywhere when one looks back at the story of the Revolution and all that has happened since. Just as no human is perfect and has plenty of sin to go around, we are still God’s perfect creations in His eyes, each one of us. And I see our nation in the same way. Despite whatever problems we’ve encountered internally or created at times as a nation, the United States has still done, and continues to do, more good for more people all over the world than any other collection of people in the history of the world. 

There is something in our national DNA that puts goodwill, freedom, justice, and opportunity at the top of the list of the description of our national identity. And we have to work hard to make sure those priorities hold strong against evolving challenges. But so far, though a roller coaster at times, we have only improved over time as a nation. This DNA comes from the remarkably intelligent conversations and cooperation between our nation’s founders, and nearly all of those founders were deeply influenced by human history and, most importantly, their faith in God. 

The governing principles of our nation are political and regard only our earthly human realm — on purpose and for good reason. But there is no question that the faith of the founders played a leading role in the elegance and Christ-like intent that can be seen all over our founding charters and documents, to say nothing of their copious personal correspondence. The founders wanted to take humanity one step closer to that seemingly unachievable “city on a hill”, and in my opinion, they did. And it’s a national achievement in which we can take some pride and celebrate as benefactors. Not with the pridefulness that Jesus warns us to avoid, but with a grateful reverence for what those generations sacrificed and created as an improved model for all humankind. A new society guided by the divine wisdom and teachings of Jesus, without codifying it into literal law – preserving God’s promise of free will along with His charge to us to willingly follow Him, regardless, though a moral and just society, if we can make one. That was and continues to be our main task as a nation. And I believe we’ll get there. 

But that's just what I think. Whatever our gloriously varying modern opinions might be on our founding, this nation truly is special in the story of humanity, and the least it deserves is to celebrate its birthday. Fire up the grill. 

I’ll end with a quote from my cherished … great-great-great grand-something-or-other, John Quincy Adams. Shortly after his time as the nation’s sixth president, he was a vice president in 1830 of what was called the American Bible Society. In a letter that he wrote in response to an invitation to attend an anniversary of the group, he wrote the following, which I think sums up the optimistic view of the nation’s future that many leaders had during those early decades of our nation:
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"The hope of a Christian is inseparable from his faith. Whoever believes in the divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures must hope that the religion of Jesus shall prevail throughout the earth. Never since the foundation of the world have the prospects of mankind been more encouraging to that hope than they appear to be at the present time. And may the associated distribution of the Bible proceed and prosper till the Lord shall have made 'bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God'
(Isaiah 52:10).”

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Happy 249th Fourth of July to everyone! Gotta start thinking about my semiquincentennial plans for next year …

In Christ’s eternal hope,
Dalton

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Bonus Reading

(Bonus reading and another fun fact for those who are still tolerant of my propensity to pontificate prolifically … I just love this little bit of trivia, and I have to include it. 

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, most of the time, were very close friends. Though often opposed to each other’s political philosophies, they influenced each other as individuals as much as they influenced the founding of the nation. The two are inseparably intertwined with each other and our nation’s story. They were our second and third presidents, respectively. 

And they both died on the same day, unbeknownst to each, within about five hours of each other, on the 4th of July, 1826 — exactly 50 years after the Declaration occurred. On his father’s passing, John Quincy Adams wrote of the timing as, “visible and palpable remarks of divine favor.” Senator Daniel Webster agreed while giving a eulogy on both of their lives, saying that they were “proofs that our country and its benefactors are objects of His care.”

I’d have to agree. Furthermore, the fifth president, James Monroe, also died exactly five years later on the 4th of July in 1831, and the fourth president, James Madison, died on … well, June 28th, 1836. Imagine, though, just six days longer… it was almost a reality that the second, third, fourth, and fifth presidents all would have died on the 4th of July! Imagine the anxiety that John Quincy Adams, our sixth president, might have felt each time the 4th rolled around …).