The Washington Post reports:

“Subjects.”

That’s what Thomas Jefferson first wrote in an early draft of the Declaration of Independence to describe the people of the 13 colonies.

But in a moment when history took a sharp turn, Jefferson sought quite methodically to expunge the word, to wipe it out of existence and write over it. Many words were crossed out and replaced in the draft, but only one was obliterated.

Over the smudge, Jefferson then wrote the word “citizens.”

No longer subjects to the crown, the colonists became something different: a people whose allegiance was to one another, not to a faraway monarch.

Scholars of the revolution have long speculated about the “citizens” smear — wondering whether the erased word was “patriots” or “residents” — but now the Library of Congress has determined that the change was far more dramatic.

This act is quite possibly the most direct and profound definition of the United States. The revolution provided humanity with the idea that each man is an individual with rights unto himself. Each man is born to execute his will and his desires and is not born to serve any other man.

The "subject" is a polite slave, but a slave just the same. He is property of the oligarchy. The "citizen" is a free member of a society, accountable to himself and his deeds.

Every political system other than ours defines the population as subjects in one form or another. Socialism, communism and fascism all hold man as a tool of the State and accountable to the State. Democracies likewise hold individuals accountable to the whims of other men. Only a constitutional republic such as ours allows men to travel, speak, write and gather in a way that affords them the freedom.

Have a great 4th of July. The movie reviews return next week.



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Labels: non-film