America, what have you done with your promise of freedom?
“In this building, the 56 Founding Fathers signed the Declaration on July 4, 1776…Here, in Carpenters’ Hall, the very idea of American independence was born…In this cemetery, Benjamin Franklin is buried, while George Washington lived here. There is the home of Betsy Ross, who made the country’s first flag, my favorite, with thirteen stars in a circle. » At 76, Clark DeLeon is inexhaustible about the history of his city, Philadelphia. For around ten years, this former journalist has devoted his days to visiting the emblematic places of the first steps of the independent United States. The famous star-spangled banner adorns it from head to toe. “These clothes say my love for my country, not my political opinions,” he says, to warn that he does not hold Donald Trump in his esteem. “We are the land of the free, and we now have the most dangerous President in history. »
“There is an original sin. Freedom is proclaimed and yet hundreds of thousands of people are reduced to slavery while Native American populations are decimated. »
Ludivine Gilli Specialist in the United States and director of the North America Observatory of the Jean-Jaurès Foundation
This promise of freedom is at the very heart of the 1776 text: “We hold the following truths to be self-evident: all men are created equal; they are endowed by the Creator with certain inalienable rights; among these rights are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. » For the Insurgents of 1776, freedom first of all meant governing themselves, without a king or foreign power. It also means limiting the power of the State, guaranteeing freedoms of expression and religion, protecting property and allowing everyone to build their success, which will produce the pioneering spirit. This promise will fuel the conquest of the West, attract millions of immigrants to rebuild their lives and give birth to the myth of the American dream.
“There is an original sin,” notes Ludivine Gilli, specialist in the United States and director of the North America Observatory of the Jean-Jaurès Foundation. Freedom is proclaimed and yet hundreds of thousands of people are reduced to slavery while Native American populations are decimated. » And if slavery was abolished in 1865, almost a century after the Declaration of Independence, segregationist laws persisted for a hundred more years in the Southern states.
The silence of the Liberty Bell
However, the counter-powers hold firm. Federal courts have suspended several Trump administration measures. The states are also challenging several Washington decisions before the judges. Above all, America is less divided than it seems. “Surveys show that Americans agree on many major issues, whether taxes and redistribution, gun control or even health,” observes Ludivine Gilli. The situation could therefore calm down, especially once Donald Trump leaves the political game, his person exacerbating passions on both sides.
In Philadelphia, more than historic buildings or streets, Independence is symbolized by an imposing bell, the Liberty Bell. Around its edge, an inscription, a quote from Leviticus: “You will proclaim freedom throughout the land for all its inhabitants. » According to legend, it resonated on July 4, 1776, in the wake of the Declaration of Independence. Weighing almost a ton, it is now silent, crossed by a large crack. As a sign that freedom is fragile and never guaranteed. ” There Liberty Bell resonates even louder now that it is silent,” smiles Clark DeLeon. Quite a symbol.
Sincerity of the vote
Today, it is less the promise of freedom than the democratic framework that seems under attack. “Federal agencies are closed without notice, powers are transferred from the legislative branch to the executive, private universities see their teaching put under supervision, the National Guard is deployed illegally while ICE (the immigration police) has seen its members replaced by fanatics to make it a political police force which shows that the federal state can strike wherever it wants,” says Romuald Sciora, director of the United States Political and Geostrategic Observatory of the Institute of international and strategic relations (Iris).
Ludivine Gilli adds the attack against another pillar of the democratic system: respect for the verdict of the ballot boxes. “As the events of January 6, 2021 showed (the assault on the Capitol, editor’s note), Donald Trump’s rhetoric aimed at undermining confidence in the sincerity of the vote worked with his base. What will happen next November for the mid-term elections, if the presidential camp loses? »
Two and a half centuries of history
1607 – British colonists founded their first permanent colony, at Jamestown, in present-day Virginia.
1776 – 56 representatives from the different colonies sign the Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson.
1787 – A compromise between the federal government and the federated states, the American Constitution is adopted. It is still in force.
1791 – Adoption of the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments guaranteeing in particular freedom of expression, religion and assembly.
1865 – End of the Civil War and abolition of slavery.
1929 – The Wall Street crash plunges the country, and soon the world, into the Great Depression.
[1945- The United States emerged as the big winners of the Second World War and was then the only nuclear power. They are taking the lead in the Western world.
1965 – The Voting Act definitively put an end to the segregationist laws known as Jim Crow laws.
2001 – The attacks of September 11, 2001 caused the United States to experience the deadliest attack in its history.
2021 – Supporters of Donald Trump are contesting the results of the presidential election showing him the loser. They are trying to storm the Capitol, a symbol of American democracy.
