Digital collection at LOC shows ongoing battle for freedom

On July 4, 2010 it may seem to many that we face problems with our government today unlike any other time in US history. While the size of our government is unprecedented (and the spending), studying materials in the digital collections at The Library of Congress proves previous generations engaged in the same battle for freedom we find ourselves today. [Article continues after photo.]

President George Washington is shown surrounded by head-and-shoulder portraits of presidents up to the year 1933. Signers of the US Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are also shown. Published in celebration of Washington's bicentennial, 1932, copied by H. Shobbrook Collins. [US Library of Congress]
Our founders had heated debates about the powers of government, and by the Civil War era, the debates became so fractured that it is a miracle we survived it.

The issues vary, but the effort to preserve freedom is, at the heart of things, a basic effort. And it is a natural effort because there is no species on Earth that will not seek freedom and habitat, regardless of the presence or size of a brain.

More than any other country, the US had a public, intense debate over slavery, and the miracle there is that it is recorded extensively and held in public repositories.

And more than any other country, the US managed, early in our history, to turn away from a heinous practice that had been a reality in so many countries since Biblical times and in some places, is still a reality today.

Few people, if asked, would respond correctly to a question about where slavery originated. Fewer still would answer correctly if asked whether slavery still is practiced today. I daresay most US children have the false idea slavery originated in America as the exclusive product of what is often referred to rather foolishly as the white race.

Bernard Lewis, one of my favorite ‘thinkative’ authors, wrote, “The institution of slavery had indeed been practiced from time immemorial. It existed in all the ancient civilizations of Asia, Africa, Europe, and pre-Columbian America. It had been accepted and even endorsed by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, as well as other religions of the world.”

Moving onward through numerous wars and social upheavals in the 1960s, the US has remained cohesive despite political differences among her citizenry. And when there is doubt about the role of government, we can turn to the US Constitution where government powers are deliberately limited in order to protect freedom for our citizenry.

What is obvious, if you take the time to look at artwork, photos, text and other materials in the LOC files, is that freedom has always been worth fighting for, and it has always required attending to. You will also find that those who most fiercely protected freedom have always been derided by media and the status quo—the initiators of the Revolution that gave birth to our country, the abolitionists, the current grassroots Tea Partiers.

The size of our current government suggests we fell asleep for too long. For as government grows, personal freedom will certainly diminish.

As we celebrate the designated birthday of the US—the greatest country in the history of the world—we must remind ourselves of the value of what has been entrusted to us. We must not go to sleep again, and the artwork, images, texts and oral histories in the LOC digital collections are a useful and necessary reminder.

Happy Birthday, America! –by Kay B. Day