Happy Independence Day
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

We hope the Democrats can find a way to enjoy this Independence Day. They seem to be in a terrible swivet over what the San Francisco Chronicle calls “A Trumped-up Fourth of July.” The idea that the president of America might speak on the National Mall, that the commander in chief wants to include some military gear, that there will be some reserved seating for dignitaries, all of it seems to be driving the Democrats bonkers.
The Washington Post had on its homepage at least three pieces protesting the plan: One suggested the president was organizing a “salute to himself,” another preferred Mayor Buttigieg’s idea for national service, and the third used the word “hijacking” to describe what the president was doing to the holiday. A Times column kvetched about the “incongruity” of Mr. Trump celebrating with military hardware while trying to make peace with the Korean communists.
It’s hard to imagine why the Democrats are grousing this way about the Fourth of July. It’s not just that the Founders wanted independence to be, as John Adams famously put it, “solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.” (Surely he wouldn’t have excluded the Abrams tank or the F-35 Lightning.)
Beyond that, Independence Day is the most inclusive of all American holidays. It has no sectarian feature — it embraces all Americans, including, to name but a few, Christians, Moslems, Jews, Buddhists, humanists, atheists. It celebrates the very idea of American sovereignty. Even if one were of the view that Mr. Trump is a bit over the top with his various enthusiasms, what could possibly be wrong with being over the top about July 4?
Our own guess is that what really bothers the Democrats about the celebration due to take place tomorrow is that they didn’t think of it. Not one of the recent Democratic presidents, patriots one and all, managed to come up with the idea of a big to-do for the Fourth on the National Mall. Then again, too, neither did they nor Secretary Clinton think of going to Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, in the last election. We hope they cheer up.
As for us, we used to spend the holiday helping our youngest set up their lemonade stand on the parade route in our favorite village and making sure that, as the boys marched along, Old Glory didn’t accidentally touch the ground. More recently, the Fourth has been finding us at President Coolidge’s birthplace, Plymouth Notch, Vermont, where, shortly before noon, visitors are seated on chairs set up in a lovely field.
“All Rise!” a bailiff suddenly cries out. “The United States District Court for the District of Vermont is now in session.” A berobed judge then enters to swear in a moving mosaic of our newest citizens.
This year we’ve gained from Mrs. Editor cheerful dispensation to, for the day, remove ourselves — and our easel — high into the plein air of the Presidentials. There, from the flanks of that most glorious of rock piles, Mount Washington, we’ll be squinting at Mounts Jefferson, Madison, and Adams and trying to capture with paint on canvas their magnificent shadows and penumbras. No matter how our readers celebrate the holiday, happy Independence Day to one and all.
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Image: The Presidential Range from Starr King, New Hampshire, via Wikipedia.