Grandpa
and Jim
The
Beginning of a Nation
It
had been a few days since Jim had received the scrapbook from Grandpa but even
though Jim had been born on New Year’s Eve 2026 New Years since then had not
been days of celebration. The Unification itself had occurred on the 2nd of January 2027, since
then New Years as the Americas knew it was not celebrated; the Committee, not
wanting to offend any of the citizens from the other former Nations had
abolished all celebrations. There were
many questions in the beginning about how many days a year would contain and
when it would start because of all of the changes the calendar had taken over
history. In the end, the European calendar was adopted starting over at year
one, 1 AU, since this was the calendar that was the most widely used throughout
the world.
Jim
had spent every available moment after Educational Training looking over the
scrapbook Grandpa had given him. In
particular, the Pocketbook version of the US Constitution. This pocketbook contained what was titled as
the Declaration of Independence, Grandpa had not mentioned this part but he did
say that if Jim read this book he would get an understanding of how the United
States of America, the country whose flag was also in the book, was formed and
what it meant. From what Jim had read it
seemed that this Declaration was written some 11 years before the actual Constitution
thing that Grandpa had mentioned was written.
Jim read both of these but he didn't really understand what they meant
so he had been waiting for Educational Training to end today to talk to
Grandpa.
Grandpa
was sitting, as usual, in one of his old fashioned outfits. Since the Unification there had been talk off
and on about the Committee prescribing what everyone should wear but nothing
had been done so far since the different races that made up the Unified Nations
could not come to an agreement about what should be worn, some races wanted to
go with robes, some with suits and ties and there were some that really didn’t
care, as long as there were multiple choices.
The Committee wanted one uniform style with various colors to delineate
worth in the working class. But as of
yet no ruling had been passed so today Grandpa was sitting wearing his blue
jeans, boots and a thick denim shirt, some days he would even wear a hat that
was turned up on the sides and down on the front and back, but that was just
for going outside. During the warm
months Grandpa still liked to wear short pants, button up short sleeve shirts
and flip flops. Personally Jim thought
Grandpa was confused as to who he was or what he was, but that was his Grandpa
and that was OK. On the other hand those
attending Educational Training did have uniforms to wear so Jim went to his
room to change before he started his talk with Grandpa, he also wanted to grab
the pocketbook. After Grandpas warning Jim
had taken great pains to hide the scrap book and all its contents, being 12 he
thought his sock drawer was the perfect location.
After
Jim had changed and retrieved the pocketbook version of the Constitution he
went to the main room of their living quarters.
Their quarters were rather bland since the Committee prescribed how each
housing unit would look. There were a
couple of chairs and tables, Grandpa had complained more than once that there
were no couches, whatever they were, evidently you could actually lay down on
these. The Committee wanted the room to
only be used for sitting and viewing the Committee controlled audio visual
programs they received on the wall mounted large tablet. Grandpa didn't trust the tablet, he said
there had been talk of activating the embedded camera for Committee purposes
but so far there was no evidence of that.
The only time the camera was activated, to their knowledge, was when the
tablet was being used for communication.
The walls also contained a few digital pictures that could be changed,
unfortunately they would only display Committee approved images, and too often
this would be slogans the Committee was trying out. You could get it to display the weather which
made no sense to Jim, people these days hardly ever had to actually go outside
since all work and education centers were located in the same buildings as the
workers living quarters. The lighting
and temperature of the quarters was also controlled by the Committee, something
else Grandpa grumbled about. He was always
saying the light wasn't bright enough for his old eyes and the temperature was
either too hot or too cold for his old bones.
Grandpa seemed to grumble a lot, except when he and Jim were talking
privately, Grandpa seemed to like talking to Jim.
Grandpa acted as if he had
been waiting for Jim, in fact he almost acted like he was disappointed Jim had
not talked to him earlier then today.
“I was wondering when you would come back to me with
some questions.”
“Well, I, ummmm…. I wasn't sure what to ask so I
read through some of the stuff again” Jim said hesitantly.
“Good.” Said Grandpa with a smile, “That was one of
the biggest mistakes people made, not being well informed before they asked
questions, the other big one was to not even try to get informed.”
Jim
started feeling better, he started feeling like he had been right to read the
pocketbook again, even though it really didn't make complete sense to him, in
fact he really did not understand very much of it. He had gotten the impression that the people
that wrote the section called the Declaration of Independence were upset about how
things were going with someone called the King of Great Britain, whoever that
was and wherever that was. That was one
of the questions Jim wanted to ask Grandpa about.
“For starters” Jim started, “I was wanting to ask
you about the Declaration of Independence.
You didn't say anything about that being in the pocketbook so I wasn't sure what it was all about.”
Grandpa looked at Jim with a curious expression,
“what do you think it’s about?”
“From what I read it seems like a list of complaints
about the King of Great Britain. What I
don’t know is what is a King, where is Great Britain and why were the people
that wrote it mad at him?”
“That is a question that will take a lot more than
simple one word answers to explain. I’m
not a historian but I can tell you what I know.
There will be holes in my telling but I do have other information hidden
away that I will give to you later to learn from. For now I will try to make it as simple as I
can.” Grandpa stared off for a few
seconds collecting his thoughts.
“Remember I told you about Jamestown being founded in 1607, 420 BU to
you? Well that was the first of what
were called the British Colonies, well the first successful one. There had been attempts before, attempts from
all different races. There were many
questions about who was the first to actually discover what was called the
Americas and how it got its name. Most
accounts give credit to a man by the name of Christopher Columbus in the year
1492 or 535 BU. Columbus was from a
Nation that later became the Nation of Spain, this is now known as District
44-321 of the Unified State of Europe.
Maybe I should back up a little and define Nation, State, County and
City.”
“Before Unification all of what you know as Unified
States were individual Countries, Countries that had their own laws and
cultures. Places like the Unified State
of Europe was actually a land mass called Europe with many separate and
individual Countries. America was
separated into North, Central and South America. Where we live was once a part of North
America. Originally, starting with
Jamestown and then later with a group called the Pilgrims, the Country later to
be named the United States of America began.
The Pilgrims crossed the Atlantic Ocean in big ships and landed north of
here in an area that was later named Massachusetts. Massachusetts later became one of the
original Colonies and then a State. In
those days State was another name for Country.
The original spot they landed in was called Plymouth which later became
a Town, or City, in the State of Massachusetts.
Communities of people were called any of a number of names, City if very
large, Town if moderately large and then something like a Village or Community if
small. All of these were essentially the
same in respect to a group of people that had banded together with similar
ideas or beliefs. Sometimes it was a
bonding for business reasons, sometimes agricultural and even at times just
because of a belief in how to live.
Groups of Cities or Towns would be called Counties, generally lumped
together by either geographical reasons or even lifestyle reasons. Sometimes the reasons could not be
determined. Counties were then lumped
together to form States, in early terms this was the same as a Country. States were generally grouped together by
cultural similarities.”
“Hold up Grandpa, you are going way too fast for
me.” Jim protested. “What has all of
this have to do with someone called a King and a place called Great Britain?”
“OK, OK.
Great Britain was one of the most powerful Nations of the time, even
though it was one of the smallest. It
was located in the Southwest portion of what you know as the Unified State of
Europe, those Islands out there. Great
Britain controlled many other Nations and the head of Great Britain was called
King. In the case of the Americans anger
it was King George.”
“Why were they so powerful if they were do small?”
Jim asked.
“The Kings of Britain were smart and sometimes
brutal, which at the time was the only way to increase your lands. The idea was that the Country with the best
trained and best armed Soldiers would occupy another country, forcefully if
necessary. Once that other Country was
occupied it was under the rule of the occupiers. Great Britain was not the only Nation that
increased their lands this way, it was the way of the times. Understand?”
“I understand what you are saying, I just don’t
understand why it was allowed.” Jim replied.
“Well it was allowed as you say only because the
only ones with power were the Kings because of the Armies and the Armies did
the Kings bidding. Thankfully times
changed but unfortunately attitudes didn't.
Where past Kings used Armies and force to take over other Countries now
they used slick talk and dirty tricks, in other words, politics. Are you with me now?” Grandpa asked.
“I think so.” Jim stuttered. “So where do the
Americas, or rather the United States of America, come in?”
“Very good, you’re catching on” replied
Grandpa. “For countries that were not
populated by what were considered to be civilized, Kings or other rulers that
went by different titles, would send large groups of people to settle the areas
and start towns. As for the Americas the
first successful settlement was here, only it was called Jamestown. They came here to spread Gods word and to
make the King rich off whatever natural resources were in the area, sometimes
even gold. The Pilgrims were a group
that left Great Britain to find religious freedom”
“Hold it” said Jim, “God?? Who is that and what is
religious freedom?”
“I keep forgetting that the Committee has banned the
teaching of religious beliefs, beliefs in a creator. God is a being that many believed in as being
the creator of the world, the being that created man and all the
creatures. Belief in God was called
faith, sometimes that was all we had, faith.
There were many different ways of practicing this belief in a spiritual
being and in the case of the Pilgrims their way was not accepted in Great Britain
at the time. Unfortunately religion has
always been a sticky point when it came to freedom, in fact it very often was
the focal point of many wars throughout the history of the world. That proved to be true here in the Americas
as well. After we get through how things
got to where they are now maybe we will take on God, I’m not real good on the
subject but I, and your parents, are believers. Can you put that on hold for
now?”
“Sure” Jim stammered.
“OK Grandpa, let’s see if I understand this so far. The King of this small Island Great Britain
sent some people over here to where we now live to start a new…… City?”
“Well more of a Settlement, but not bad so far, go
on” urged Grandpa.
“OK, that was 420 years before the world became unified,
right?”
“Right.”
“I take it that then the, what did you call them,
Pilgrims?”
“Yes”
“The Pilgrims came over and set up shop north of
here. Am I right so far?”
“You are right, just don’t know if I would call it
setting up shop though” Grandpa laughed.
“OK, well that doesn't seem like very many people to
get upset with a powerful King, not to mention this Declaration was written in
what 1776? What would that be, uh, 251
BU, right?”
“Very good, you have figured out part of it.”
“Well” Jim continued, “there’s about 170 years there
that you haven’t filled in.”
“Easy Son” said Grandpa with a grin, “I’m getting
there. Over the next 170 years, as you
put it, the Americas grew into 13 distinct Colonies, later to become 13
individual States. There are a couple of
maps in the scrap book that show all of this from the first settlements until
today. Each of these Colonies had
different, shall we say personalities, different beliefs on how to live, how to
treat others and how they wanted to be treated.
Each of them had to literally fight for their survival. In some cases the fight was with what were
considered to be uncivilized people, the Native Americans, sometimes the fight
was with weather and nature. They did
not have all the modern technologies we now have, they used fire to cook by and
light their way. They either grew their
food in the ground or hunted for it, sometimes with primitive weapons like
knives and bows, the things you can see only in museums today. They lived in homes that were at times no
more than branches from trees covered with mud and grass. Every day of their lives they were fighting
in some way to survive. Depending on
where they lived they had differing ideas and different hardships to deal
with. When you fight that hard to
survive and to create a place to live and raise families you develop a very
independent attitude. They also
developed a belief that they were just as good as the King, again because of
those beliefs they had in God their creator, they believed that every
individual had certain rights simply because of being born, not because of
laws. Because of this the Colonies did
not always see eye to eye with each other on how things should be done. The individual Colonies had developed their
own personalities. They did however agree
that they did not like having a King some 3000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean
writing the laws for them and telling them to pay taxes to him just for the
pleasure of being allowed to live over here, at least the majority of them did.”
“Taxes???” Jim asked.
“Sorry. Taxes
were money, credits in today’s terms, that was given to someone that didn't earn it. In this case it was paid to the
King of Great Britain. Taxes were then
used to pay for Armies and luxuries as the King saw fit. In the case of the American Colonies they
were paying the King so he could pay for wars that America had no concern with,
and other things of course. If you
remember what you read in the Declaration of Independence you will see what I’m
talking about, and many other things the Colonies were not happy about. The Colonies felt as if they did not have the
same say in how things were to be run by the King as the Colonies that were on
the Great Britain side of the Atlantic, one term they used was taxation without
representation.”
“I think I’m understanding what I read now, although
there were many words that I still don’t understand.” Jim stated thoughtfully.
“Language has changed over time. For example State and Country meant the same
thing at one time, later people believed a State to be part of a Country. There are other words and ways of talking
that just fell by the wayside, I guess most of it was mainly due to people
becoming lazy in how they talked.”
“I think I understand that, now what about the
Declaration?”
“Alright, alright.
You now know that over a period of somewhere around 170 or so years 13
Colonies under the control of the British”………
“British????? That’s the second time you have used
that term.” Jim remarked with a quizzical look.
“Opps, British were what the people of Great Britain
were called. Anyhow, they 13 Colonies
decided they would be better off if they were in control of their own
destinies. That was when they called
together some of the wisest and most influential men from the various Colonies
and wrote the Declaration of Independence.
The Declaration spelled out their grievances with the King and declared
their independence, this document formed the United States of America. No longer were the Colonies called Colonies,
they were now individual States that came together, united, under a common
cause.”
Jim looked at Grandpa
for a minute or so and then asked “and the King just let them do this?”
“Oh no” replied Grandpa, “just like anything worth
having sometimes you have to fight for what you want. The new States of America fought a long
bloody battle to claim their independence, and they won.”
Jim
thought about all of this for a few minutes.
It was a lot of information to absorb but he thought he was starting to
get the idea. Those men had created a
home here and they wanted to have the say in how it was run. “So where does the Constitution come in with
all of this?”
Grandpa
grinned, “I think we better call it quits for tonight Jim, later we will go
into the Constitution. For now go back
and read the Declaration of Independence and look at the maps I talked
about. As I said before I have other
information you can look at but for now it’s just important for you to start
understanding how the United States of America came to be and why. There were many different battles that
occurred before all of this happened, there were different Kings that owned
portions of the Americas both before and after the United States were
formed. And there were many other
reasons for the United States developing as it did. For now we will stick to the basics. Give it a couple of days and let this sink
in, then we will continue.”
Steve Avery 7-15-13
No comments:
Post a Comment