ApprecOfAmerica

IT WASN’T what I anticipated when I made a visit to the United Kingdom with my English-born spouse. I was going because my husband would be coming home to Britain, and we could have a vacation. But I returned to the United States with a greater awareness of the significance of our national and religious heritage as well.

"Am I British or American?" ask our sons. John Thomas and Joshua have dual citizenship.

Because of past sojourns in Britain, I had a good amount of history on England’s rich, varied and ancient past. And John, my husband, always made a point of reminding me that "The United States is quite young." Additionally, he and I have had many lively discussions on each country’s merits and contributions to the world. I was informed that we’re to be thankful for many things that the Motherland gave us — not the least of which included our legal system based on the British model through the Magna Carta.

Also I was quite sure I knew at least a fair amount of America’s past when I left these shores to begin our vacation — after all I’ve lived in historic Philadelphia, the birthplace of America’s independence, for forty-five years. But I returned home with a deeper appreciation of my American heritage and our unique freedoms.

This occurred during a church sponsored conference at which my husband was also a speaker. The participants in keeping with the theme of the conference gave a history on the well-known nonconformists George Fox, founder of the Quakers, John Bunyan, Richard Baxter and others.

These men as well as other laymen and many clergy no longer found in the Anglican church the religious freedom that had existed for awhile. Harsh penalties were imposed for attending religious services and having practices that did not conform. During the mid-1600’s thousands of dissenters went into hiding or were imprisoned. John Bunyan wrote "Pilgrim’s Progress" while imprisoned. William Penn became one of the most active champions of the Quaker movement and Quakerism became an expanding force in Philadelpia and in America.

Now I understand better the experiences and religious purposes that lead many early colonists to come to the New World. The English Separatists sailing from Holland in 1620 came in order to worship as they pleased. Later called the Plymouth Pilgrims, they had experienced the same religious intolerance as those in the mid-1600’s. In the Mayflower Compact the first government of the people and by the people in America was set up. This formed a precedent for the principles embodied later in the new state and federal constitutions of independent America.

Also on this trip we visited Sulgrave Manor in Northamptonshire, home to the ancestors of George Washington. Our guide informed us that "Colonel John Washington left England in 1656 to take up land in Virginia that later became Mount Vernon. Col. Washington was the great-grandfather of General George Washington who later became the first President of the United States." The Washington coat of arms is often imagined to have inspired the "stars and stripes." Old Glory flies together with the Union Jack at the entrance to this home. A portrait in oil of General Washington hangs in the Great Hall of this modest manor house as it does in Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

"Was George Washington English or American?" asked our two boys.

A recent trip with my family to Independence National Historical Park now has more meaning for us. Our tour guide spoke to us while standing before a painting showing the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Here on July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress meeting in what is now called Independence Hall voted that the Declaration of Independence be adopted.

This was the first great document in the history of a nation whose name would come to be a symbol of freedom to all the world. Its foundation was the theory of natural rights — ones to which all men were entitled simply by reason of being human, and which could not justly be taken from them. The function of government was to make those rights more secure by means of laws having the consent of the governed.

Again, in September 1787 representatives of the American States completed work on a new national constitution—a document that laid the foundations for a truly democratic society, establishing a federal government of the people, by the people and for the people.

Today I have a better understanding of America’s early history. So while our sons are learning of their English connection through daddy, I also have the privilege of instilling in them a high regard for their American heritage. Isn’t it unfortunate how easy it is to lose sight of the importance of our national and religious heritage?


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This article copyright P J Davis 2005 and may not be reproduced in any form without her express permission.

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