ASPPA Connect Returns on July 7

ASPPA Connect will not be appearing on Monday, July 5, as our offices will be closed on that day in observance of Independence Day; however, it will be back to business as usual on Tuesday, July 6. 

We all know the momentous thing that was happening in Independence Hall in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776. But what was life like for the people whom Congress had just declared to be no longer British subjects, but suddenly citizens of the brand new United States of America? 

• American prosperity was not an invention of the 20th century: in 1776, Americans already had the highest per capita income in the developed parts of the world. There was a thriving middle class that included professionals of many kinds, traders, tavern keepers, lawyers, artisans and other skilled workmen; in addition, tons of American farm produce went to the Europe and the West Indies.
• The urban/rural divide existed then as well. In 1776, life in the “back country” hundreds of miles away from the Eastern Seaboard could be difficult and violent. Many who lived there were poor and had not been land owners; for instance, those who because of birth order did not inherit much. 
• Americans in 1776 lived right in the middle of an epidemic that raged across North America—in their case, smallpox. And they also lived with quarantines and innoculations, which even then evoked debate. 
• Toll roads? Not an invention of current times. Colonists here were familiar with paying a fee in order to be able to use certain roads. Nor are complaints about road repairs new: road repairs in early America could be delayed by agricultural work and harvest that required the immediate attention of the labor force.
• Clothing for men was not limited to tri-cornered hats and simple waistcoats and knee-high britches; men also wore bright colors such as scarlet and light blue. 
• America was not singularly English in its social composition. By the first census, just 60% of the people were of English extraction; there also were many of German, Irish, Dutch, Scots, Swedish and African descent.
• The information superhighway? It may not have been as instant as that in current times, but there was one then as well. Aside from domestic printing presses and publications, the Atlantic in the 18th century has been called an “information highway” with books, magazines, newspapers and even copies of Parliamentary debates streaming across on ships.

And then, as now, we are a work in progress. Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration from Pennsylvania, wrote of the American Revolution that "The American war is over; but this is far from being the case with the American Revolution. On the contrary, nothing but the first act of the great drama is closed. It remains yet to establish and perfect our new forms of government, and to prepare the principles, morals and manners of our citizens for these forms."