The Song Behind Today’s Review Title

[For the past several reviews I’ve picked a song lyric as the title of my review post. It’s been fun looking for songs that reflect the book I’ve read, and I hope it gives you the reader a bit of fun too, and a catchy tune to take with you through your day.]

Today’s book takes the ideals of the American Revolution as it’s starting point, showing how those ideals have grown and changed, and faced setbacks over time, from the ratification of the Constitution all the way up to the Civil War. What comes across in many of the episodes in this book is how much that evolution relies on the words of the Declaration of Independence.

In 1970 the musical group Fifth Dimension came out with their Portrait album, which included the biggest hit of the group’s history One Less Bell to Answer. That song featured Marilyn McCoo as lead singer, and changed the direction of the group, and positioned her for future success on her own.

Also on that album is the only song I know of that set the words of the preamble to the Declaration of Independence to music, and it’s actually, surprisingly perhaps, better than you might expect. The song is The Declaration, and from its lyrics comes the title for today’s review.

I know I’m cheating a little bit here by picking a song lyric that’s also a line from the Declaration of Independence, but I just couldn’t resist. If you’ve never heard this song from the Fifth Dimension, take a listen to this YouTube video, and prepare yourself for some early 1970’s pop music.

Many Americans view the Constitution as the culmination of the American Revolution - a free nation laying down the rules of the government (and with the subsequent adoption of the Bill of Rights the rights of the governed) after gaining its freedom from the British.

And while that’s true, we as a people take more inspiration from the document that lays out the case for Revolution at its birth - the Declaration of Independence. With the soaring language of its preamble, the Declaration declares the “self-evident” truth that all men are created equal, endowed by their creator with the inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

The preamble to the Declaration lays out the promise, while the Constitution tries to box in the reality.

Thomas Richards Jr’s new book The Unfinished Business of 1776 takes a look at the promises of the Revolution and how Americans have interpreted it and expanded on that promise over time. The book looks at nine different events in the nation’s history and how they were shaped by the dreams of the Revolution and evolved the American reality as our nation grew.

Those events range from the ratification of the Constitution and the fight over whether there should be a Bill of Rights, to the Whiskey Rebellion, an early fight for Women’s Right to Vote, an early thwarted slave rebellion, the election of Andrew Jackson and the start of the two-party system, and on up to the Civil War, which Richards calls “the Second American Revolution”.

Some of these moments in our history are well documented, with entire books written about them. Others, like the Relief War in Kentucky and the fate of a splinter group of Mormons who settled in Texas rather than Utah, are less well known.

Richards says that he highlighted these events as they each help to explore a particular promise of the Revolution, as well as for their geographic, chronological and demographic diversity. As such, they do cohere into a telling portrait of our country’s history and the evolution of the promises of the Revolution. Some promises advance, some rights are gained, while others fall away.

Richards takes what could be a dry subject and turns it into a collection of interesting stories. I liked this book more than I thought I would - it’s a great read for our country’s semiquincentennial year (if that’s not a term you’ve heard before you will soon - it just means our 250th year).

RATING: Three and a Half Stars ⭐⭐⭐🌠

RATING COMMENTS: This collection of nine moments in our nation’s history sheds a light on the evolution of the promises of the American Revolution.

WHERE I GOT MY COPY: I read an advanced reviewer’s ebook copy of this book provided through Edelweiss by the publisher New Press.