Happy Birthday, America! (and the importance of commas)

Perhaps you’ve seen the meme that points out there’s quite a difference between

“Let’s eat grandma.”

And

“Let’s eat, grandma.”

One is an invitation to have a meal with your elderly relative.

The other is an invitation to cannibalism.

Commas are important. My heart goes out to all the grandmothers who have been murdered and consumed because of a missing punctuation mark.

Perhaps that isn’t a huge cohort. But the point of the “let’s eat grandma” example still holds: Commas can be important.

I bring this up because I recently read an argument by Harvard professor Danielle Allen that a missing comma in the Declaration of Independence changed the document’s meaning. And changed it in an important “let’s-eat-grandma” way.

Allen believes the missing comma encouraged us to interpret the Declaration to be focused on individual rights instead of on the common good.

Allen’s argument goes like this:
The original declaration had a comma — not a period — after the phrase “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” because that phrase was part of a longer sentence.

The mix-up arose because an early reproduction of the Declaration mistakenly inserted a period after “happiness” and it stuck.

That rogue punctuation mark, says Allen, makes us focus on “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness” as the entire sentence — and makes us think it’s the main point of the Declaration. It tricked us into believing the Declaration is about our individual rights. Government, stay out of our business! (1)

Instead, says Allen, “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” is a buildup to the end of the sentence, which is about another topic entirely: the duty of government to provide for the common good (the sentence ends by asserting the right of the people to form a new government that “shall seem most likely effect their Safety and Happiness”).

Most historians agree with Allen that there should be a comma – not a period – after “happiness.” But did that typo (quillo?) really change the fundamental message of the Declaration? That idea is less universally accepted. (2)

Regardless, I believe Allen identifies a major tension in our country’s DNA: The rights of the individuals versus our responsibilities to our fellow citizens.

As July 4 approaches, I celebrate my individual rights, and express my freedom of speech in this very Substack, but I also want to put in a little plug for the common good.

If Allen is right, then maybe we've spent two centuries emphasizing the first half of the sentence at the expense of the second. It made me wonder: what would taking the second half seriously actually look like?

I think we need more attention to that second half on an institutional level – from the government and corporations - but also from your average Joes and Josephines.

I’m preaching to myself as much as to anyone else. I need to get out there and be a little more civic-minded. I’m going to list a few ideas for myself with the hope that publicly declaring them will motivate me to actually do them so that I don’t look lazy and hypocritical:

--Go to the library (and donate to the library) more often

--Do one of those pick-up-litter days

--Serve as an election worker (!)

--Have dinner with people who vote differently than I do

—Don’t try to get out of serving on a jury

--At the very least, root for the US Soccer team – or at the very, very least, watch one of the games.

That’s just a start, I know. Suggestions welcome on other ways I can be a better citizen.

The Founders had lots of flaws, but I believe many of them had a deeper sense of civic responsibility than does the average modern American. It was more woven into their lives. Back then, most adult males were part of the local militia. If there was a fire, you would be there on the bucket brigade.

The Constitution contains a Bill of Rights. But I think there was also an implied Bill of Responsibilities. It was just so widely accepted, they didn’t need to write it out.

They also likely understood that our rights rely on other people fulfilling their responsibilities. Free speech depends on election workers, teachers, librarians, journalists, judges, and taxpayers, among others.

Another revolution from around the same time as ours had the catchphrase: “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité.” We spend a lot of time thinking and talking about liberty and equality, but fraternity has slowly withered away. And without Fraternité (or Sororité), it’s hard to have a cohesive country that can solve big problems. (Hat tip to author Yuval Noah Harari for this framing).

Before I sign off (declaration reference!), I want to mention one other American idea that’s also related to individualism: Most of the Founders were exceedingly anxious about a single person gaining too much power.

They would have flipped their powdered wigs at the vast powers of the modern presidency — it’s just too much authority given to a single individual. And in the past few days, the Supreme Court has given the President even more power, so we’re heading in the wrong direction.

Many delegates at the Constitutional Convention objected to the idea of just one commander in chief. They wanted a council of presidents. Maybe three presidents. Ben Franklin mentioned 12 presidents. For them, Congress was the main instrument of government, not a single person.

If we want to honor the Founders, I say we change the name of Presidents Day to Separation of Powers Day! Mattress sales would be just as effective!

The Founders opposed cults of personality. One Constitutional delegate called the idea of a single president “the fetus of monarchy.” And man, did the Founders hate monarchy. They changed King’s Street in several cities to Congress Street. Kings College became Columbia University. The King’s Minuet dance became the Congress Minuet.

But royalty has sneaked back into our language and culture. Let’s change that too. How about…

--Dairy Queen becomes Dairy Congressional Representative.

--King-sized mattress becomes Committee-sized mattress.

---Disney World becomes the Magic Republic.

Okay, now I’m off to celebrate our delightful, flawed, possibly endangered country. Let’s eat watermelon with grandma!

FOOTNOTES

FOOTNOTE 1: Allen made the missing comma the argument in her 2014 book Our Declaration and in the paper “Punctuating Happiness.”

Here’s the passage in question:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

FOOTNOTE 2: Further commentary on commas: The phrase “Life, Liberty and pursuit of Happiness” in the official Declaration lacks an Oxford comma after the word “liberty.” But, in an earlier draft that can be found at the Library of Congress, Jefferson DOES use an Oxford comma (Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness)! So maybe we should reinsert that, too! Oxford comma fans unite, celebrate, and shout with glee!

FOOTNOTE 3: I’m actually pretty bad at knowing the rules of commas, so forgive me if I made any comma mistakes in this essay.