July 4

On the 4th[i] in 1817, construction of the Erie Canal began in Rome, New York. Typical of most government undertakings, the canal was not completed until October 25, 1825. It would be nice to think that this beautiful canal, which helped make New York City the center of economic power in the country and the world, is now a sweeping panorama of beauty and serenity. While it is a quite lovely inland waterway, sadly, almost 200 years after its completion, lawyers and politicians still have their fingers in this pie up to their elbows. They go back and forth, back and forth on a yearly basis, a bit like the swallows returning to Capistrano or the buzzards to Hinckley, Ohio, over the issue of just who pays what and when it is paid for the canal’s maintenance.

[i] While the 4th is celebrated as Independence Day in America, the Declaration of Independence was not signed on that day. In June of 1776, the second Continental Congress’ Committee of Five (John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, Robert R. Livingston of New York, and Roger Sherman of Connecticut) prepared a draft of the Declaration of Independence. The draft by the committee was presented to the Continental Congress on June 28. On the 4th of July in 1776, after further revisions by Jefferson and Franklin, the document was approved and it was then sent to a printer. Signing began on August 2.