Brave Beginnings

All men, the Founding Fathers said,
Are equal, though they thought that some
Were less so—chattel slaves instead.
To make them not so, men kept mum.

Their Declaration’s draft at first
Contained an anti-slavery clause,
But North-South compromises cursed
Initial abolition laws.

Their change of script, did it ignore
A need to do the task they should?
In fact some feared a civil war
If perfect triumphed over good.

How prescient were those bright brave men
Who foresaw what near tore apart
Their land a century later when
The North extracted slavery's heart.

There followed horror, don’t lose sight;
The Klan and lynching lay ahead.
For sovereignty  though, these men might
Have also hanged till they were dead.

Defectors, Britain ascertained,
Not fit as prisoners of war.
The upper hand, though, Yankees gained
With France’s ships off Yorktown’s shore.

And now the Brits are intimates
And French respected. (Échangez!)
How history moves in starts and fits.
Odd stalwarts fashioned ours this day.

—July 4, 2012