Knowledge is power

A survey by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni reveals a disturbing insight into the state of education in the United States. Ten percent of respondents thought that Judith Sheindlin — “Judge Judy” — sat on the Supreme Court. Americans, in general, could recall basic facts about U.S. history and government when queried on the subject matter in the survey interview.

Once upon a time, history was an intrinsic part of the local high school curriculum. Four years instruction would include Louisiana History, World History/Western Civilization, Civics, Free Enterprise & American Government, and U.S. History. Now, requirements often boil down just to the final two, and test-based requirements often push history teachers to just teach the memorization of dates —without the contextual understanding so essential to the members of a future electorate.

Are we surprised that radical ideologies meet with populist idiocies to govern our politics — and undermine our nation? Are we shocked that the corrupt practices of weak oligarchic pseudo-democracies visit our politics of late, since our populace tends not to have been educated in the historical dangers of such apathetic acceptance of falling norms? After all, we have a reality star for a president. Are we so surprised that many respondents chose another as his appointment to the Supreme Court?

For Louisianans, as we give Thanks this week, perhaps we should contemplate a bit of our own history. Two hundred and fifty-one years ago this past month, our colony refused to be traded away from France to Spain, as if the opinion of our citizenry did not matter. Joined by 80-year old Bienville, our leaders appealed to King Louis XV in Paris to reverse the exchange, to no avail. No sooner had the Spanish taken command than the new Governor, Antonio de Ulloa, cut off most of our trade with the 13 British colonies with huge tariffs. Food, and even most alcohol, effectively was prohibited from entrance into the Port of New Orleans.

The people of Nouvelle Orleans rose up in revolution in 1768. We expelled Ulloa from the colony, and our leaders composed the first Declaration of Rights ever written in the New World. Penned by Attorney General Nicholas Chauvin de Lafreniere (hence the park) and Militia General Joseph Villere, “the Manifeste”—as it was popularly known—said odd things about “the God-given rights of man” and the fundamental notion that Government could only be found upon the consent of the governed.

These early colonists were not saints. They were slave owners, for example, and they said nothing in the document about freeing their “property.” However, these men’s written stand for national self-determination and rights would be read by their trading partners in Philadelphia, and would influence another document seven years later which would change the world. Moreover, Lafreniere, Villere, and eight others would pay the ultimate price when Spanish Governor Alejandro O’Reilly sent his aide Francisco Bouilgny to arrest, try, and execute them for treason against their King. They were a cautionary tale.

They were also America’s first martyrs to freedom and a nascent democracy. By all evidence, they inspired the Founders of the U.S., and their sons were major players in the American War of Independence. New Orleans proved the spark that would eventually bring an end to European colonization in the New World. It is a history of which we should be proud; which should inspire all of us to vote, to participate, to never be afraid to sacrifice for our principles — regardless the cost.

To be thankful for and educated about those sacrifices most of all.

This article originally published in the December 2, 2019 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.