Independence Day, 2024: America and Context, a Short Ramble

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Udo Keppler's 'False Alarm on the Fourth' cartoon for Puck. Uncle Sam tells Lady Peace: 'It's all right. There's no fighting. The noise you hear is just my family celebrating!' (1902)

"A False Alarm on the Fourth" Udo Keppler, Puck. (1902)
"Uncle Sam — It's all right! There's no fighting!
The noise you hear is just my family celebrating!"

I like that double-page cartoon by Udo Keppler. And I like his image of America: a family of sorts, where everybody doesn't look just like me, but we can celebrate together anyway.

Another Udo Keppler cartoon, made eight years earlier, shows a different attitude. I'll get back to that.

I'll also be quoting John Adams, with a little more of the context than you probably see.

More at A Catholic Citizen in America.

(Two quotes by John Adams, two cartoons by Udo Keppler. Hopes, perceptions, and an America that is not perfect. Why being a good citizen matters to me.)

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