Fourth of July
El Financiero, July 4th, 2025
Today, my father turns 90, so this article is part of the birthday wishes I’m fortunate enough to give him in person.
Also today, the United States turns 249. This birthday comes at one of the most divided moments in that country’s history—just below the civil war we know as the American Civil War (1861–1865).
Like many countries, the United States celebrates the day it declared its independence, which does not coincide with either the start or end of fighting. On July 4, 1776, the Constitution was published—on the basis of which the British colonies decided to form a new country and separate from the British Crown. Skirmishes had taken place for several years, but each colony had acted more or less on its own, particularly in response to Britain’s attempts to raise more revenue. Hence the famous phrase, “No taxation without representation.”
The origin of U.S. independence—like that of the French Revolution and even the Latin American wars of independence—can be traced back to the first global conflict in history: the Seven Years’ War (1756–1763). It was a struggle between Prussia and Austria in central Europe, and between France and Great Britain literally across the rest of the world. Due to family ties (both Spain and France were ruled by Bourbons), Spain supported France. In the end, Prussia managed to consolidate itself, but more importantly, Great Britain gained control of the world’s seas. Everyone ended up bankrupt.
To repair their finances, the British decided to raise taxes on their colonies, sparking a rebellion in North America. However, this rebellion only became a full-fledged war because the colonists had learned to fight during the Seven Years’ War, which in the U.S. is known as the French and Indian War. As part of the global conflict, British colonists in what is now the U.S. fought the French, who at the time held not only parts of modern Canada but also Louisiana—which was not the small state we know today, but a broad stretch of territory along the Mississippi that reached up to the Great Lakes and practically blocked westward expansion for the British colonies.
Native populations fought on both sides. The Five Nations Confederacy (later Six), better known as the Iroquois, sided with the British. And there’s a strong possibility that it was through this relationship that George Washington learned about federalism. With the founding of the United States, the office of the President was created—as was modern federalism. Many Latin American nations would go on to adopt these institutions upon gaining their own independence. That is the origin of the presidentialism and federalism that have brought us so many difficulties, because transplanting institutions is no trivial matter.
The United States’ independence was supported by France and Spain, as payback for their defeat in the Seven Years’ War. In fact, Spain contributed money (which was really paid by the people of New Spain) that was never recovered. In any case, Louisiana ended up in Spanish hands for a time, then returned to France, and it was Napoleon who sold it to Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States. Once the new nation crossed the Mississippi, there were no natural barriers left to stop them. Less than fifty years later, they occupied the territories that had belonged to New Spain and were by then Mexican, reaching the size they are today: eight million square kilometers (not counting Alaska and the islands). Virtually a continent, with coasts on two oceans, vast fertile lands, and a political system that has been the envy of many.
Let’s hope that by its 250th birthday, that country can find itself again.