"When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one
people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with
another and to assume among the powers of the earth"...and so it began two hundred and thirty eight years ago today as the greatest nation the world has ever known was born.
Born out of war yet dedicated to peace, the United States of America
changed the world forever with the simple words...
"We hold these
truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among
these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
The Declaration of Independence...actually called
“A Declaration by
the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress
assembled”... announced for all the world to hear that the ragtag
American colonies had seceding from the yoke of British rule to
become
"Free and Independent States, to have full Power to levy War,
conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all
other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do."
And while the Continental Congress waged
war with Britain, made a military treaty with France, and funded the
war effort with loans and paper money,
Richard Henry Lee of Virginia first proposed the
idea of succession at the Second Continental Congress when he read a resolution that stated,
“Resolved: That
these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and
independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the
British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the
State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.”
Soon after, in August 1775, King George III declared American
colonists were
“engaged in open and avowed rebellion” as the colonies
began pulling back from British rule by taking control of their ports
and establishing formal guidelines for creating local governments. A
'Committee of Five'...Thomas Jefferson (who actually drafted the
declaration), Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman and Robert
Livingston...was then appointed by the Continental Congress to write the
declaration. Formed on June 5th, 1776, the Committee returned to
Congress with the completed declaration on July 4th. The committee was
disbanded when the declaration was made public on July 5th.
This one document changed the course of modern history for its
ramifications were heard by all free men of conscious who now understood
that when their leaders... when their government...becomes
"tyrannical
and abusive"...when their leaders violate time and again the rights of
the people then the people have the right...have the duty...to revolt and
put safeguards in place to protect those rights.
And what was this new nation but an experiment in
self-government...an experiment in liberty and in the sovereignty of the
people...of people who believed that human equality and liberty should
be the rule of law NOT only for those forever to be known as Americans,
but for people everywhere
"and that they (must) derive their just powers
from the consent of the governed,” meaning 'We the People' through the
power of the ballot box.
And with the Constitution defining those beliefs, never forget that our independence and our beliefs were secured for all time by those brave men whose blood was
spilled all those many years ago.
So today as we celebrate the day our great nation was born from the
pains of protest against a
"tyrannical and abusive" king...as we
celebrate a nation like none the world had seen before...a nation whose
founding was built upon the much heralded collective allegiance and dedication to freedom and equality for all...we must stop the
downward spiral we
seem to be heading on...a spiral that's leading us right into an apathetic
dependency on leaders who seem content to strip away from 'We the People'
those very
"unalienable rights" laid down by our Constitution.
But always remember that above all else America will survive because
America must survive...'We the People' demand it even if it means more
blood must be spilled in the name of freedom...blood spilled like it was when
America was born.
