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With another Independence Day here in the United States of America, July 4th, 2025, what mattered most to those who etched this day into history?
"From the day of this declaration, the people of North America were no longer the fragment of a distant empire, imploring justice and mercy from an inexorable master in another hemisphere. They were no longer children appealing in vain to the sympathies of a heartless mother; no longer subjects leaning upon the shattered columns of royal promises, and invoking the faith of parchment to secure their rights. They were a nation, asserting as of right, and maintaining by war, its own existence. A nation was born in a day...
"...It was then fifteen months after the blood of Lexington and Bunker’s hill, after Charlestown and Falmouth, fired by British hands, were but heaps of ashes, after the ear of the adder had been turned to two successive supplications to the throne; after two successive appeals to the people of Britain, as friends, countrymen, and brethren, to which no responsive voice of sympathetic tenderness had been returned…. Then it was that the thirteen United Colonies of North America, by their delegates in Congress assembled, exercising the first act of sovereignty by a right ever inherent in the people, but never to be resorted to, save at the awful crisis when civil society is solved into its first elements, declared themselves free and independent states; and two days afterwards, in justification of that act, issued this [Declaration]." John Quincy Adams https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/speech-on-independence-day/
I wonder what our founders, who so carefully constructed our Declaration of Independence and Constitution, would think of us today? I wonder what they would say about our own country in response to people being afraid to speak their political thoughts in public, or wear a Jewish Star around their neck, or defend their child from educational indoctrination to convince them they are not the right gender?
When these simple farmers and families grabbed their muskets and stood up to the British Army, willing to shed their blood to be free from conquest, they must wonder how we have so easily allowed ourselves to be under a different kind of tyranny all these years later.
Have our minds numbed to the latest fear, a new virus, a new war, another new crisis just 'round the corner, or have we forgotten to re-read these documents, etched with quill pens dipped in ink, written in cursive that today's generation can no longer read or write?
Our digital world has the ability to erase or rewrite our history; to make us forget who we are, how we got here, and where we really want to go. Someone told me that some in the current generation cannot even tell time on a watch with hands, only a digital watch. He was of that generation! He shook his head. How will they know how we got here, how we arrived at Independence Day 2025?
What does independence mean to you personally? Eat a hot dog and some watermelon and relish in your freedom!
Discussion (9)
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I have developed a pattern of reading through the United States Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution on July 4 each year.
I keep getting struck reading the middle section of the Declaration of Independence (the list of grievances against King Charles III), and how many of those grievances could be leveled today against the "federal" government in Washington, D.C.
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". . . with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."
Have you ever read what happened to many of those men? I am not one who shed tears easily. I did when I learned the fates of some.
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Oh I don't know. I'd like to think they would be extremely proud of what the US became because they secured our right to self determination. They would likely understand that we are but imperfect beings and point to many instances in their lifetimes where human nature asserted itself in ugly ways (e.g., Alien and Sedition Acts). But still we rise above, again and again.
Happy 4th!
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That is a great comment on a great post. Happy Independence Day everyone.
What does independence mean to me is a tough question because I've never been without it. Signing the Declaration of Independence was like signing your own death warrant. I wish I had that amount of courage.
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Speaking of poignant rememberances, ...
On this day, every year, I think of this extraordinary moment in our nation's history, involving two of those men:
"[O]n July 4, 1826 – the day of the Jubilee – the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, ... [Thomas] Jefferson died shortly after noon at the age of 83 in Monticello, Virginia. Several hours later [John] Adams died in Quincy, Massachusetts at the age of 90."
Unaware of Jefferson's passing earlier that day, Adams reportedly uttered these last words: "Jefferson still lives."
Our republic truly still lives.
Happy 249th birthday, my beloved adopted country!
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