I’ve been asked by a couple people why I post the Declaration of Independence, in its entirety, with the last line emphasized, without any commentary, every July 4th. Part of it is quite simply tradition, but as to how it started, why that last line is bolded, and why there’s never any commentary – there’s a bit more to that. So as I sit here sipping a Sam Adams and listening to Johnny Cash, I’m going to try to explain my thoughts on why I love calling myself an American.
First off, I’m a strong believer that you can and should take interest in your country. I love America. I really do, and I don’t mean that I love everyone in it or that I agree with everything it does, but that I love the concept that is America. At least, the concept it represents to me. Almost a century and a half ago, a bunch of men got together – just men, not statesmen or generals, not yet – and decided that they had had enough. Years of oppression forced on them by the oversea British government had finally crossed the line and they decided it was time to do something. That it was time to be free men. And they talked to their families, their neighbors, their churches, and the word spread. People were fed up and decided to do something about it. So on this day, 232 years ago, a lawyer from Virginia named Thomas Jefferson put into words one of the most incredible statements in all of history.
He outlined the cause for which his compatriots stood, he outlined the reasoning, and the motive. He detailed the offenses of the crown against the colonies and the repeated attempts toward a peaceful solution made by those colonies. He concluded that the last resort for the colonies was to break off from Britain and form free and independent states. And then he says a remarkable thing:
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
For the support of all that they had said, they relied on the protection of Divine Providence. They did not look at themselves and say “we must be right,” but rather they truly believed that God was on their side, that he would find just their intentions, and they trusted in him to get them through the coming times. And, acknowledging that fact, they pledged to that declaration their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. Three things they promised, and look at the order they promised them in. They pledge their lives – they are willing to die for the cause. They pledge their fortunes – every earthly possession, putting at risk their wives and children. They then pledge their sacred honor. I love that word, sacred. They hold their word and their name so dear that it’s more valuable than their life or wealth. It’s their honor, and on their honor was placed this declaration of intent and belief.
Now what was so special about this intent that they pledged everything to? What makes this group of rebels different from any other? Quite simply, they were true revolutionaries, not only in a political sense but a philosophical one. They did not merely exchange one government for another, they exchanged a set of ideas for another. The government was merely a part of that set of ideas. Look at the bold claims made:
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. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, having its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Take a close look at a couple of those, specifically. All men created equal. Now, that particular statement took a long time for us to work out fully, but until that point no government had ever suggested that men were equal in any way. And the idea that these people had rights, given them by God, that no government could take away? Unheard of. That government was created merely to secure these rights, not to give them or regulate them, and created by the people, deriving all its power from the people? Again, unheard of. This was truly revolutionary stuff. Ronald Reagan said it very well in his 1981 writing, “What the Fourth of July Means to Me“:
Somewhere in our growing up we began to be aware of the meaning of days and with that awareness came the birth of patriotism. July Fourth is the birthday of our nation. I believed as a boy, and believe even more today, that it is the birthday of the greatest nation on earth… In recent years, however, I’ve come to think of that day as more than just the birthday of a nation. It also commemorates the only true philosophical revolution in all history. Oh, there have been revolutions before and since ours. But those revolutions simply exchanged one set of rules for another. Ours was a revolution that changed the very concept of government. Let the Fourth of July always be a reminder that here in this land, for the first time, it was decided that man is born with certain God-given rights; that government is only a convenience created and managed by the people, with no powers of its own except those voluntarily granted to it by the people. We sometimes forget that great truth, and we never should.
It’s astounding stuff, people. It’s really breathtaking, when you think about it. But here we are, 232 years later, and the government has spent those centuries building itself back up to its overbearing self, straying far, far away from what those fifty-four men who signed the Declaration of Independence ever wanted. It’s becoming everything that the Declaration – and later, the Constitution – said it should never be. And for every win like Heller, we get to watch a dozen losses. So these days, it’s very, very easy to lose hope, especially if you turn on and watch the news for more than about five minutes. Especially if you listen to modern politicians like McCain and Obama, who seem much less interested in representing you or I than furthering their own interests. Especially if you read any of the major “mainstream” blogs, or journals, or magazines, or media in general. You can easily see how bad things have gotten due to negligence, ignorance, and in some (but not many) cases, maliciousness.
Yeah, it’s very easy to lose hope.
And I bet Thomas Jefferson thought that things would never get better, too. He didn’t even have fake representation – his government said he didn’t deserve it. Not that it did much good, mind you – if the king got annoyed with the representative houses for opposing him, he’d just disband them. The king’s armies were never too far away, either – sometimes they were in your living room, just because they could, and if they woke up feeling grumpy, well, they might just shoot you. They’d get away with it too. Most of Jefferson’s income went straight to taxes – and the rest he was very limited on how he could spend, because trade was throttled so tight it was practically not there. Things were bad. And I can imagine he sat at his writing desk on some nights and asked himself if things would ever get better.
And they did.
And that’s what America is to me, my friends. America is revolution. It’s where people can stand up and say “no” to the government, and have the government listen. It’s where people like you and me have power to change things. It’s where ideas can shatter long-held traditions and thoughts can overpower military might. And maybe America today isn’t full of that America anymore. Maybe most Americans aren’t really familiar with, or fond of, that America. But it’s where we came from, and like it or not, without it we wouldn’t be here. And I pray we’ll wake up before we need to be there again. But if the time comes, we know that God is on the side of freedom, and no government is going to get in the way of that.
And really, I can’t say that any better than Thomas Jefferson did.