Yesterday was July 4th…the day we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence; perhaps the most consequential document ever written. It made America possible, so let me ask you a question, my fellow Americans:
Have you ever read it?
After the fireworks are over and before the long weekend is gone, take five minutes (it’s a quick read) and expand your citizenship IQ regarding what all the fuss was really all 246 years ago. It’s only 1,320 words in length (about three pages) and offers an enlightening list of the many grievances that drove the Founders to take the existential risk of declaring independence from the greatest power on earth at that time.
These grievances against a government they did not choose will make many of our complaints pale in comparison; especially since we are also blessed with a constitution that allows peaceful change without violence, rebellion, or insurrection; something that the extremists on the Left and Right of today appear to have forgotten.
The Declaration’s signers understood, as many today do not, that the Declaration and the Constitution made it possible for to have our say, but not always to get our way; and when we don’t, to work for it peacefully.
The signers were the ultimate protesters, rebelling against the mightiest nation on the planet with the best standing army in the world at the literal risk of their lives. As Benjamin Franklin, one of the signers, remarked at the time of the irrevocable choice they had just made, “We must all hang together or most assuredly, we will all hang separately.“ They made the very act of protesting a right for which they deserve our undying thanks and remembrance..
The Declaration of Independence was our indispensable American moment. Without it, all that followed that we take for granted becomes problematic. Take a few minutes to study one of the greatest documents ever written. You may be surprised what’s in it…and you’ll probably be one of the few Americans who’ve read it start to finish.
It’s what makes us Americans. Please share it, especially with the young people in your life.
