Posted on 07/21/2002 3:02:03 PM PDT by Davis
July 4th, the glorious anniversary, our national birthday. We call to mind Mr. Jefferson's towering presence and the thrilling phrases of the Declaration.
"...the course of human events... a decent respect to the opinions of mankind... 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... life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness...our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor."
We are compelled to remember that the Declaration was a declaration of war, a war which had begun over a year earlier when King George's battalions marched on Lexington and Concord, "...the rude bridge that arched the flood, their flag to April's breeze unfurled, here once the embattled farmers stood, and fired the shot heard round the world."
The celebrated cry of Patrick Henry to the laggards on that Continental Congress rings out: "The gentlemen may cry, peace, peace! But there is no peace. The war has actually begun! ...Our brethren are already in the field!"
So, it was wartime, that summer 226 years ago, as it is now.
A declaration of a war that had been in progress for over a year. It hardly seems worthwhile. A declaration of rights that were self-evident--redundant, surely. Why then a Declaration?
To act on the resolution proposed by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia: Resolved: That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States..."
Yes, to declare independence.
Alas, we have no Thomas Jefferson today to pen our new Declaration of Independence, so we will write it in deeds and plain words.
We will be independent of the rank ideas of a Europe unnerved and intent on making cowardice a virtue. We will be independent of an assembly of base tyrannies disfigured by their envy of our strength, our freedom, and our prosperity.
And we will lead the way again.
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