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I was born on July 4, 1776, and the Declaration of Independence is my birth certificate. The bloodlines of the world run in my veins, because I offered freedom to the oppressed. I am many things and many people. I am the nation.

I am 250 million living souls — and the ghost of millions who have lived and died for me. I am Nathan Hale and Paul Revere. I stood at Lexington and fired the shot heard around the world. I am Washington, Jefferson and Patrick Henry. I am John Paul Jones, the Green Mountain Boys and Davy Crockett. I am Lee and Grant and Abe Lincoln.

I remember the Alamo, the Maine and Pearl Harbor. When freedom called, I answered and stayed until it was over, over there. I left my heroic dead in Flanders Field, on the rock of Corregidor, on the bleak slopes of Korea and in the steaming jungle of Vietnam.

I am the Brooklyn Bridge, the wheatlands of Kansas and the granite hills of Vermont. I am the coal fields of the Virginias and Pennsylvania, the fertile lands of the West, the Golden Gate and the Grand Canyon. I am Independence Hall, the Monitor and the Merrimac.

I am big. I sprawl from the Atlantic to the Pacific — my arms reach out to embrace Alaska and Hawaii. I am more than five million farms. I am forest, field, mountain and desert. I am quiet villages — and cities that never sleep.

You can look at me and see Ben Franklin walking down the streets of Philadelphia with his bread loaf under his arm. You can see Betsy Ross with her needle. You can see the lights of Christmas and hear the strains of "Auld Lang Syne" as the calendar turns.

I am Babe Ruth and the World Series. I am 110,000 schools and colleges and 330,000 churches where my people worship God as they think best. I am a ballot dropped into a box, the roar of a crowd in a stadium, and the voice of a choir in a cathedral. I am an editorial in a newspaper and a letter to a congressman.

I am Eli Whitney and Stephen Foster. I am Tom Edison, Albert Einstein and Billy Graham. I am Horace Greeley, Will Rogers and the Wright brothers. I am George Washington Carver, Jonas Salk and Martin Luther King, Jr. I am Longfellow, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Walt Whitman and Thomas Paine.

Yes, I am the nation, and these are the things that I am. I was conceived in freedom and, God willing, in freedom I will spend the rest of my days.

May I possess always the integrity, the courage and the strength to keep myself unshackled, to remain a citadel of freedom and a beacon of hope to the world.

- Otto Whittaker

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God Bless America on her birthday.

Like MacArthur I shall return. (Probably on Monday)

American Jamboree

Get ready for a celebration
Of a country proud and free
Hold your flags way up high
So all the world can see!

From coast to coast we'll celebrate
With fireworks shooting high
Children's eyes wide with wonder
At the sparkle in the sky.

The price of freedom came quite high
Many died to keep us free
We'll remember them in our prayers
For what they gave to you and me.

We fight for freedom for the world
We share our wealth with all
Many allies we are blessed with
And we shall never fall!

So celebrate this land of ours
Be thankful that you're free
A Happy 4th I wish to all
From sea to shining sea!

Amy, thank you so much for bringing us that very moving post. I am very emotional today. I can feel the great love for God and Flag on this thread - it is overwhelming, ALL of you are wonderful.

Thank you, dutchess. Glad you enjoyed the opening of our thread. A happy 4th of July to you and yours.

Hi whoever, hope you have a great day!

Billie and Daisy, I am going to need to leave for awhile. I will try to get back here later this afternoon. Daisy, thank you for posting those photos of our military enjoying a barbecue on Independence Day. Hugs to you all.