 |
| The Bennington Flag. Image from here |
On July 4th, 1776, the Second Continental Congress adopted the revised Declaration of Independence, making today our nation's birthday. (Side note: they voted for independence on July 2nd, but then spent two days revising wording of the Declaration, finally approving it on July 4th.)
You can (and should) read a transcript of the Declaration of Independence here. Here is my summary:
First paragraph: When a people need to dissolve political ties, they should explain why.
Second: I'll quote the first half as it is the most famous:
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 . . .
Governments shouldn't be dissolved for just any reason, but the King of Great Britain is terrible and we need a change.
List: It then lists 27 reasons why the King is terrible.*
Third: We've presented our grievances repeatedly and humbly, but we get only more injury in return. A person who acts like this is a tyrant and unfit to rule.**
Fourth: We told the British people, too, but they also ignored us. We thus must separate and "hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends."
Fifth: We thus declare "That these United Colonies are . . . Free and Independent States . . ."
Signatures: It is signed by 56 people from across the 13 colonies. Pennsylvania has the most representation (9) and is thus the best state.***
-----------
On our birthday, I'd like to point out a few things:
1) "We hold these truths to be self-evident . . ."
Our nation, like everything in our lives, is built on faith. On something you cannot prove, but a set of underlying assumptions you operate out of. (Recent books reviewed here talk more about this—see this book by Glenn Sunshine and this one by James K.A. Smith for more.) What were our founding fathers' assumptions? What are ours today? How have they changed? Why does it matter? Worthy questions for reflection.
2) How can we best enjoy (and leverage) our liberty? What does the Bible say about freedom? How are Biblical notions of freedom the same or different? How then should we live? (1 Peter 2:13-17 and Galatians 5:1-15 are good starting points.)
3) Enjoy and reflect on the truth in the below picture (from Etsy).
-----------
*All related to governing America poorly; it doesn't get into personal factors like hygiene, though I suspect (given the realities of the age) that it would have been fair to include.
**Yes, we mean you, King.
***Go Birds
No comments:
Post a Comment