Week
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July
4, 2001
Inside the Register
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Declaration of Independence: 225 years strong
Parades and family barbecues and fireworks to `ooh' and `ahh' over are certainly part of today's Independence Day celebrations. Even if you miss the pageantry of youthful marching bands and proud aged veterans, none escape the thundering aerial bombs that shatter night's stillness, recalling a 13-year war to win freedom:
"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, and 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."
So states the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence. Drafted in unforgettable language by Thomas Jefferson, with corrections by Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, a congress of 13 British colonies in North America approved the document by unanimous vote July 4, 1776. The document proclaimed the colonies' freedom from Great Britain. Years of bloodshed secured it.
And that's what we celebrate, liberty — the conviction that the king of England was after all just a man and that the people of the 13 British colonies had a right to self-rule. The landmark document impacted world history and the growth of democracy.
In his 1961 inaugural address, President John F. Kennedy noted that "the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe — the belief that the rights of man come not from generosity of the state but from the hand of God."
In words as fresh now as the day he uttered them, Kennedy continued:
"We dare not forget today that we are heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans ... unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world."
And he placed responsibility for that squarely where it belonged — with the people: "In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course."
We celebrate Independence Day not as Republicans or Democrats, men or women, blacks or whites, but as Americans. And as we honor the 225th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, it would be good to remember Kennedy's concluding remarks as he stepped forward as president: "let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own."