(Note: In 2002, I began sending an email to my friends and family reminding them of the importance of Independence Day. As more time passed after the events of September 11th, I saw the patriotism and pride in the American way of life eroding, and I saw this as an opportunity to dust off a virtual soapbox and talk about what I thought was important. I suppose you could say it was a predecessor to the ConBlog, in hindsight. I have reprinted the emails here. This email in particular received some very positive comments, one in particular coming from an Atheist. ~WS~)
-----Original Message-----From: William Smith
Sent: Thursday, July 04, 2002 12:11 AM
To: [Undisclosed Recipients]
Subject: "...our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."
I think I truly take out my soapbox and dust it off once a year, and it's always on July 4. There's an email that used to go around quite often about what became of the signers of the Declaration. In researching the authenticity of that essay, I've found that it is only about 30% accurate, at best (http://home.nycap.rr.com/elbrecht/signers/signerindex.html). This year, given current events, I thought I would do something different.
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Independence Day is one of my favorite days of the year. I take this opportunity to not only celebrate my freedom and liberties provided to me by this great Republic of ours, but to encourage others to remember
how we got where we are today. Regardless of how you vote or which side of the aisle you cast your support from, there are things that make the American experience a truly unique one for all of us. We enjoy freedoms that no other nation on Earth has, and we are truly fortunate.
Lately, however, it would appear that declaring our independence may take on new meaning than it did in 1776. Today, there are those in the world would deny us our liberties and freedoms by inciting panic, and
even our lives by employing terror and destruction on our own soil. Instead of breaking away from European influence as we did 226 years ago, we are now faced with the task of taking back our lives and existence as everyday American citizens--re-declaring our independence as the United States of America, if you will.
It's Independence Day--as opposed to being "the Fourth of July." The day has a name and a history behind it and there's a reason why it was named as it was. It's not just a day that your bank is closed and you get to watch some fireworks. Wishing someone a "safe and happy Fourth" is wonderful, but we should not forget that this day was set aside to commemorate the commitment, the sacrifice, and the blood that forged this new nation.
We've decided that this day should be one of celebration, and we should most definitely honor that tradition this year more than any other in recent memory. Go to a parade. Go to a concert. See some fireworks. Fly a flag. Sing patriotic songs. Spark up the grill. Have a beer. Play with your kids. Do whatever it is that makes this day a grand one for you and yours because WE CAN! Don't be afraid to go out of the house and congregate with your fellow Americans, and don't live in fear of something that may or may not happen.
They win if you do.
There has been a lot of talk and debate lately about two simple words: "under God." Although I do believe in the separation of Church and State, I do not believe that means the eradication of the Church FROM
the State. Whereas the Constitution of the United States of America does not specifically mention God, our currency and our Declaration of Independence do. When these colonies were settled, it was under the
banner of religious freedom, and we certainly enjoy that today. We are free to worship, or not, however we choose--and not many other nations can claim the same freedom. When this nation was created, it was done so by men of faith who believed in a higher power--and those same men forged a nation where even those who did NOT believe had the exact same rights as every other American and were free of persecution.
In fact, the reference to God in the Declaration was not in the original draft overseen by the Congressional committee, or by it's author, Thomas Jefferson. It is widely believed that it was added as a suggested edit at the end of the document because many thought they would need the help of whatever God there was to gain the independence we wished for. It was agreed upon, and the phrase, "...with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence," was added.
When you recite your Pledge of Allegiance, or read your Declaration of Independence, or even glance at the "In God We Trust" on your dollar bills know that it's not there because your nation is trying to push God on you. It's not meant as an offense or an affront to those with different beliefs. It's there because it's one of the tenets this country was founded with: freedom of religion--even if that freedom means no religion. It doesn't mean we should remove things like "under God." It does mean we should respect each other's beliefs and remember our heritage as Americans.
As has become customary on this day for me, I have inserted a transcript of the Declaration of Independence in this email, as provided by the website of the National Archive where the document is kept on display. Where ever you are, and whatever you are doing today, it is my hope that this Independence Day is a safe and happy one for all of you and your families. Please enjoy today for what it is--a celebration of what it is to be American and live in the greatest country on this Earth.
God bless America.
~W~
*politely steps down of soapbox and puts it back in the corner for another 364 days.* :)
The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription
IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
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, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers. He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance. He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury: For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies: For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation. He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:
Column 1
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
Column 2
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton
Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
Column 4
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean
Column 5
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark
Column 6
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton
