Two hundred and thirty one years ago today, Thomas Jefferson’s Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America, declaring independence from the rule of England, was adopted by the Continental Congress.
When you watch fireworks tonight, please think of the bravery and sacrifice of our founding fathers. Making this declaration was a profoundly courageous and risky thing to do. Fifty five staked their livelihoods – indeed, their lives – on the hope of the future by signing it. The men of the colonies had found that it would be better to live self-ruled (even if in poverty) – or even to die in the cause of freedom – than to continue to submit to the unjust rule of King George III, so the freeholders sent their representatives to the Continental Congress with the express direction to vote for independence should the matter be brought to the floor.
It was. They did.
If you have not read the Declaration of Independence – or if you have not read it since junior high school – please, do. This link will bring you to NPR’s site, where NPR reporters will read the Declaration to you. This link brings you to a clear, readable text, and this site shows you an image of the original parchment document stored in the National Archives.
Happy Fourth of July, Everyone!
If it were not for those brave souls way back then, we’d all be walking around with tightly rolled umbrellas trying not to get run down by lorries.
Yay Revoluitonaries!
Well said. Happy Fourth!
Well said, indeed.
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. How eloquent those men were.
I sometimes wonder if we’ve made them proud.
The New York Times prints the Declaration of Independence on the back page of one of the sections each 4th. I love opening the paper and seeing it there. And reading the crimped script.
The girls got copies of the Declaration of Independence when we arrived in Williamsburg – copies meant to look like the original, on crinkly, yellowed paper, rolled and tied with a red, white, and blue ribbon. Mr. Chili and I flattened one out on the kitchen counter, hooked my computer up to the Cambridge Soundworks speakers and hooked into the NPR site to listen to it being read to us, following along as it went. My favorite bits are the crossed out, scribbled in corrections….
[...] about it, I’ll try to think critically about it. I’m going to start with the Declaration of Independence which, really, should be the focus of only one entry: the D.o.I. isn’t really that long or [...]
[...] about it, I’ll try to think critically about it. I’m going to start with the Declaration of Independence which, really, should be the focus of only one entry: the D.o.I. isn’t really that long or [...]
[...] can really hear the anger in Jefferson’s words. Before I finish, I want to direct you back to a post I wrote on Independence Day. In it, I’ve included a link to the NPR site, where you can hear familiar NPR personalities [...]
[...] can really hear the anger in Jefferson’s words. Before I finish, I want to direct you back to a post I wrote on Independence Day. In it, I’ve included a link to the NPR site, where you can hear familiar NPR personalities [...]