The colonies had been in conflict with England for over a year in June of 1776. A Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia on June 7 of that year. Richard Henry Lee from Virginia offered up a resolution with these now famous words:
“Resolved: 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.”
Lee’s words spurred the drafting of the Declaration of Independence. A committee of five was appointed to draft a statement making the case for the colonies, a statement to the world of the intent and the reason behind that intent.
Members of the Committee were John Adams of Massachusetts, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Robert R. Livingston of New York and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. Jefferson took on the task of actually drafting the document as we know it today.
The Continental Congress reconvened on July 1, 1776, and on the following day, the resolution for independence by Lee was adopted by 12 of the 13 colonies, with New York not voting. Minor changes were made to the Jefferson document.
Work on the document continued through July 3 and into the afternoon of July 4, when the Declaration was officially adopted by the Congress. Of the 13 colonies, nine voted in favor of the Declaration, two — Pennsylvania and South Carolina — voted No, Delaware was undecided and New York again abstained.
As we all know, John Hancock, President of the Congress made his signature large enough for King George to read “without his spectacles.”
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 British 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 complete list of those who signed were:
John Hancock (president of the Continental Congress), Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry, Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery, Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott, William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris, Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark, Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross, Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean, Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton, William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn, Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton, Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, and George Walton.
Check out this link for the sobering fate of many of those who so pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor. [H/T to TheOriginalG-d&Country for this source.]
Those are the facts about our Declaration of Independence, the history that we as school children have learned since the creation of this great nation that we celebrate, that we love and honor so.
Usually we humans can’t adequately find words to express our own sentiments, let alone those of a nation and successive generations to come, but Jefferson and that Continental Congress did just that.
The words have stood throughout several centuries as a clarion call for freedom, for breaking free of tyranny, for men to put aside their individual causes and join together to battle for the right of every man, woman and child together to become a people united in goal and resolve.
Today as we celebrate, today as we pledge allegiance to a flag that has gone from 13 stars to 50, may we remember not only the sacrifice, but the resolve. May we honor not only the words, but the unity and deeds of our forefathers. May each of us dig deep into our hearts and work out our differences for the betterment of our nation and our children and grandchildren.
Say a prayer for America today. Rekindle hope today. Honor the past by determining the future.
Please remember that this is a post in honor of our Independence Day. No political content, no rants, so slamming the other side. Today we are just Americans, honoring our country and each other.
A solemn day in history where the signers pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor.
While out and about on Friday, it seemed like people were nuts in their cars and driving very recklessly. People in my grocery store were aggressive and rude.
I was thinking that this is not the usual behavior of the people in my little town. It was a WTF thought of ‘what is going on’? What drives this insanity? And it got worse over the weekend and today’s news, in the same state, just magnifies this.
I am shaking my head in disbelief as we get closer and closer to the total loss of our freedoms.
John Adams was right about our constitution….”…was made only for a moral and religious people…wholly inadequate to the government of any other….”
I think many people are getting stressed due to the rising prices across the board. Unfortunately, this winter it’s going to be even worse.
Prices are just the tip of the iceberg. If that’s all it was we’d just vote out the economic idiots and restore the economy after January. Fact is, our legitimate worries go all the way to questioning if we’ll even get to vote out the economic idiots.
I’m an immigrant. This is the greatest country in the world – because it’s the best constitution that any nation has ever created.
May God bless America.
Older and Wiser, me too, fifty three years ago now. Words cannot say enough for this Constitution that enshrines liberty and multiple freedoms for American citizens. I may not be alone in feeling sadness today for this wonderful country, which has been so badly mishandled by many who have prospered unethically from it, ingrates all. I pray for its restoration to sanity and decency.
We should all stop calling it The Fourth of July. It’s Independence Day.
The words we say matter. We don’t call Christmas December 25. We don’t call Valentines Day February 14. We don’t call St Paddy’s Day March 17. We don’t call New Years Day January 1.
There’s a reason they created ‘Juneteenth’ and use the same colors. They’ve bastardized what is supposed to be a celebration of our liberty.
Use the right words. It’s Independence Day, not the Fourth of July.
💕 🇺🇲
Meh,
I think most post-modern and ever-so-sophisticated Americans see the 4th as but another day off for fun at the beach, lake or backyard. Pretty much the same as other increasingly irrelevant “holidays” like Memorial Day and Veterans Day.
Too true … It disgusts me that our grwat nation has degraded into irreverence for good and noble things.
As for the prayer Sundance asks for, I prefer the one found everyday (I think) in the Presidential thread-USA Uncle Sam’s Prayer.
Menagerie…Thank you! This is a keeper and I just finished printing your post. Should be required reading for each and every one of our citizens.
I love these men, our Founding Fathers. They are icons of Americanism. Inventive and insightful, reverent of the fruits of English civilization, yet connected to the earth and their fellow men via agriculture, sailing, and mercantilism.
I love the architecture of New England. I love the practicality, the tasteful simplicity, and the humility of all of the colonies.
I love the reverence for good ale, good humor, exacting wisdom, and broad-shouldered strength.
I love the aspiration to a scientific treatment of society, and the unrivaled insight into effective working of government.
Long dead–dead white men–my ideal men, and my models for what I crave to be.
The Brits (some anyways) are laughing today:
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https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/dear-america-happy-birthday-kind-regards-brits
Me? Well I not sure who is in a bigger mess? Perhaps our “special relationship” will mean that we will both be self-immolated?
…..but personally the RH side of the cartoon looks a lot more appealing than the madness on the LH side!
“13 If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, 14 and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” – – 2 Chron 13-14
I think it’s happening. Buckle up.
Much talk of future “revolution” here.
While it is perhaps understandable given the continuing and escalating provocations by our globalist wannabe masters, from my humble perspective as a 33 year retired Marine infantry officer, I do not believe many who seem anxious to “get started” have a realistic appreciation of just what that will mean.
As my least favorite (I am a native Georgian after all) Yankee general, W. T. Sherman quipped “war is hell” and from having seen some firsthand, I can agree with him, especially “civil wars” that are without question the very worst.
In reading comments here and elsewhere and listening to many patriots in person, it seems to me that very few have much understanding of exactly what they are wishing for and it often seems they have watched Red Dawn one too many times. In grim reality, there is no heroic music playing when you see the head of the person next to you explode in a red mist.
Civil war, especially in our atheist post-modern world where the chivalry and manners of the early years of our first civil war will be missing from the outset, is literally a matter of survival of the fittest, smartest and most ruthless. Very few Americans nowadays measure up in such qualities, most being hard-pressed to struggle from their recliners to get another beer during the commercial for their “reality” show or sports event on TV.
While we may well end up in the most horrible conflict imaginable, it certainly does not bode well that so many seem to think it is something to actually be wishing for.
Finally, anyone thinking our military and law enforcement will en masse come to our “rescue” should it come to violence, are deluding themselves. While some in the military and LEOs will side with us, most will not as many are now woke (remember they are largely the same 18-26 y/o cohort from the same “education” system as those we see rioting with antifa/blm).
I also have little doubt that the enemies of freedom will concoct various false flag ops and propaganda such that the rank and file will believe the enemies of freedom are the “good guys” and we are the “insurrectionists.”
Wise words. Thank you.
Celebrated with 246 rounds fired on my backyard range. Later, BBQ and fireworks with my wife, my mother, our children and grandchildren. Life is good, thank you, God!
I try, on my modest retirement income, to contribute to the J6 prisoners, as they make sacrifices, and their families are also losing their homes and their businesses, to stand for liberty.
One of them went to jail, with a multiple-year remission of cancer, who received NO remission treatment, and is now in recurrence of stage 3 cancer…
In a way, they paid a price for us, and I hope that we will support them as our brothers and familes in arms, thru the Patriot Fund, run by the wife of a jailed one.
https://www.givesendgo.com/flotilla
Also, the Patriot Freedom Project on Telegram. These funds give them things like soap, toothpaste, & other simple necessities of life.
Please help and pray. They need us as those penury-ridden Founders needed the support of their brethren.
Bless you for actually doing SOMETHING as well as not “moving on” to more “important” things like most American sheeple and sadly far too many who say they are “patriots.”
Thank you.
Lovely words, Sundance. So fitting for today. Thank you and God bless you and your loved ones every day.
My apologies to Menagerie!! I did not see that you wrote these lovely words for today!. Thank you and God bless you and your loved ones as well.
I miss Rush. I used to love his coverage of Independence Day. May he be resting in peace.
“He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.” That statement sure reminds me of the huge, overreaching, federal government (with all its offices, departments, etc.) we have today!