What They Didn't Teach You About Independence Day in School!
Fireworks, grilling out, plenty of delicious beverages, and time with friends and family all represent the way we celebrate Independence Day here in the United States. And it should be that way! America’s independence from Great Britain has been celebrated this way for centuries. John Adams once said:
“[Independence Day] will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival… It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade with shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”
There was no question that July 4th would go down in history as a day of great celebration. But what exactly is the celebration for? Do people understand what our forefathers declared independence from? To have a true grasp of the meaning of this day, we have to understand what led up to that day in our nation’s history.
In 1774, the British government, which owned the American colonies, passed a series of oppressive laws—dubbed the “Intolerable Acts” by the colonists—which included regulations such as shutting down the ports in Boston without any recourse for the merchants and colonists who were affected by it. In response to this, the colonies formed what would become the first Continental Congress, which essentially operated as the de facto governmental authority of the colonies even though they were still legally under the quickly crumbling authority of the British Crown.
By the year 1776, the colonists had witnessed years of onerous taxation, no way to petition the crown of England, unjust searches and seizures of private property, and numerous other lawful but unjust actions by Great Britain. On July 4th, 1776, the delegates of each of the colonies unanimously agreed to sign the Declaration of Independence. This was no small feat.
As each delegate was called up by the President of the Continental Congress, these men knew they were signing their lives away. Years later, signer of the Declaration, Benjamin Rush, recalls that day stating:
“Do you recollect the pensive and awful silence which pervaded the house when we were called up, one after another, to the table of the President of Congress to subscribe what was believed by many at that time to be our own death warrants?”
The Declaration of Independence is much more than just a document that lists complaints of some old men of the past. On the contrary, Thomas Jefferson, a well-known figure in American history, was 33 years of age when he penned his signature on that historic document. The youngest, Edward Rutledge, was a mere 26 years of age. This document was their declaration, on behalf of the millions of colonists, that they would no longer remain under tyrannical law. No longer would free men tolerate laws that were unjust.
Eventually, after years of attempted petitions to the British Crown and failed attempts at redressing their grievances, the colonists secured their independence through a dark and bloody war, which the Americans won through what can only be described as Divine Intervention.
So then, what does this mean for us as Americans today? We are still an independent nation, but we are struggling immensely. America’s founding fathers worked hard and risked their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to secure liberty for the millions of people who existed then, and for billions of people to come. They could have gone home, let the British do as they wished, continuing the struggle for political and territorial power, and assuredly they would have ended up in despotism as colonies. But they did not give up; they forged ahead, knowing that posterity depended on their perseverance.
Today, we are in that same struggle.
Not a struggle for independence, but a struggle to preserve that which our forebears secured for us 248 years ago. On this July 4th let’s certainly celebrate. We can and should celebrate and show gratitude for that liberty which remains. But we ought to be intently mindful that what we are celebrating is quickly being stripped away and, if those responsible are not stopped, we will be left with little or nothing to celebrate. As reformers we must take a stand, just as those valiant and honorable men before us took a stand 248 years ago. Posterity demands it.