Like many holidays, Independence Day has become highly commercialized, so often Independence Day Sale often comes to mind before the patriots who risked everything to stand for the ideals of representative government. Let us take a moment to consider the document they signed on July 4, 1776.
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 men who wrote and signed this document were authentic patriots. As such they were the polar opposite of the Republicans who would have us believe that racist nationalism is the same as patriotism. It is not. They would also have you believe that the founding fathers fought against taxation. They did not. They opposed taxes levied on them when they had no representation to determine what and how much those taxes might be. To propose violence against a government because they do not like the policies if their elected representatives is not patriotism. It is InsaniTEA and it is criminal sedition.
Here’s a special message from the Reich on the left, who is right.
The graphic and the following video are the fireworks in my home town.
Please Take care to be safe,
26 Responses to “Happy Independence Day!”
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Do enjoy your 4th of July fireworks show if you attend one even though it has become highly commercialized. Nothing like watching and hearing the pretty colors and sounds of the fireworks. But, do remember what our true patriots did for all of us in Congress, July 4, 1776. Our Country's Birthday. United States of America. Be safe and stay away from the drunks and those pesky extreme right-wingers. lol.
Can't decide if I'm just getting old, or working on my "Curmudgeon Badge" – but they all end WAY past my bedtime. Then again, I'm always up by at least 5 AM. I've always been an early riser – and the cat helps remind me it's time to PLAY!
John Adams wanted to celebrate July 2, which was the date the Congress voted to declare. The actual text was ratified and signed on a hand-written document on July 4th. Then it was printed in various versions. The document which was signed August 2nd (mostly) was ordered engrossed on July 19 by the Continental Congress. I think we are justified in saying it was signed July 4. The August signing was a duplication of what had already been done.
Thought you'd get a kick from British greeting on their view of our Independence Day …
https://tonyburgess1969.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/cjamq0vucaagchx.jpg
LOL!
Thanks for giving me a chuckle.
Too funny! But I can see how the Brits of 1776 might see it that way. Hey, at least they were able to rout the French on the Plains of Abraham in 1759, therefore keeping what would be known as the Canadas and keeping a foothold in the Americas.
So funny. There are always two sides to a story, aren't there.
ROFLMAO! – thanks Nameless! Mind you, I do think that that point of view will only be expressed (in secret) by the Right Wing, never by me or anyone I know!
Sour Grapes!!
Oh, we knew that would be the response. It's why Ben Franklin said we needed to hang together lest we all hang separately.
Happy 4th of July to everyone! Be sure to have a designated sober driver when you are out celebrating! And watch out who and where the fireworks are aimed at!
One time,we had been shooting Roman candles at each other. Got tired of that and just put the Roman candle in a brick to hold it up. We lot that one and IT BLEW UP, COMPLETELY! If I had still been holding that firework, I would have lost a hand and other stuff.!!! After that, I made sure that NO ONE EVER HELD A ROMAN CANDLE!
I still won’t let anyone hold a firework to shoot it off!
Be so very careful!!!
TC, I have been put in a different league and can’t figure out how to change it! Thanks for the help!!!
The last time I participated in fireworks at home, a Roman candle went haywire, sending sparks everywhere. This was in the seventies when everything was polyester. The skirt I was wearing melted in a dozen places. I swore never to fool with those things again.
Viv, I just sent instructions to you both as a Care2 message and to the email account you use for NFL.
May all your celebrations be joyous, "safe and sane"!
Every member of Congress needs to read the Declaration of Independence today, I am sure some of them have never read it. Two sentences popped out at me: "For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us. and For protecting them by mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States." This reminded me of Ferguson, NYC, and Baltimore. Yes, the men who wrote and signed this documents were True patriots. Those are hard to find these days.
Thanks for sharing Reich's "Patriotism". He is right as usual. We all need to love our country and work to keep our government what it was meant to be.
Thanks for the fireworks clip, they were the only ones I saw today. We spent the evening at a friend's house, having a 4th of July cook out. They really live on top of a mountain, far from town. By the time we got home, all the displays were over. Time spent with friends is precious.
A mountaintop sounds like more fun than firewirks anyway,
It WAS! Gorgeous views, and good food, too.
I spent the evening with my mother, feeding her, stroking her hair and rubbing her back/shoulders. I told her that today was the 4th of July and her face lit up. I then reminded her that she was born in Columbus, Ohio and that today was a special day for her. I also reminded her that the 1st of July was special too because that was her adopted country's birthday. But her best reaction was when she laughed and smiled as I told her that her grandcats said "Meow! Meow! Meow!"
About a week back I commented using the 2nd line of the Declaration:
The grievances listed show why the 2nd sentence was so necessary. I think every legislator should read this and be reminded what brought the country into being and for whom they work.
Happy 4th!!!
One year I matched up the grievances to the policies and actions of King George Bush, aka Crawford Caligula.
Happy 4th of July to all my American Friends and those who join in the celebrations!
The men who signed the Declaration of independence were true patriots and true Republicans, that is people who wanted to live in a republic, not a monarchy, and be governed by a group of people democratically chosen to govern, not by a monarch who just happened to be born in the right bed. In that sense I'm a republican too, because that is the only meaning of the word "republikein" in Dutch and I'd love to see our King and Queen be sent to Disneyland where they belong.
Patriot is something else for this Dutch outsider. The Dutch are not as overtly patriotic as some other Europeans and are temperamental more like the Scandinavians, I think. In fact – I must be honest here – the way America exuberantly displays its patriotism, the way every presidential hopeful manages to say "the greatens country in the world" at least twice in a speech, is a little frightening to us. Perhaps it is too reminiscent of the way all parties talked in WW I (the Dutch stayed neutral) and the Third Reich talked before and during WW II, perhaps it is because extreme right always plays the patriot card when talking about unwanted immigrants, much like Republicans do, perhaps because we, like you, are fed mostly Republican over-the-top patriotism by Fox stations. Whatever the cause, the Dutch are a bit weary of it, we hardly ever use the word, but rather talk of "being proud of", but that probably says a lot about us too. I doubt whether the British or the French feel this way.
Americans have a lot of excellent reasons to celebrate their independence and to be proud of their country for the reasons both you and Robert Reich described, not for the made-up reasons the GOP wants to celebrate it. So take a left turn at the corner and all have a fabulous 4th of July.
Once saw a good quote on the difference between a Patriot and a Fanatic:
A Patriot is someone willing to die for his beliefs.
A Fanatic is someone willing to let YOU die for HIS beliefs.
Exceedingly good quotation, I will try and remember it, thanks Nameless!
The truest form of service a patriot can give us to oppose the state whenit is in the wrong.
TY TC – I hope everyone has had a happy and safe Independence Day and celebrated happily. Those who fought for American Independence were deep thinkers and their excellent thoughts influence us today, though probably not in great enough numbers.
Thanks all. I slept through the fireworks.