INDEPENDENCE DAY - DO WE REALLY APPRECIATE THE FREEDOM AND OUR RESPONSIBILITY?

July 4, 1776 is indeed a national holiday. Yet, in 2008, more time will be spent in line to purchase fireworks, grilling supplies and beverages than reflecting on the true meaning of Independence Day. A personal request: Let’s change that beginning this year.

I have spent the last few mornings looking over the documents and the history of the Declaration of Independence that was adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776 at the Library of Congress website. My daughter, Callie, is in Philadelphia at Independence Hall as I write these words as a member of the U.S. Congressional Academy of History’s 2008 class. We spoke last night via phone about the monumental importance of the courage, the selfless sacrifice and the pouring of hearts and minds into the finished product, the Declaration of Independence.

Despite our previous travels as a family, she looks forward to walking across the rickety wooden floors to view the room where men who stood to lose their lives, their families and their sacred honor, gave birth to freedom in the form of our democratic republic. Callie will comfortably travel by train over a few hours while these men representing the various colonies road for days and traveled uncomfortably to Philadelphia to pledge their unity and bond as these United States of America.

The encroaching British government continued to overstep its bounds through excessive taxation, seizure of American vessels and cargo, and ultimately the negotiation of the British King with German mercenaries to fight in the colonies after he declared, August 1775, that the Americans to be “engaged in open and avowed rebellion.”

By mid-May 1776, eight of the colonies had committed to the support of breaking from the Crown’s reign. The Congress adjourned for three weeks after debate over the Richard Henry Lee resolution:

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. That it is expedient forthwith to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign Alliances. That a plan of confederation be prepared and transmitted to the respective Colonies for their consideration and approbation.

Noting that the sentiment reflected a desire that the resolution would be adopted, a Committee of Five was appointed to draft what would be presented as the colonies’ statement for independence. Members 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 was asked by the four other members to produce a draft, received edits and input from Dr. Franklin and Mr. Adams, and then presented the final writing to the Committee and then, unaltered, to the Congress.

The written words expressed the “convictions in the minds and hearts of the American people. The political philosophy of the Declaration was not new; its ideals of individual liberty had already been expressed by John Locke and the Continental philosophers. What Jefferson did was to summarize this philosophy in “self-evident truths” and set forth a list of grievances against the King in order to justify before the world the breaking of ties between the colonies and the mother country.

The Continental Congress reconvened on July 1, 1776 with the Lee Resolution adopted by 12 of the 13 colonies, New York not voting. The immediate action to follow was the review and contemplation of the Declaration as presented. The process of revision continued through July 3 and into the morning of July 4 with some alterations and deletions, yet with the document in tact to reflect the sentiments of Thomas Jefferson. According to the Library of Congress recollection, “Then, at last, church bells rang out over Philadelphia; the Declaration had been officially adopted.”

The official preparation of the document, engrossing, resulted in the final copy that was signed on August 2, 1776, first by the President of the Continental Congress, John Hancock, then by the remaining delegates present. Eventually 56 delegates signed, although all were not present on August 2, with two delegates withholding their signatures in hopes of reconciliation with Britain.

These fifty-six men of courage were not simply men of the political moment. They recognized in full that as a member of the Second Continental Congress, you were considered not only a rebel, but a traitor by the King of England. This fact meant a reward had been posted for your capture and that signing your name to the Declaration of Independence was an act of treason, punishable by death.

The final phrase of the document above the signatures paints the picture of courage and self-sacrifice required to birth, nurture and maintain our wonderful nation: “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.”

Spend time this Independence Day reflecting on the greatness of our nation, the tremendous sacrifices of those who have given their lives and service to our freedom and then ask, “What am I doing, what will I do to stand for the freedoms, the values and principles that make our nation great?”

Please join the Tennessee Republican Party in employing the call of action written in the scripture found on the Liberty Bell, Leviticus 25:10 : “Proclaim Liberty throughout all the Land unto all of the inhabitants thereof.”

The great team at the Tennessee Republican Party wishes you a Happy and Blessed Independence Day!