Celebrating July 4 Requires
Restoring Freedom and Rights Contained in the Declaration and the Bill of
Rights
by Scott S
Powell
Too many Americans underappreciate the meaning of holidays such as July 4th,
also known as Independence Day. While some connect fireworks with the firing of
cannons in the Revolutionary War, most forget that when the 56 members of the
Continental Congress agreed to the put pen to parchment and affirm the
Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, all knew that being a signatory put
a death threat on their heads as traitors to Britain.
The
War of Independence was in its second year by July 1776, and George
Washington’s rag-tag colonial army was about half the size of the highly
trained professional British army and the German mercenary troops fighting for the
English. Additionally, Washington’s army was undertrained, underequipped, and
underfunded. The naval mismatch was even greater at the outset of the war. In
the first year of the war, the Continental Navy had less than ten converted
merchant ships while the British amassed 250 dedicated warships, concentrated
along the coastline and in ports between the Delaware Bay and Boston. Things appeared
grim indeed for the patriot cause.
The
last sentence of the Declaration of Independence before the space allotted for
signatures reads, “…for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance
on the Protections of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our
Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor. Indeed, July 4 for those Founders was
a serious and somber occasion.
As
we think about July 4th, we should remember that America was first
in human history to establish a free and independent constitutional republic
based on two political and moral principles. First, the government was required
to protect its subjects’ unalienable God-given freedom and rights, which would
be later formalized in the Constitution’s Bill of Rights. Second, it was the first
country to establish that the legitimacy for government resides exclusively in
the people, who would elect their leaders.
Modern
Americans need to remember that prior nations around the world for thousands of
years were undemocratic and hierarchical, with rulers and their inner circles
at the top having the power and privileges while people at the bottom had few rights.
Before America was established, freedom and rights as we understand and
experience them simply did not exist.
We
must never forget the courage, determination and Godly principles that were necessary
to establish the United States. General George Washington was in New York,
preparing its defense, when on July 6, 1776 a courier from Philadelphia arrived
to deliver a copy of the Declaration of
Independence that had been agreed upon by delegates of the Continental
Congress just two days before. There
were just two signatures on that document: John Hancock, President of the
Continental Congress, and Secretary Charles Thomson. Because the odds of
prevailing against British were so low and the penalty for treason was death,
it had been decided not to reveal the identities of the other fifty-four who
had voted for the Declaration.
Less
than six months later, however, after Washington had back-to-back victories,
defeating British forces in Trenton, New Jersey the day after Christmas 1776,
and then routing the British in nearby Princeton eight days later, the
Continental Congress perceived that a trend toward victory had begun and
decided to release the 56-signature Declaration and distribute it throughout
the colonies.
As
it turned out, Washington would lose more battles that he won, but he persisted
five more years, never doubting the patriot cause. A myriad of developments that
only Providence could have arranged made Washington’s final victory at Yorktown
possible in 1781. In retrospect, what was more remarkable was not the reversal
of odds resulting in the American military victory, but rather the spiritual
power of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, which
established that the rights of the people came from God and not the state and that
the sovereign powers of the state would be shaped and limited by those
unalienable rights of the citizens.
When
God was progressively driven out of American culture starting sixty-odd years
ago, that void became filled with false idols and divisive influences such as
cultural Marxism and critical race theory. Little wonder that average Americans
today feel demoralized and confused about the self-destructive direction of the
country. A corrupt ruling elite in America seems to have neither respect for
the people’s welfare nor for the Constitution that served previous generations
of Americans so well.
Everything
can change if Americans align their interests with God who assures that in time
truth will triumph over lies and good over evil. Just as success followed the resolve
expressed on July 4th, 1776, we too can tap into the same unstoppable
spiritual power that enabled the founders to overcome impossible odds.
Coming
full circle from the opening observation that many have an insufficient
appreciation for the meaning behind holidays, when the term holiday originally came
into usage it was synonymous with “holy day.” July 4th is truly the American
holy day for the reasons described.
It
is axiomatic that most everyone resists others seeking to deny or take valuable
possessions away from them. Let’s make this July 4th a day of celebration of our founding ideals,
but also a time of renewed commitment to engage and wake up everyone we know that
it’s time to resist creeping tyranny and reclaim precious possessions—our freedoms
and rights. It’s time to become active in the patriot cause, knowing that—just
as the sun comes up in the east—persistence, courage and the truth of our cause
are the shield and sword that assure victory.
Scott Powell is senior fellow at Discovery Institute and a member of the Committee
on the Present Danger-China. His recent book, Rediscovering
America, was #1 new release in history for eight straight weeks at Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1637581599). Reach him at scottp@discovery.org
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