We celebrate the birthday of the United States on July 4th. Many Americans will barbecue with family and friends, while others will head to the beach or the mountains. But how many of us truly contemplate the real meaning of Independence Day?
In our public discourse today, there is much talk about our Founding Fathers. Nevertheless, many of us have little understanding of that monumental event on July 4, 1776, and how that date not only shaped a nation but ushered in a new world.
Just days earlier, 56 men bet everything they had on a piece of parchment, pledging their “lives, fortune and sacred honor” to defy an oppressive king. As Benjamin Franklin eloquently put it, “We must all hang together, or, assuredly, we will all hang separately.”
Signing the Declaration of Independence on that steaming hot July 4th created a new foundation for governing. Everyone would have a right to freedom, with a government that would derive its power from the consent of the people.
America’s Responsibility
It’s easy to forget the noble undertaking which begun so long ago. It’s also easy to forget the auspicious beginning that gave hope to a world in which a government would be ruled by its citizens.
In his first inaugural address, President George Washington told his fellow Americans that they had a new responsibility. He stated, “The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered, perhaps, as deeply, as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.”