Celebrating Independence Day

Celebrating Independence Day

Today, Americans are celebrating the anniversary of the founding of our nation on July 4, 1776.  The Fourth of July brings to mind fireworks, cookouts, parades, and spending time with friends and family in the heart of summer.  While these are great annual traditions, it also is an opportunity to remember the significance of this date as we celebrate the freedoms we have as Americans.

The Declaration of Independence was more than a statement announcing the establishment of a new nation - it was a revolutionary document proclaiming the rights of individuals and the limits of government.  It is worth reading these words which have guided the formation of our Republic, and have inspired freedom around the world:

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.

The anniversary of our founding also is a time to remember those who fought and gave their lives to defend our freedom.  It was not enough to declare our independence – we had to fight for it.  Throughout our history our men and women in uniform have defended our independence and advanced freedom around the world.  Without their sacrifice, the American experiment in Democracy would not have lasted 237 years.

However you choose to celebrate this Independence Day, I hope you will join me in appreciation to our founders for their wisdom, strength, and courage; as well as to remember the millions of men and women who have defended the freedoms established in 1776. 

 

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ADRIAN SMITH
Member of Congress