As we celebrate with food and fireworks, let’s understand why we celebrate.Everyone thinks that the 4th of July was the birth of our great nation. Unless you are in school right now, you might believe it to be true. And in some ways, it was. Our great nation wasn’t formed on July 4th, 1776. The Continental Congress didn’t create our Constitution until September 17, 1787. What did happen on that fateful day in 1776? 56 brave men were meeting, not to ask for, but to demand something that had never before been given. They didn’t hide and snipe, they stood tall and proud and many suffered greatly for it.

The United States at that time really were not united, nor technically states as we know them. They were British colonies, under the rule of the King. The people were heavily taxed, but received no citizen rights as a British subject and they did not take kindly to that. They took their lives and their fortunes and laid them on the line because they wanted to be free from tyranny. These were men of higher learning, mostly well off. They could have lived a happy life, but they wanted more. They wanted Liberty! They wanted Liberty, more than they valued life. Most, if not all, believed God gave them unalienable rights, to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. In fact, they made this pledge to each other:

For the support of this Declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.

That’s right! We declared our Independence from the King of England! We told him we would no longer live under his thumb, that we would rule ourselves as a nation! 56 men signed a document listing their grievances with their King, and then breaking with the most powerful nation on Earth at the time. They did not take this lightly nor was it a flippant attempt to win favor. They specifically called out their King and sealed the fate of everyone living in the colonies.

As I said, many paid dearly for the act of defiance they expressed that day!

• 5 were captured and tortured to death as traitors
• 2 lost their sons in the Revolutionary war that followed
• 1 had 2 sons captured
• 9 fought and died of their wounds
• 12 had their homes ransacked and burned, most died bankrupt.

Who were these men? Lawyers, Jurists, Merchants, Farmers, Plantation owners. All were men of means!

Why would anyone do this? Would anyone stand up today and do the same? We had 56 men, brought together by their Creator to plant a seed: to break away from the most powerful country on Earth. The seed planted that day grew into a more powerful nation than it broke from. Our Constitution was written by mere men, but men who knew we were meant to be free. They knew they were sent to Earth with a mission and they lived it out. It took many Presidents, until a meek fellow from Illinois, decided it was time to finish the job! All men (and women) were created equally!

Today as we celebrate the declaring of that freedom, let’s look back on the men and women who died to set us free from tyranny! Let us always remember the yoke of tyranny, that it might never again be lashed around our necks. Let us always treat each other fairly and equally, because God did bestow on each and every one of us the rigth to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness!

Recently, the President of the United States made a speech about the Grand Lady, the Statue of Liberty. This statue was a gift, from France, dedicated in 1886. It is a monument that celebrated the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. To learn more about the truth of what she stands for, visit WikiPedia

To read the Declaration of Independence:
To read more about the Constitution: