Independence Day

So, like you, I took off the 4th of July to celebrate the declaration of our independence from the rule of King George III and status as subjects of the British realm. I did this, of course, by sleeping late, going to the gym and the beach and hosting a barbecue. This, I know, is what the Forefathers did and what they would want me to do. They just did it in powdered wigs.

In reality, we tend to forget, ignore and take for granted the historical fact that there was, indeed, a Declaration of Independence and that it was a staggeringly important document not just to Americans, but to everyone. Never before in history was a war so courteously declared and written notice given to the world that an entire grouping of people of different social, economic and educational status unanimously declared that there are certain self-evident truths, inalienable rights and that thirteen states unilaterally decided that they were going to be a single, sovereign nation. Today, we take these as assumed facts. Yet, at the time, women were little more than property (who couldn't vote) and anyone who arrived here from Africa was, in fact, property.

Perhaps most mind blowing, Thomas Jefferson was only 34 years old when he wrote the Declaration (well, we credit him with writing it, but it's pretty clear there were a couple of other folks who may have had a thing or two to say about the final version. You know, Ben Franklin, John Adams, Samuel Adams, ).

So, take a look at the partial text that allowed us all to take Friday off and live the life of the free:

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.

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We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, 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; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. 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.