Tag Archives: 4th of July

In Congress, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, 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.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

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.

Dear God, the creation of this document and the path it set the world on has been incredibly consequential. As a country, we have certainly had a great influence over the last 120 years or so. Therefore, I wanted to spend a little time with this document this morning. I don’t think I’ve read it since high school. My first reaction is that it’s longer than I remember it being. I had it more along the lines of the preamble to the constitution. So here’s an outline of what I’m seeing here:

• Paragraph one is like we are serving England with divorce papers.
• Paragraph two is saying we all have a right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” but England has been deying those rights to us. We’ll give you some examples. [My note: I heard someone recently compare gerrymandering that’s been going on all over the country by both political parties as a form of taxation without representation and that only 35-ish of the 435 US House of Representatives seats are competitive. That worries me.]
  • He won’t support the laws we want to make for ourselves. [Interesting that this one is the lead-off hitter.]
  • More about not supporting local colonial laws by the King. [This must have been a bigger deal than I realized. I thought it was more about England passing laws we didn’t like. It’s interesting that these are the first two.]
  • Several paragraphs about how he has handled the local governing bodies in a way that is manipulative.
  • These manipulations of local governing bodies has left the colonies vulnerable to outside attacks.
  • Unfair court practices.
  • He has used his own puppet politicians to control and harrass. [It strikes me that this must have been felt at the most basic levels of society for these men who wrote and signed the Declaration of Independence to have been able to recruit an army willing to fight to the death over it.]
  • Quartering British troups. [This was such a sticking point that they later made it an amendment to our own constitution that the government couldn’t force this.]
  • The military could supersede local civil power. [I think they ensured against this in the constitution as well.]
  • Cutting off trade with different parts of the world.
  • Taxation without representation. [I would have thought this one would be higher on the list because it’s the one we talk about more today.]
  • Unfair judiciary system including sending people to England for trial.
  • Suspending English laws nearby and then trying to cause that system to reign over the colonies.
  • Setting up puppet local governments.
  • “…declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.” [I need to know more about this.]
  • Sending mercenary armies to enforce his will on the colonists. [I thought the mercenaries were a result of the war, not one of the causes.]
  • “He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.” [What’s that about?]
  • He has incited the Native Americans to attack us.
• We’ve tried to address these issues peacefully, but to no avail.
• We, therefore, declare our independence from England.

So that was it. And now, here we are 250 years later. Still so young compared with some civilizations and countries. Just a baby nation, really. I think about our enemies in the world, and while some of their national names and borders might not be as old, their cultures and cultural identities go back thousands of years. I heard a quote from President Reagan that says something to the effect that you can move to France and not be a Frenchman. You can move to Germany and not be a German. But anyone can move here from anywhere and be an American.

Father, I am grateful for this country. I’m incredibly grateful to be part of the 5% of the world’s population that lives here. I’ve been especially proud during the World Cup to see all of the people from around the world who have come here and found how great it is here. Yes, we have problems, but it’s a remarkable society. So show me my part. If we have 350 million people living here, I am only one person, but I have a part you want me to play. It’s to love you and love my neighbors. It’s to do what I can to make the people living around me as fulfilled in you as they can be. And that’s not done by coercion or passing laws that will supposedly make them respect you. It’s through what Jesus did: prayer, service, persuasion, and suffering. Thank you for putting me in a place where I can have the space to live that way and have these priorities.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen