John Whitehead's Commentary
The Fourth of July: Pledging our Lives and Sacred Honor
As we celebrate the Fourth of July with fireworks, picnics and family gatherings, how many of us actually stop to think what we are truly celebrating? Indeed, how many Americans really know what July 4th is all about?
The ideals upon which this country was founded are laid out quite clearly in America's founding document--the Declaration of Independence. As the preamble to the Declaration states:
"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."
In the preamble, the American colonists of 1776 declared that it was time to form their own country. They didn't like the way Great Britain was treating them--they were being over-taxed, over-regulated and, in some instances, British troops were invading their homes and violating their civil rights. Sound familiar?
But these savvy Americans had a sound philosophical basis upon which to base their new revolution. This is found in the sentence following the preamble where they eloquently opined: "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."
The colonists believed that there was a God who had created them and had made them equal with all other men, including the powerful British. And God had given them certain absolute ("unalienable") rights. Since these were God-given rights, no person or government could take them away. If a government did try to do so, then the colonists had a right to revolt.
Sadly, most Americans have little clue as to the basis of their country. Not too long ago a group of students in Indianapolis showed copies of the Declaration of Independence to several hundred people and asked them to sign it. Most refused, stating that it sounded rather "dangerous." In July 1975, the People's Bicentennial Commission handed out copies of the Declaration of Independence in downtown Denver without identifying it. Only one in five persons even recognized it, and one man said: "There is so much of this revolutionary stuff going on now. I can't stand it."
It seems rather odd that in a little over two hundred years the original ideas that undergirded the freedoms and liberties we enjoy should be so quickly lost. Part of this is because things do change and a nation's people do alter what they believe is important. However, it is also due in part to the prejudice and often lack of intellectual integrity modern historians bring to the subject of our country's origins.
This means that children in the public schools are often not given an accurate picture of American historical beginnings. As a result, the great majority of modern Americans have lost any concept of what it means to be an American as well as what America itself should mean to the world and the future of freedom.
The colonists, however, did understand the importance of being an American. To them, it meant God-given freedoms, equal rights and a belief in the dignity of each human being. And to the colonists, this was something worth dying for.
As the last sentence of the Declaration proclaims: "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."
The 56 signers of the Declaration did indeed pay dearly for their bravery. For example, five were captured and tortured by the British as traitors. Nine died in the war. And at least a dozen had their homes burned and pillaged.
The colonists put their lives on the line and established one of the freest societies humankind has ever known. How many of us today would be willing to sacrifice anything close to that?
The ideals upon which this country was founded are laid out quite clearly in America's founding document--the Declaration of Independence. As the preamble to the Declaration states:
"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."
In the preamble, the American colonists of 1776 declared that it was time to form their own country. They didn't like the way Great Britain was treating them--they were being over-taxed, over-regulated and, in some instances, British troops were invading their homes and violating their civil rights. Sound familiar?
But these savvy Americans had a sound philosophical basis upon which to base their new revolution. This is found in the sentence following the preamble where they eloquently opined: "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."
The colonists believed that there was a God who had created them and had made them equal with all other men, including the powerful British. And God had given them certain absolute ("unalienable") rights. Since these were God-given rights, no person or government could take them away. If a government did try to do so, then the colonists had a right to revolt.
Sadly, most Americans have little clue as to the basis of their country. Not too long ago a group of students in Indianapolis showed copies of the Declaration of Independence to several hundred people and asked them to sign it. Most refused, stating that it sounded rather "dangerous." In July 1975, the People's Bicentennial Commission handed out copies of the Declaration of Independence in downtown Denver without identifying it. Only one in five persons even recognized it, and one man said: "There is so much of this revolutionary stuff going on now. I can't stand it."
It seems rather odd that in a little over two hundred years the original ideas that undergirded the freedoms and liberties we enjoy should be so quickly lost. Part of this is because things do change and a nation's people do alter what they believe is important. However, it is also due in part to the prejudice and often lack of intellectual integrity modern historians bring to the subject of our country's origins.
This means that children in the public schools are often not given an accurate picture of American historical beginnings. As a result, the great majority of modern Americans have lost any concept of what it means to be an American as well as what America itself should mean to the world and the future of freedom.
The colonists, however, did understand the importance of being an American. To them, it meant God-given freedoms, equal rights and a belief in the dignity of each human being. And to the colonists, this was something worth dying for.
As the last sentence of the Declaration proclaims: "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."
The 56 signers of the Declaration did indeed pay dearly for their bravery. For example, five were captured and tortured by the British as traitors. Nine died in the war. And at least a dozen had their homes burned and pillaged.
The colonists put their lives on the line and established one of the freest societies humankind has ever known. How many of us today would be willing to sacrifice anything close to that?
ABOUT JOHN W. WHITEHEAD
Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His most recent books are the best-selling Battlefield America: The War on the American People, the award-winning A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, and a debut dystopian fiction novel, The Erik Blair Diaries. Whitehead can be contacted at staff@rutherford.org. Nisha Whitehead is the Executive Director of The Rutherford Institute. Information about The Rutherford Institute is available at www.rutherford.org.
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