Date Published: July 2, 2006   

4th a day to stand up and cheer as Americans

When John Hancock penned his name to the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, he did it with great flourish, making his signature the largest on the document so, in his words, “King George can read that without his spectacles.”

The Declaration of Independence, which officially marked the beginning of the American Revolution that created this nation and earned its freedom from England, was the formalization of a struggle that unofficially began in April 1775 when British and American troops fought at Concord, Mass., with “The shot heard round the world.”

By the time the Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia the following month and continued its deliberations into 1776 leading up to that fateful July, the 13 colonies were fed up with King George III and the English Parliament and their “taxation without representation.”

When the delegates were unable to decide on a Declaration, a committee was appointed, chaired by Thomas Jefferson and consisting of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Philip Livingston and Roger Sherman. Jefferson wrote the first draft, and it contained the immortal opening words, “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.”

Stronger words followed in the bill of particulars contained in the document: “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.”

Absolute tyranny. That was what was sticking in the craw of all Americans, and they would not and could not abide it. Thus the die was cast when the Declaration of Independence was approved on July 4, 1776, then became official on August 2, 1776. But the Fourth of July was recognized then and since as the day America became America and its people became Americans.

George Washington reminded all Americans of what they were about in his Farewell Address: “The name of American, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations.”

Patriotism is the bedrock of the Declaration of Independence, described by Hancock long before the document was signed, sealed and delivered, as “This noble affection which impels us to sacrifice everything dear, even life itself, to our country ...”

The signers of the Declaration of Independence believed in those words, and they repeated them at the conclusion of Jefferson’s masterpiece: “... 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.”

On Tuesday we celebrate our independence and creation as a free nation, one built on honor and sacrifice. We are reminded of those sacrifices that are being made at this moment by our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are serving and dying for their country and its ideals as stated in the Declaration of Independence.

Tuesday is the day to stand up and cheer as Americans.