Happy Independence Day 2022!

July 4

Today we celebrate Independence Day which needs a couple of notes:

1. It was on July 2 that the delegates from 12 colonies voted unanimously to declare their issues with the King and his cohorts and that they were going to create a separate and equal nation. John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, that he believed July 2 would be remembered annually with great celebrations. July 2 the following year slipped past without comment until on July 3 some remembered and opted to celebrate the declaration the next day, July 4.
2. July 4, 1776 was not a non-eventful day itself. A committee of five had drafted a declaration document prior to July 2 listing 27 grievances and their intent to be independent. After the vote  on July 2, attention turned to the document which needed some edits.  On July 4, the edited document was voted upon and passed.  That day, the document was sent to a printer to have 200 copies made with but one signature – that of John Hancock, the president of the Continental Congress (26 copies survive).
3. It was August 2 when the other signatures were added to the Declaration. So, the classic picture of the signing was not on July 4 as is commonly thought and taught. Eventually there would be 56 signatories, the last coming in November.

From Britannica.com
The Declaration of Independence states three basic ideas: (1) God made all men equal and gave them the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; (2) the main business of government is to protect these rights; (3) if a government tries to withhold these rights, the people are free to revolt and to set up a new government.  The Declaration did not establish the independence of the American colonies. Complete separation from Britain would have to be accomplished by force. Once the Declaration had been adopted, however, there was no turning back.

For many who signed on, it was a destruction of their lives, their wealth, and their well-being.

A great struggle did ensue marked by a very difficult winter in 1777-78 at Valley Forge which nearly crushed the Continental Army but by God’s grace did not.

From nps.gov
On December 19th, 1777, 12,000 soldiers and 400 women and children marched into Valley Forge and began to build what essentially became the fourth largest city in the colonies at the time, with 1,500 log huts and two miles of fortifications.

…Concentrating the soldiers in one vast camp allowed the army to protect the countryside and be better able to resist a British attack, but it became costly when lack of supplies and hunger afflicted the inhabitants, and diseases like influenza and typhoid spread through the camp. While there was never a battle at Valley Forge, disease killed nearly 2,000 people during the encampment.

That hard winter hardened the army into a force and propelled George Washington to the fore.

Four times God is referred to in the Declaration:

1. the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them
2. they are endowed by their Creator
3. appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world 
4. with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence

And possibly the most famous sentence in American history is in the document – We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

All men equal!  Unalienable Rights!  and today – “CREATED!”