“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…”
John Adams reportedly thought that today, the 3rd, should have been the best observance, since it more properly fit the signers’ act, with the 4th having been the public disclosure. It bears keeping in mind that tomorrow we also observe the bicentennial of the death of Adams and Jefferson, who both passed on the same day, July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration.
They are 18th-century men with flaws, of course, but we can never learn too much about these great revolutionaries, who, perhaps more than anyone of their time, helped articulate for posterity the American heart and mind. It is now our job to preserve for the future the true principles of what it means to live free under God.
I finally finished the McCullough biography. The new Metaxas book is a holiday present from Dana — toward the noble cause of getting my knowledge past being merely “dangerous.”
