What do fireworks mean? Why are they the center of out July fourth celebrations? This point really went home to me last year when my grandfather, who had been in the military, addressed me. The noise of the fireworks had died down and we were walking back to our hotel. “For every firework we watch leisurely here how many more missiles are killing our troops who fight to protect our nation, not only currently but throughout the entire history of this nation?” Fireworks are not wrong, but do we understand what they represent? I am afraid not. Were our forefathers to witness the wickedness that occurs on the day congress approved the declaration of independence would they not hesitate to shed one drop of blood for such a misused freedom? July fourth should be a day of thanksgiving, not presumption, a day of studying their example, rather than misinterpreting their texts, however imperfect they may have been.
With this in mind, let us examine July, 1776. At the start of The Great Presbyterian war, as some prefer to title it, there was no desire for independence. In fact. The founding fathers dreaded making any revolutionary movements at all. And yet, they were compelled by the rights of the English common law to bring King Gearge III into obedience of the very law he was given to protect. Such had happened formerly, such as at the Magna Charta. Surely there was no need to create a separate nation, or so many of our first presidents thought. So why such a sudden move? In the declaration’s own 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.
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 form 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 abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such a 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 of such a Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.’
It was June 7, 1776 when Richard Henry Lee first proposed such a grand experiment as Independence, also agreed upon by John Adams. However, it was not Lee who wrote the declaration, but Jefferson due to Lee be called away at the time of its composition. Of all the books Lee could have left Jefferson as he alone was left to right such an important document he left Blackstone’s commentary on the English Common Law. At first it might seem preposterous to study English law while writing a complaint against them, but at second glance it is anything but sardonic. In fact, the basis of biblical government relies on a common law taken from the pages of scripture.
Finally, on July 2nd, Congress approved the document and it ordered to be printed on parchment and signed on the fourth. However, there is evidence** that it was actually signed a few days later.
