Fourth of July

The fourth of July being the grand daddy of all American holidays has always meant to me that point in the year where summer turned serious.

In my younger years, this was the first major event in the school break. It was usually when the almost constant barrage of carnivals, county fairs and state fairs began their season. The holiday weekend was usually an excuse to attend some neighboring village’s carnival followed by viewing a parade and of course the requisite fireworks.

Once summer vacation was no longer a part of my life (and before becoming a parent), it was a welcome break in the work year. A time to catch up on lawn work and perhaps relax and party a little with friends and/or family.

Once my son was born, we started the same pattern for him of attempting to view some carnival or taking some time during this week end to have some family fun with a cook out or taking in a ball game.

Now that my son has grown and moved away, I guess I’ve returned to the strategy of looking at the long weekend as a chance to relax. I decided, this year, to take this moment to reflect on the holiday’s origins.

We’re reminded each year that the underlying theme of the Fourth of July is that of celebrating the creation of the union of the colonial states into the central government of the United States of America. This effort culminated with the signing of the Declaration of Independence which also gave way to the other common name for the holiday as “Independence Day”.

The document drafted (as historians have generally agreed upon) by Thomas Jefferson between June 11 and June 28, 1776 expressed a unique (at that point in time) political philosophy with ideals of individual liberty that were summarized as “self-evident truths”. It set forth a list of grievances against the King of England in order to justify the breaking of ties with the English empire. The document came about in reaction to a clear call for independence during a session of the Pennsylvania State House (later dubbed Independence Hall) on June 7th by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia. His resolution began with these words: “Resolved: That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.”

The Lee resolution was of course an expression of what had transpired in the colonies over the course of several years worth of struggles and political upheaval. His speech caused the creation of what came to be known as the “The Committee of Five”. The Committee of Five consisted of John Adams, Roger Sherman, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and Robert R. Livingston. Jefferson was the only “Southerner” in the group, the remaining members being from New England, New York and Pennsylvania.

Jefferson wrote that the other members of that august committee had “unanimously pressed on myself alone to undertake the draught (sic). I consented; I drew it; but before I reported it to the committee I communicated it separately to Dr. Franklin and Mr. Adams requesting their corrections… I then wrote a fair copy, reported it to the committee, and from them, unaltered to the Congress.”**

On July 1, 1776, the Continental Congress convened and adopted the document during sessions on July 4, 1776. Church bells ringing out over Philadelphia signified the adoption of the document publicly.

The document remains a treasured and revered artifact of our nation’s history. It is truly an expression of very creative and free thinking scholars that had a vision and understanding of what was truly important for any society to evolve and more importantly the expression and preservation of freedom.

We could all do well to review the words in this document regularly. Today’s a great day to start that ritual.

---Jim


**Quoted from “The Charters of Freedom”. http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_history.html