As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we need to eliminate the false or misleading information about what makes freedom possible. Why is the Declaration of Independence important? Is it because it teaches us “all men are created equal” and that rights do not come from the government but from God?
The answer is yes to both inquiries. It also teaches us that the government exists for a single purpose to secure the rights that belong to us by nature.
John Adams along with his nemesis, yet true friend, Thomas Jefferson – two of the chief revolutionaries – understood that the circumstances of the times, the risky and fateful choices, the acts of daring and heroism must be forever remembered by our Declaration if our nascent republic was to survive. He believed that the American Revolution took place “in the minds and hearts of the people; a radical change in the principles, opinions sentiments and affections of the people,” as he wrote to Hezekiah Niles on February 13, 1818.
The Declaration of Independence is the foundational document for which the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights follow. The Declaration of Independence was an announcement of why the event of revolutionary would be necessary. It was approved on July 4, 1776, and released to the public on July 8 after Congress had already voted for independence on July 2, 1776.
The Declaration of Independence does not function as a legal document or set binding law. What it does is provide the foundational, political and philosophical text for the cause of separation from England. it was designed as a formal announcement to the world for the separation and a justification of the action.
The revolutionary and founding generations did their heroic part in bequeathing to this legacy of freedom which makes us the envy of the world. Our freedom was preserved and established by the millions of men and women who served in our armed forces over the years to protect and maintain our way of life.
In John Quincy Adams and Daniel Webster’s eyes, the highest attainment of all future generations would be understood and live up to the greatness of the American Revolution. The essence of that greatness was not the heroic deeds of which there were many in the war for independence. It was the ideal of independence itself – the idea of political freedom expressed most memorably in the document whose 250th anniversary we celebrate. Nothing threatens the future of human freedom more than the failure to keep live the understanding of, and attachment to, its principles.
We must put away our differences, deny political violence, take a day off from disagreement and ideally take the year off to celebrate our freedom declared to the world 250 years ago.
William L. Witham Jr.
Dover
