…that we call fundamentals – here goes:
·
What happened on July 4, 1776?
o
July
4, 1776 wasn't the day that the Continental Congress decided to declare
independence (they did that on July 2, 1776).
o
It
wasn’t the day we started the American Revolution either (that had happened
back in April 1775).
o
And
it wasn't the day Thomas Jefferson wrote the first draft of the Declaration of
Independence (that was in June 1776). Or the date on which the Declaration was
delivered to Great Britain (that didn't happen until November 1776). Or the
date it was signed (that was August 2, 1776).
·
Okay,
so what did occur on July 4, 1776?
o
The
Continental Congress approved the final wording of the Declaration of
Independence on July 4, 1776. They'd been working on it for a couple of days
after the draft was submitted on July 2nd and finally agreed on all of the
edits and changes.
Extract
from Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith
|
Paris
Nov. 13. 1787.
|
the
people can not be all, & always, well informed. the part which is wrong [.
. .] will be discontented in proportion to the importance of the facts they
misconceive. if they remain quiet under such misconceptions it is a lethargy,
the forerunner of death to the public liberty. we have had 13. states
independant 11. years. there has been one rebellion. that comes to one rebellion
in a century & a half for each state. what country before ever existed a
century & half without a rebellion? & what country can preserve it’s
liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people
preserve the spirit of resistance? let them take arms. the remedy is to set
them right as to facts, pardon & pacify them. what signify a few lives lost
in a century or two? the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time
with the blood of patriots & tyrants. it is it’s natural manure.
Our sources for a bit of the above are:
This 4th of July offering says a bit about when and why we
the people got movin’ and also, perhaps, why we aren’t today.
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