(re-printed from a post on July 4, 2009 ~ I think we need to be reminded of this every year!)

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

hen 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 from 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 to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such 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 off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

Visit this website to read the middle section of the Declaration in its entirety.

The closing paragraph of the Declaration:

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, 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; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

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The Continental Congress voted on July 2, 1776 to declare independence from Britain. Thomas Jefferson had been appointed to write the first draft of the declaration, and he presented a lengthy document to Congress on this day. There were several points which congressional delegates objected to, so during a long July 3 the next day it was re-worked, re-worded, and about one fourth of Jefferson's writing was deleted entirely. The words printed above were the final version, being voted on and approved unanimously by Congress on July 4. On this day only John Hancock and the secretary of the Congress, Charles Thomson, fixed their signatures. The famous "signing of the declaration", of which there was a famous painting made, actually took place on August 2, with several absent delegates not signing until the fall. The final signature, that of Thomas McKean of Delaware, was not fixed until January 1777.

This is the scene in Philadelphia when the declaration was read aloud in the public square on July 8 (from the book John Adams by David McCullough):

"With drums pounding, five battalions paraded through the city and on the common gave us 13 cannon blasts, notwithstanding the scarcity of powder. Bells rang through the day and into the night. There were bonfires at street corners. Houses were illuminated with candles in their windows. In the Supreme Court Room at the State House, as planned, a half dozen Philadelphians chosen for the honor took the King's Arms down from the wall and carried it off to be thrown on top of a huge fire and consumed in an instant, the blaze lighting the scene for blocks around. There were bonfires, ringing bells, with other great demonstrations of joy upon the unanimity and agreement of the Declaration.

As mounted messengers carried the news beyond Philadelphia, celebrations broke out everywhere. In New York the next day, the Declaration was read aloud to Washington's assembled troops, and it was that night, at the foot of Broadway, that a roaring crowd pulled down the larger than life equestrian statue of George III. As in Philadelphia, drums rolled, bonfires burned, prayers were said, and toasts raised in town after town, North and South. When the news finally reached Savannah, Georgia, in August, it set off a day long celebration during which the Declaration was read four times in four different public places and the largest crowd in the history of the province gathered for a mock burial of King George III."

John Adams himself felt that the vote to declare independence, taken on July 2, was the more noteworthy day, and this is what he wrote in a letter to his wife Abigail that evening:

"The second day of July 1776 will be the most memorable epocha in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the Day of Deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forever more."

If Adams were to see the fireworks and parades that multitudes of communities presented throughout our country today, I think he would be pleased, don't you? I am so grateful for the thought, debate, wisdom, prayer, and sacrifice of our founding fathers as they drafted the important documents that lay the foundation for our system of government. Thank you founding fathers! And happy birthday America!