Some history for July 4...
A full 11 years before the Constitution was signed, Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence, the document that officially established U.S. independence from England and became the backbone of America’s political philosophy.
In our culture of instant gratification, it’s interesting to reflect on just how much time went into creating this work. Jefferson, who went on to become the third U.S. president, spent the last two weeks in June of 1776 drafting the Declaration. Congress debated and revised his draft in the first couple days of July, then adopted the final version on July 4. Just 24 copies of the original document still exist. (Hear it read here.)
The Declaration was “engrossed,” meaning written by hand on parchment paper, and then signed first by John Hancock and all 56 members of Congress. Two-hundred thirty-one years later, it still matters.
We’ll be back with the news next week—just thought we’d go with a history lesson in honor of July 4.
Here’s a snippet of the Declaration—the Introduction and a portion of the Preamble—to review:
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
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 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…Read the entire Declaration here.
A full 11 years before the Constitution was signed, Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence, the document that officially established U.S. independence from England and became the backbone of America’s political philosophy.
In our culture of instant gratification, it’s interesting to reflect on just how much time went into creating this work. Jefferson, who went on to become the third U.S. president, spent the last two weeks in June of 1776 drafting the Declaration. Congress debated and revised his draft in the first couple days of July, then adopted the final version on July 4. Just 24 copies of the original document still exist. (Hear it read here.)
The Declaration was “engrossed,” meaning written by hand on parchment paper, and then signed first by John Hancock and all 56 members of Congress. Two-hundred thirty-one years later, it still matters.
We’ll be back with the news next week—just thought we’d go with a history lesson in honor of July 4.
Here’s a snippet of the Declaration—the Introduction and a portion of the Preamble—to review:
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
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 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…Read the entire Declaration here.
