Declaration of Independence: The birth of a nation

Friday, July 4, our country celebrates Independence Day, its 248th birthday

It’s the day that the Declaration of Independence was adopted and signed by members of the Second Continental Congress.

Although it was signed on July 4, 1776, the date our country declared its independence took place two days earlier on July 2.

American Revolution started. It started in April 1775, when the colonists started fighting for their freedom from Great Britain in conflicts taking place in Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts.

In addition, it was not the day Thomas Jefferson wrote the first draft, that was done a month earlier.

One might ask, what was the reason for writing the Declaration of Independence.

In the early 1770’s, the colonists, who settled in this new part of the world, were getting more and more certain that Great Britain’s Parliament was trying to take away their freedoms.

Americans also started seeing more of an increasing push of oppression and corruption taking place throughout the world by the British.

In addition, the British Parliament wanted to control the unruly Americans.

In June 1776, Jefferson was inspired by the Virginia Declaration of Rights, written by George Mason, and penned the rough draft of the Declaration of Independence. It eventually had 86 changes with John Adams and Benjamin Franklin providing most of those changes.

On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress gathered and the 56 members, ranging in age from 26 to 79, unanimously signed the Declaration of Independence to inform the British Parliament that they were seeking their freedom.

In the writing of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson followed a script that included an introduction, preamble, indictment and conclusion.

The introductory paragraph of the Declaration of Independence starts with the words, “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.”

The second paragraph, the preamble of the Declaration of Independence says, “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.”

You might say the preamble, that included the unalienable rights, was the basis for the Declaration of Independence. Those rights are the rights that individuals possess at birth and cannot be taken away by any government.

In all, the Declaration of Independence included 1,320 words and the final paragraph read, “We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America,” affirms that the 13 colonies are free and independent states. It breaks all ties with the British government and people.”

Two months after signing the Declaration of Independence, on Sept. 9,1776, the Second Continental Congress adopted a new name from being called the “United Colonies” to be named the “United States of America”. It has remained the symbol of freedom and independence ever since.

As the past 248 years have gone by, we find our Founding Fathers had a lot of savvy in developing the basis for our nation. The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights have become the basis for what is the greatest country in the world.

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Although it shows its ware, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, and the Bill of Rights are all securely stored in the National Archives museum, the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom in Washington D.C.