An Early July Fourth Message...

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

-The United States Declaration of Independence, July Fourth, 1776.

In a little under an hour, it will be July 4th, the 234th anniversary of the declaration of independence of the United States from the United Kingdom.  The nation was not born in a day; fighting between Colonial forces and those of the British Empire had been going on for roughly a year beforehand and would continue for years afterward.  The war did not effectively end until 1781, with the last battle--an American naval victory--taking place in 1783.  The final peace, in which Britain renounced all claims of authority over what would become the United States of America, did not take place until September of that year.

Here is a link to the full document:

http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/

Tomorrow, let us celebrate our nation's birth and let us remember the many sacrifices it took for our forebears to earn their freedom and begin the greatest experiment in government by consent of the governed our planet has ever seen.  Let us also remember that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance.