Greatest civil document

Happy Independence Day. On this day 248 years ago, while Americans declared their independence and established a new nation, the world also changed for the better — in ways that few at that time could imagine.

There is no debating: The founding of the United States of America has to be one of the Greatest Stories Ever.

From the Pilgrims settling at Plymouth Rock to the Declaration of Independence to the writing and adoption of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, to everything those events spawned over the past 248 years, America’s founding has to be up there with Creation; Moses and the Israelites’ 40-year journey to the Promised Land; and the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

Assuming you agree, it makes sense then that the Fourth of July is celebrated the way John Adams hoped it would be celebrated. After the Founders voted to adopt the Declaration of Independence on July 2, Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail:

The Declaration of Independence “will be the most memorable epocha in the history of America.” He said the day should 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.”

Through the generations, we Americans have obliged Adams’ wish with gusto — red, white and blue parades, topped with the quintessential American feast of grilled hotdogs, mustard, potato chips, corn on the cob, watermelon, homemade brownies and, yes, Bud Light.

And the fireworks.

But this is a sad guess: If you walked Siesta Key beach and conducted Man (or Woman) on the Beach interviews, asking why we celebrate Independence Day, of course, many of us would cringe these days at the stupidity of so many Americans. You can envision the interview:

Interviewer: “Why do we celebrate Independence Day?”

Interviewee: “Uh, because we beat the Germans and Japanese in World War I?”

Ugh.

Ever the optimist, we still want to believe most adult Americans do indeed know why we celebrate Independence Day.

mericans have instinctively invoked the words liberty and freedom with the Fourth of July. More specifically, of course, we are always reminded on this national holiday of Thomas Jefferson’s immortal words in the second paragraph of the Declaration:

“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.”

The deeper meaning

It’s probably true that most Americans at the time of the Declaration focused on the proclamation that they were no longer under the tyrannical rule of the British king and empire; they were free of his injustices, usurpations and pillaging. But in the words of the late President Calvin Coolidge, the Declaration “had a much broader and deeper significance than a mere secession of territory and the establishment of a new nation.”

In a 4,500-word speech July 4, 1926, in Philadelphia — on the 150th anniversary of the Declaration,  President Coolidge delivered what should be regarded as one of the most insightful explanations ever recorded of the profound meaning of the Declaration of Independence.

Coolidge called the Declaration “the most important civil document in the world.” And among the reasons for such a noble title, Coolidge said: 

“Three very definite propositions were set out in its preamble regarding the nature of mankind and therefore of government. These were the doctrine that all men are created equal, that they are endowed with certain inalienable rights and that therefore the source of the just powers of government must be derived from the consent of the governed.”

These were not new principles in the 18th century, but as Coolidge noted, these three principles “had never been assembled before and declared in such a combination.

“It was not only the principles declared, but the fact that therewith a new nation was born which was to be founded upon those principles and which from that time forth in its development has actually maintained those principles, that makes this pronouncement an incomparable event in the history of government.”

Absorb that. In 1776, that was the first time in world history anyone put on a piece of parchment that all men are created equal and endowed with the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Who is the statesman?

It is noteworthy that 150 years after the issuance of the Declaration of Independence, President Coolidge spoke as he did about the profound nature and importance of Jefferson’s words — that they still stood steadfastly a century and a half later as the principles that defined the United States and that made the United States exceptional.

But now, nearly 100 years after Coolidge, when, if ever, do you hear our so-called national leaders discuss or profess an embracing conviction to the principles that all men are created equal and we all are endowed with the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?

Keep your ears and eyes attuned to President Biden, Donald Trump and any candidate for a legislative position. Listen closely whether they express a vision whose principles and values would be devoted to those the Founding Fathers established.

Likewise, who among the many candidates has demonstrated the kind of character of the statesmen-leaders who constituted our leading Founding Fathers? Who among those running for office has the stature to set foot in the same room as George Washington? 

In the 2000 book, “Founding Brothers,” the Revolutionary Generation,” historian Joseph J. Ellis, gave readers a sense of the awe of Washington:

“In the America of the 1790s, Washington’s image was everywhere … His commanding presence had been the central feature in every major event of the revolutionary era: the linchpin of the Continental Army throughout eight long years of desperate fighting from 1775 to 1783; the presiding officer of the Constitutional Convention in 1787; the first and only chief executive of the fledgling federal government since 1789. He was the palpable reality that clothed the revolutionary rhapsodies in flesh and blood, America’s one and only indispensable character. 

“Washington was the core of gravity that prevented the American Revolution from flying off into random orbits, the stable center around which the revolutionary energies formed. As one popular toast of the day put it, he was “the man who unites all hearts. He was the American Zeus, Moses and Cincinnatus all rolled into one.”

Who among candidates today can possibly rise to the statesman-leader level of Washington, or, say, Abraham Lincoln or, in modern times, Ronald Reagan?

Lincoln at Gettysburg: “It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here have the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that the dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Reagan at the 1964 Republican National Convention: “It’s time we asked ourselves if we still know the freedoms intended for us by the Founding Fathers,” he said. “James Madison said, ‘We base all our experiments on the capacity of mankind for self-government.’

“This idea that government was beholden to the people, that it had no other source of power except the sovereign people, is still the newest, most unique idea in all the long history of man’s relation to man. 

“For almost two centuries we have proved man’s capacity for self-government, but today we are told we must choose between a left and right or, as others suggest, a third alternative, a kind of safe middle ground.

“I suggest to you there is no left or right, only an up or down. Up to the maximum of individual freedom consistent with law and order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism …”

When he concluded his Fourth of July address, Coolidge told his fellow Americans: “If we are to maintain the great heritage which has been bequeathed to us, we must be like-minded as the fathers who created it. We must not sink into a pagan materialism. 

“We must cultivate the reverence which they had for the things that are holy. We must follow the spiritual and moral leadership which they showed. We must keep replenished, that they may glow with a more compelling flame, the altar fires before which they worshipped.”

Be resilient

Deep down, we have to believe most Americans are longing for the end of the strife that has torn this great nation apart for the past 15 years. They are wrought and withered over being told the country they love and its past are evil. The enmity that splits us in half has become our Gettysburg.

As you wave your flag or fire up your grill on the Fourth of July, we’ll encourage you as we did in 2021: Wave that flag hard. Be resilient, as resilient as the pilgrims who landed at Plymouth Rock and as courageous as the Founding Fathers who pledged their lives, their fortunes and honor with their signatures on the Declaration of Independence.

Continue to believe in and practice the magnificent principles that all men are indeed created equal and stand strong for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 

From a diary at Valley Forge

Friday, Dec. 19, 1777

Papa came in from milking and said, “The soldiers are coming.”

Elisabeth, Sally and I hurriedly ate our porridge, then wrapped ourselves in our cloaks and scarves … 

“I want to go see the soldiers,” Sally said. But Papa said we must stay by our fence. 

“It’s too cold,” he said, as big flakes of snow began to fall. The fields were turning white, and the road looked like frosting with chocolate showing through. 

Twice we went inside to warm ourselves, for the wind cut through our clothes. Finally through the gray we saw them. Three officers on horseback led. We ran outside to cheer, but the men were quiet and thin. The sight of them took my breath away.

“They have no shoes,” Elisabeth whispered.

We watched for several minutes as they passed by. We were unable to speak.

Their footprints left blood in the snow. 

As I write this upstairs, my candle low and our room cold, I think I shall never again complain. For many hours we watched the soldiers march single file into our valley. Hundreds and hundreds were barefoot, the ice mud cutting their feet. 

Some had rags wrapped around their legs because they had no trousers … no trousers, imagine! Mama cried to see their misery. 

Without thinking, I ran up to a boy — he seemed to be Elisabeth’s age (15) — whose arms were bare. I threw my cloak over his shoulders, and the look of relief in his eyes is something I shall never forget.

Sally gave her mittens, and Papa wrapped his scarf around the neck of one poor boy playing a fife.

As the soldiers passed, I saw other families had done the same — if the Quakers had, I know not — but I recognized Mrs. Potter’s cloak, her blue one with red trim, and someone had draped a shawl over a small drummer boy. So many were coughing and had runny noses. Elisabeth said, “Can we not please bring some of them in to warm by our fire?”

When we saw the horseman riding back and forth among the men we knew him to be the Commander in Chief, George Washington. 

His cape fell below his saddle, and his tricorn was white from snow. I shall remember him always. He called continually to his soldiers, words of encouragement, and he had a most dignified bearing.

Editor’s note: The preceding is an excerpt from “Dear America — The Winter of Red Snow, The Revolutionary War Diary of Abigail Jane Stewart, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, 1777.”

The book is historical fiction by Kristiana Gregory, an acclaimed author of American history written for middle grade and young readers.