Here we are, a quarter-millennium after our Founding Fathers adopted and signed the Declaration of Independence — I believe they would have been amazed and proud to see that the humble nation they founded only 250 years ago would become the mighty nation that it is today. The United States is now the third largest country in the world by land size and population, it is the world’s only undisputed superpower, it has the most powerful military in history, it has the highest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in history, and it has the most global influence.
I enjoy expressing my patriotism every day of the year, but this season is undoubtedly my favorite due to the patriotic nature of this holiday. I love seeing flags flying everywhere and hearing the piercing squeals and resounding cracks of fireworks in the distance; I love drinking root beer in the summer’s heat, smelling the hotdogs and hamburgers as they sizzle away, and watching the billows of smoke rise from each grill; I love the tangible sense of patriotism and that sulfury smell of fireworks, however, this delight does not merely stem from the celebration alone, but from the significance of the celebration — I love this country, I love our God, in whom we trust, and I love Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.
This Independence Day is one that we all realize is especially significant, and it is a day to which I have been looking forward for about a decade. This will be a year that I will remember for the next 50 years, until I celebrate the monumental milestone that will be the tricentennial in 2076.
I’ll be quite saddened to see the ending of this year as I have enjoyed seeing the excitement build, observing the large number of companies and organizations acknowledge this milestone, and even collecting many things that feature a commemorative, 250th anniversary edition, such as postage stamps, flags, clothing, and commemorative books. I have also picked up new hobbies that hearken back to the colonial days, such as writing letters with quills and playing the fife.
But most of these things are altogether superficial if they have nothing to commemorate; this semiquincentennial isn’t arbitrary, our founders had to do something worth celebrating in order for us to give such recognition to the year 1776.
The Significance of 1776
The calendar flips to January, 1776. Nearly a year ago, tensions between the Colonists and their King had escalated to the point where armed conflict broke out. Frustrated by a decade of increasing taxation imposed by the British Crown in order to pay off the king’s costly wars in the New World, the Colonists stood their ground when British troops came to seize their money, arms, and livelihood. Once the first shots had been fired, there was no turning back, or as Patrick Henry put it, there was no retreat but in submission and slavery.
Several months later, the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia discussed whether the Colonies intended to vainly seek peace and remain under the rule of the now angered British or if they would dare to establish their own nation. On June 11, 1776, Congress appointed a committee to write a draft of a declaration that would declared the Colonies’ intension to separate from Great Britain, which is now known as the Declaration of Independence; the committee consisted of John Adams of Massachusetts, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Robert R. Livingston of New York, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia.
On July 2, 1776, the Lee Resolution was officially adopted, which meant that the Colonists had formally resolved to separate from Great Britain. Two days later, on July 4, 1776, Congress finally adopted the Declaration of Independence, at which point the Colonies had officially left the British Empire and established the nation of the United Colonies of North America.
This new nation did not technically have an official name, and there was an issue with its commonly used name in that the word colony implies that the nation is at least partially controlled by another. On September 9, 1776, the Second Continental Congress adopted a new name for the nation: the United States of America.
Though our independence was now declared and our nation established, there were many trials ahead of the young nation, such as the devastating defeat at the Battle of Long Island only a couple months after the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, the adoption and ultimate failure of the Articles of Confederation, and the struggle to adopt the US Constitution — not to mention that the war waged for 7 more years after the Declaration of Independence was adopted.
I believe that it was only due to the Founders’ firm reliance on God and seeking His guidance that we defeated history’s most powerful military at the time and that our nation, of the People, by the People, for the People, did not perish from the earth. As Francis Key wrote 38 years later in his poem titled the Star Spangled Banner, “Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land, praise the power that hath made and preserved us a nation.”
These events which took place 250 years ago are those which Independence Day commemorates. These are the events that linger on in my mind as I proudly watch fireworks each year. This is the Nation, and these are the People, that we still are today. So much has changed in a relatively small amount of time, yet some things never will change: we pledge our allegiance to the same Flag of the same Nation and to the same Republic under the very same God that we always have.
As you prepare to watch fireworks this year, I want to leave you with a quote to contemplate that stirred up in me a mixture of sorrow, gratitude, and a fresh sense of purpose:
“Posterity! You will never know, how much it cost the present Generation, to preserve your Freedom! I hope you will make a good Use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven, that I ever took half the Pains to preserve it.”
— John Adams, April 26, 1777
I also encourage you to read some of these other quotes of the Founding Fathers; they gave me an amazing glimpse of the humility, wisdom, and foresight of our Founders.
Happy 250th Birthday, America!
Onward American 