The Day Freedom Took the Saddle

What Is the Power of the Declaration?

Why is it that the signing of the Declaration of Independence marks the birthday of our nation? Why not October 17th, 1783, the British surrender at Yorktown? Better yet, June 21, 1788, the ratification of the Constitution? Surely, that document is the better foundation for our country and its government of the people, by the people?

Why It Must Be the Fourth of July

It must only be the FOURTH OF JULY, SEVENTEEN SEVENTY-SIX. 250 years ago TOMORROW. The Declaration is not a law or statute passed by Congress that has any binding effect on anyone. You cannot be compelled to comply with the Declaration of Independence. Indeed, most people only know the preamble and these iconic words:

“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 Forgotten Grievances — and Why They Matter

The list of declared grievances against the King of England that follows these immortal words is mostly forgotten today. But throughout her history, when America was tested, she turned to the Declaration. When the nation was divided by Civil War, it was the words and promises of the Declaration to which Abraham Lincoln repeatedly appealed. The Declaration is at the core of his Gettysburg Address:

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that ‘all men are created equal.’ Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.”

The Declaration as the Soul of the Nation

While the Constitution provides the framework of our federal government, it is the Declaration that is the soul of our nation. As President Calvin Coolidge said on the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence:

“Our forefathers came to certain conclusions and decided upon certain courses of action which have been a great blessing to the world . . . They were a people who came under the influence of a great spiritual development and acquired great moral power.No other theory is adequate to explain or comprehend the Declaration of Independence. It is the product of the spiritual insight of the people. We live in an age of science and of abounding accumulation of material things. These did not create our Declaration of Independence. Our Declaration created them. The things of spirit come first.”

Final Word on Freedom

“We hold these truths to be self-evident.”

Liberty cannot exist without such a declaration. Happy 250th to the Declaration of Independence! Thanks be to God for the many blessings of liberty that have flowed from it!