Ten Surprising Facts about Independence Day
By Jane Hampton Cook
Independence’s Tangible Proof
By
Jane Hampton Cook
Independence Day offers an opportunity to
reflect on the meaning of independence and ask an important
question: what would our founding fathers consider the greatest
issue facing
America
today? We call it terrorism. They called it tyranny. Both are
liberty’s archenemy.
Liberty
can’t be truly understood without first recognizing its
nemesis.
‘Tyranny brings ignorance and brutality
with it. It degrades men from their just rank into the class of
brutes; it damps their spirits,” Jonathan Mayhew proclaimed in
a groundbreaking sermon to
Boston
’s
West
Church
in 1750.
Terrorism does the same thing. It degrades
humanity. The desire to abolish Western civilization, the goal
of the jihad we witnessed on September 11, 2001, is to create
chaos. It’s an effort to kibosh all the U.S. Constitution
stands for.
The patriots of the American Revolution
recognized the enemy when they saw it. “Where Law ends,
Tyranny begins,” Samuel Adams volleyed after British troops
occupied
Boston
in 1768.
Where tyranny degrades, independence
uplifts and unites. Businessman Thomas Paine understood this
when he published his bestseller, Common
Sense, in January 1776.
“We have it in our power to begin the world over again ….
’TIS TIME TO PART,” Paine wrote of his remedy for tyranny.
By July 1776, the patriots united behind
their common enemy and took up Paine’s prescription. The
Continental Congress issued the Declaration of Independence on
July 4, detailing the king’s “absolute tyranny over these
states.” King George III’s offenses were countless: cutting
of trade, kidnapping Americans on the high seas, declaring war
against his own subjects, imposing taxes without consent,
abolishing legislative bodies, hiring foreign mercenaries to
fight against his people and many more.
Thomas Jefferson deftly wrote, “A Prince,
whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a
Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free People.”
In short, the king was a tyrant because he
abdicated his God-given responsibility to uphold their God-given
rights. His oppressive acts also made him a terrorist.
Where tyranny cheapens, independence counts
the cost. The men and women we know as patriots—Benjamin
Franklin, Patrick Henry, Abigail Adams and thousands more—gave
up their quiet lives to live loudly for liberty. The formula for
independence required them to taste torture, terror, illness,
death, financial ruin, fear, uncertainty, failure and hundreds
of bitter ingredients.
But the freedom they birthed is what you
and I enjoy every day. Because of them, we can speak up in
classrooms, post our blogs and upload video on YouTube. We have
a right to a trial by jury. We have the freedom to pursue
happiness by getting an education, working in a job we love,
buying a home, cherishing our families and serving our
neighbors. We also have the freedom to worship the author of
freedom.
Where tyranny seeks chaos, independence
embraces order. In fewer than five hundred words, the U.S.
Constitution created a pragmatic but principled federal
government. Gone was “Long live the king.” Replacing it was
a preamble of the public will: “We the People of the
United States
.”
America
traded royalty for representation. By establishing executive,
legislative and judicial branches of government through the
muscle of representation, the Constitution restored the health
and dignity of a revolutionized people. What emerged was a
government as practical as it was principled. Unity, not the
singularity of monarchy, now governors
America
’s will.
The U.S. Constitution is the most tangible
proof that the American Revolution was not merely a war.
Independence
was a change in the people’s hearts and minds. “This radical
change in the principles, opinions, sentiments and affections of
the people was the real American Revolution,” John Adams
reflected.
The reason why terrorists hate us is
simple.
Independence
is universal. The desire for liberty transcends generations and
appears in the hearts of humanity no matter the continent.
“The cause of
America
is in a great measure the cause of all mankind,” Paine
concluded.
Perhaps more than any other quality,
independence is resilient. The steadfastness of independence is
something terrorists and tyrants do not comprehend.
Connecticut
pastor Samuel Sherwood understood this when he delivered one of
his best sermons.
“
Liberty
has been planted here; and the more it is attacked, the more it
grows and flourishes,” Sherwood declared in 1776.
Our founding fathers would recognize our enemy. They faced it.
But they would also applaud freedom’s durability. The U.S.
Constitution still stands. They would see resiliency in
America
’s prosperity, military, government and people. They know the
meaning of liberty is found in the resilient, enduring,
uplifting, uniting, orderly, and hopeful cause of
liberty—something to celebrate this Independence Day.
Jane
Hampton Cook, janecook.com, is the author of Stories
of Faith and Courage from the Revolutionary War, a 365-day
digest with personal writings from about 20 key players in the
Revolutionary War. She is a former webmaster to President George
W. Bush. Ms. Cook resides in Vienna, Va.
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