“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.” ~George Orwell, “1984”
Today, many of us will celebrate the founding of America on July 4, 1776 — “Independence Day” to remember when, for the first time ever, “We the People” formally declared that “all men are created equal” with the ”unalienable” rights, including “the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” and declared a right to protect themselves from the encroachments of an over-reaching, intrusive government. That formula grew America into a free people and the world’s sole superpower with a quality of life for hundreds of millions, unmatched by any other nation on earth. As observed by my favorite President on his first July 4th in office:
“Let the Fourth of July always be a reminder that here in this land, for the first time, it was decided that man is born with certain God-given rights; that government is only a convenience created and managed by the people, with no powers of its own except those voluntarily granted to it by the people. We sometimes forget that great truth, and we never should.” ~ Ronald Reagan, July 4, 1981
Actually, the Declaration was signed on July 2nd, not July 4th. In a letter dated July 2, 1776 to his wife Abigail, John Adams wrote: “The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America.” Click here for the text and photograph of this memorable letter that was right about the overarching prediction, but wrong on its date, 244 years ago today.
Adams’ prediction came as the result of the July 2nd motion for Independence being approved by the Second Continental Congress, then having met in Philadelphia since May 10th. This motion and the subsequent vote of the representatives of the 13 original states officially separated the thirteen American colonies from Great Britain. This was over a year after the American Revolution began in April 1775 — notably at Lexington and Concord, not far from Adam’s home and farm in Braintree/Quincy, Massachusetts.
A confident and euphoric Adams declared: “I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”
Adams would be two days off in his prediction, however. On July 4th, Adams joined with the rest of his colleagues in approving the Declaration of Independence, a document that eloquently articulated the reasons why the colonies had separated from the British Empire. This approval — on July 4th — would go down in history as the “memorable Epocha.”
Prints of this approved version of the Declaration carry the July 4, 1776 date. They were prepared by John Dunlap, the official printer for the Continental Congress and widely distributed on July 5. The text of these so-called “Dunlap Broadsides”was followed by the words “Signed by Order and in Behalf of the Congress, John Hancock, President; Attest. Charles Thomson, Secretary.” Click here to review the sequence of events in drafting and signing the Declaration of Independence.
The best known final version, in excellent cursive penmanship and dated July 4, 1776, was actually signed on August 2nd by most of the representatives to the Continental Congress, and eventually by all 56, who represented America’s 13 original states. It explained, like its predecessor versions, their decision to King George II and the rest of the world.
The Declaration’s preamble included a most memorable sentence that I and all of my generation memorized in grade school, declaring:
“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.”
Subsequent paragraphs listed indictments and a denunciation and concluded with another memorable paragraph:
We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our Sacred Honor.
This was a formal, unilateral declaration of our Union, whether July 2nd or 4th of 1776, even though we had been at war with Great Britain for over a year for the causes boldly embodied in the Declaration — a war that was to continue for another 5 years until Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown in 1781 and the new nation’s status was formalized by the 1783 Treaty of Paris that recognized internationally the sovereignty of the United States of America. And it indeed cost those signers dearly — Of the 56 Signers: 11 had their homes destroyed; 5 were hunted and captured; 17 served in the military; and 9 died during the war with then the most powerful nation on earth.
It took another four-plus years after the Revolutionary War ended and of being governed under the relatively loose and ineffective U.S. Articles of Confederation (1781-89), before on September 17, 1787, the U.S. Constitution was signed, also in Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, establishing ground rules by which a far more effective Federal Government would protect the liberty of “We the People.”
As Benjamin Franklin was leaving that signing he was asked by a lady, “Well, Doctor, what have we got — a Republic or a Monarchy?” to which he famously replied, “A Republic if you can keep it.”
But this did not settle the actual formation of this new government — for the peoples of the then original thirteen states. Subsequently, the Constitution was ratified by nine states, and on June 22, 1788 it became the supreme “Law of the Land.” George Washington was sworn in on March 4, 1789 as the first U.S. Congress met in New York City. Vermont became the last of the 13 states to ratify the Constitution on January 10, 1791. Click here for the ratification timeline.
The all-important Bill of Rights — even today, insisted upon by Thomas Jefferson and drafted by James Madison (then 38, and after Jefferson our fourth President), was introduced in the House of Representatives in 1789. Ten of Madison’s proposed twelve amendments, intended to limit the power of government to protect the natural rights of liberty and property, became the first ten Amendments to the Constitution on December 17, 1791, after ratification of three quarters of the states.
As we reflect on the festivities of this Fourth, we should ponder again Franklin’s question and answer . . . this serious exchange is as pertinent to us today as it was to the signatories of the Constitution and, a dozen or so years earlier the Declaration of Independence, which focused on the tyranny from which they then sought to be free.
Actually, it seems to me to be even more important today, given the current highly politicized combatant activities in the streets across the nation. Can we keep the “Republic” our founders gave us? There are reasons for doubt; so we still need Patriots who will continue the fight for Liberty.
The mob vandalizes and topples statues of Washington and Jefferson, obviously showing that its ultimate target is the Founding — and inevitably, Independence Day, too. And they demonstrate astonishing ignorance (to be charitable) by damaging even statues of Abraham Lincoln, who led the nation to free the slaves — as declared by the Declaration of Independence to be “created equal,” and Ulysses S. Grant who led the Union to victory in the Civil War and to subsequently freeing the slaves in fact. And others who have sought to meet the demands of our founding documents by the means of a representative Republic, not by authoritarian fiat or mob rule.
Instead of remembering with gratitude and celebrating the freedom this great republic affords ever to improve our lot, the prosperity it has created, and the sacrifices of all of those who came before us and who fought to establish and defend our independence — today’s mobs traffic in destruction, with sympathy, if not explicit support, from our elite media, major cultural institutions, non-profits, schools and universities, the entertainment industry, and corporations.
These riots and demonstrations seemingly grow while the critically important role of our law enforcement is challenged and undermined by many of their alleged leaders.
Meanwhile, external threats are also growing to all we hold dear in America — not the least of which are posed by nuclear-armed ballistic missiles that threaten our very existence, especially from the authoritarian powers of Russia, China, North Korea and Iran. All include in their military doctrine the explicit existential threat posed by a high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack.
High Frontier seeks to awaken all Americans to those threats — especially to support President Trump’s initiatives, in particular, those that can deal with the existential EMP threat and build the most cost-effective ballistic missiles defense (BMD) systems possible since the demise of President Ronald Reagan’s SDI program that I was privileged to lead.
Many of the SDI programs I helped to conceive and initiate 30-years ago are being deployed around the world at sea and on land — and their importance is finally being recognized. But there are still critics and skeptics, witness the still missing most cost-effective BMD systems — those based in space.
They were scuttled in 1993 for political reasons, when President Bill Clinton’s Defense Secretary, Les Aspin, boasted he “Took the stars out of Star Wars.” And no administration since has sought to revive them.
Such defenses should have an important role in President Trump’s Space Force, but the political signs are not promising as the arms control advocates seek to unilaterally avoid U.S. “weapons in space” even as Russia and especially China are moving rapidly to deploy such weapons that will threaten our space systems.
We will continue to raise the issues of our day and the bloated legacy of the limited federal government the Founders gave us; and seek to remain true to our founding documents and the Patriots who mutually pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to give us and sustain this great nation.
The Liberty of our posterity demands no less of us. As my once “commander in chief,” Ronald Reagan, said:
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free. ~ Ronald Reagan
We have failed to keep faith with President Reagan’s warning, and his favorite partner in ending the Cold War, who long ago wisely observed the consequences of not changing our current ways:
“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” ~ Great Britain’s Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
Our leaders are still sworn to support and defend the Constitution, though sometimes one wonders whether many of them intend to live up to that oath, or even understand its terms — as recent commentary has shown.
Bottom Lines.
The Founders intended the Declaration of Independence and Constitution to be the foundation of our unalienable Rights, among which are “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” And “We the People,” now from 50 states rather than just 13, must hold our leaders, each and every one, accountable for their oaths of office, which vary in detail but not in intent. Nothing less than keeping the Republic they gave us is at stake.
We should consider the issues of our day and demand that today’s bloated legacy of the limited federal government our founders gave us remain true to our founding documents and the Patriots who mutually pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to give us and to sustain this great nation.
The Liberty of our posterity demands no less of us.
We at High Frontier will continue to inform the powers that be of existential threats to this great nation — and to urge them to “provide for the common defense” as charged by the Constitution they are sworn to uphold.
What can you do?
Join us in praying for our nation, and for a rebirth of the freedom sought, achieved and passed to us by those who came before us.
Help us to spread our message to the grass roots and to encourage all “powers that be” to provide for the common defense as they are sworn to do.
Begin by passing this message to your friends and suggest they visit our webpage www.highfrontier.org, for more information. Also, please encourage your sphere of influence to sign up for our weekly e-newsletter.
Encourage them to review our past email messages, posted on www.highfrontier.org, to learn about many details related to the existential manmade and natural EMP threats and how we can protect America against them. I hope you will help us with our urgently needed efforts, which I will be discussing in future messages.
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