Celebration of American Independence: July 4th
This Fourth of July 2023 marks the 247th Anniversary of perhaps the most significant date in the history of our great nation. On that date in 1776, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, formally announcing our official declaration of colonial separation from Great Britain.
While this date formally initiated America’s Revolutionary War, the war had actually begun, unofficially, on April 19, 1775, with the armed conflicts against British forces at Lexington and Concord. Following eight-years of complicated, intense, often frustrating fighting, throughout a number of battlefield locations, fielded at first in our defense by America’s state militias, followed by the cumulative Continental Army, led throughout by the man who would become a free-America’s very first president, General George Washington, Revolutionary War hostilities actually lasted until September 3, 1783.
On that date, the war for our independence was officially concluded with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. That location being significant given France’s vital assistance to us during America’s prolonged battles against Britain’s troops, considered back then to be the pre-eminent ground and sea forces in the world. One might consider that our own subsequent vital, freedom-restoring assistance to France during World Wars I & II as perhaps critical pay-back for that nation’s extremely important, perhaps difference-making, aid to our efforts for independence during the Revolutionary War.
The resulting capstone for our newly-fought and gained sovereignty was the brilliantly conceived and written Constitution (adopt in 1788) and the initial Bill of Rights (first ten amendments adopted in 1791), all rolled together as the indispensable foundation and guidance for our birth and continuation as a free and independent nation. We owe an unending debt of gratitude to an outstanding collection of very bright and committed patriot Founding Fathers, who painstakingly created those historic guideposts for our life in freedom.
We have so very much to be thankful for this Independence Day (and every day) here in America. The privilege of living in a sovereign nation, founded and maintained on the basis of individual freedoms. A nation within which any citizen can, with hard work, study, and proven performance, strive to achieve, by merit, any goal, advancement, or profession one may choose. Our great land of opportunity, uniquely one where people from afar desire to relocate here, while few already here (regardless of occasional pompous, immature outbursts) will seek to actually leave.
Very simply, despite our flaws, for the last 247-years, we who are born or naturalized here, are blessed beyond words for the privilege of being Americans. May Almighty God continue to bless and protect our nourishing and beloved historic home of the brave and land of the free. Have a safe, thankful, and memorable July 4th !