by Mike Gulett –
Thomas Jefferson had a way with words and the basic ideas presented in the Declaration of Independence are still very important today – not the part about grievances against the King of Great Britain – but this sentence below;
Thomas Jefferson
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.
Today is the Fourth of July – Independence Day for the USA – on this day in 1776 the Declaration of Independence was signed (247 years ago!).
As is normal celebrations will be held from sea to shining sea!
Statue of Liberty – New York
Golden Gate Bridge – San Francisco
Abraham Lincoln also had a way with words and a few years later he was in the middle of an existential crisis for the USA. Fortunately for all of us he and his generation rose to the challenge as he describes in his famous speech below.
The Gettysburg Address is the most admired speech by any US president and notice how brief it is as well.
Gettysburg Address
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on 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. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
Portrait by Alexander Gardner, 1863
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
—Abraham Lincoln
Read the Declaration of Independence for yourself below – click the image to enlarge.
Happy Fourth of July to you all.
Mike – excellent!
Happy 4th of July Mike! 🇺🇸
Where are these leaders in our self-serving “what can I do to enrich myself/family” government of today?
Pitiful, shallow & hollow individuals all…..
Thank you Mike for bringing into such Stark Relief our leaders of yesteryear & today.
Jack
Hear hear.
I have visited the USA so often in the last 40 years and see through the lens of a visitors eye, it is jarring to compare the warmth, generosity and hospitality of the people I meet with what seems to me, cold, mean, venal and undemocratic activity of policy makers.
I wonder where there is space in the tombs of the founding fathers that they can writhe and twist in agony at the distortions and corruption of their founding document. The declarations surely were to embody a policy, a spirit of democracy and fairness but are taken as literal commandments from a time and place 200 years ago.
However,…. to all the generous and fair minded fellows of this forum of the fatally flawed Ford, Ferrari et all family,… have a smashing Independance Day holidy
We Americans are fortunate to have had Thomas Jefferson to help create the USA and then to have Abraham Lincoln to help keep it together.
I hope some current leaders will step up to the challenges of today.
All wonderful: One of my favorites was from President John F. Kennedy:
“We chose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things not because they are easy, but because they are hard. Because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we’re willing to accept. One we are unwilling to postpone. And therefore, as we set sail, we ask God’s blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure that man has ever gone.”
We achieved what JFK set out to do, ahead of time AND under budget. That was when we Americans could really get stuff done!!!
Glenn in Brooklyn, NY.
Another JFK quote that is really appropriate these days.
“Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.”