America's Independence

On July 4^th we will be celebrating our nation’s 236^th birthday.  We won’t be celebrating our independence on July 2^nd when the Second Continental Congress voted unanimously to approve the resolution proposed by Patrick Henry Lee of the Virginia colony to declare our independence from the tyrannical ruling hand of Great Britain.  We won’t celebrate our independence on July 8^th when the public was first made aware that it too was party in this grand treasonous plan.  We won’t celebrate our independence on August 2^nd when the final ratifying signature was added to the Declaration of Independence making it finally true.  We won't be celebrating our independence on some mid-November date when King George III may (or may not) have finally received notice from those rebel colonists, rendering us well and truly independent of British rule.  (Two copies were transmitted to England by Vice Admiral Lord Richard Howe who departed Staten Island on August 11 and would not even arrive in England until mid-November.  So technically, the colonies were still British subjects until the King recognized their independence. No one even knows if the king ever did see the document.  Could be this explains why many Brits still refer to America as “the colonies.”  But since two of the remaining 25 original Dunlap broadsides are housed in the British Archives, it's safe to assume that some reigning monarch has read it.)

We will be celebrating our nation’s 236^th birthday on July 4^th because that is the date that the clerk wrote on the original document to be copied into broadsides.  While the unanimous vote was made on July 2^nd, making our nation’s independence official from that day forward, there was still a considerable amount of debate over the document before the written declaration would finally be approved.  And that happened on July 4^th.  So in essence, what we are really celebrating on July 4^th is the final edit of a written document.  Still, if that were the true case, the document meant nothing until all the signatures were included.  Consider the consequences if one of the voters changed his mind and refused to sign!  Would the letter with the declaration have ever been sent to King George?

If you ever get the chance to visit Philadelphia on July 8^th, go to Independence Hall and listen to the town crier read The Declaration of Independence and imagine being a colonist hearing those words for the first time.  Imagine, too, being that colonist who understands him or herself to be a subject of the King of England and citizen of the greatest empire on the planet (at that time).  It’s not hard to understand why churches were packed in the days and weeks following the announcement—and it wasn’t just because going to church was expected!  God’s role in America’s independence was and is a matter of great philosophical debate.  But that those people at that time desperately needed to believe in God and that God was with them cannot be denied.

This Independence Day, read the famous words of The Declaration of Independence and take time to consider how much faith and trust was required by the colonists to simply move forward.  Take the time to consider how much faith and trust we exhibit everyday as we move forward in our own lives and in our own times of political upheaval.  God may or may not approve of our actions, and God may or may not have a hand in our destiny.  But believe with all your heart and faith and trust that God is with us.