Two hundred nineteen years ago, 56 men met in the state house of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia to commit betrayal against the most powerful empire on earth.
These men, a mix of landowners, entrepreneurs, politicians and others, represented 13 colonies of that empire and had fallen in love with a new series of ideas that resulted from enlighteners and Christian doctrine. Those convictions led them to start a war that did not believe a healthy person that they could win.
Remember what the government looked like then. We now live in the world that 56 men have created – a world in which even dictatorships such as Noord -Korea themselves in the language of ‘Republic’.
Detail of the painting by John Trumbull, ‘Declaration of Independence’, which displays the five-Mans drawing committee of the statement presenting their work at the congress. (“Declaration of Independence” – Detail of the painting by John Trumbell)
But in 1776, freedom, equality and self -administrative concepts were embraced by philosophers and only incompletely taken over in a few small enclaves. The vast majority of countries in the world were hereditary monarchies and rich, including equal rights and individual freedom. The fight of the founders seemed incomprehensible.
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During the launch, the second continental congress largely informed a man – Thomas Jefferson – of the drafting of the document that would articulate their vision of humanity and this new country and reform history.
Imagine how he must have felt. From June 11 to June 28, Jefferson herself in a rented house on Market Street to prepare the document. He was then 33 years old. In himself in the rental of the rented town hall, he has drawn up what I think is one of the most beautiful passages in history:
We consider these truths for granted that all people are created that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among this life, freedom and the pursuit of happiness.
The second continental congress has largely informed a man – Thomas Jefferson – of the drafting of the document that would articulate their vision of humanity and this new country and reform history.
Read it again. Read it as if you live under a Spanish colony in South America or under the iron fist of the Qing -Dynasty in China. Read it as if you were a poor tenants farmer under the oppressive rule of King George in Virginia or a slave person in Georgia (whose freedom was removed for decades under the principles of the statement).
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Read it as if you grew up in a system that assumed that you were worth less than your neighbor on the basis of your social station, and under which your future was limited by the circumstances of your birth.
The statement was in fact a “revolutionary” statement that expressed the ideological and factual basis for a coup against Empire. But spiritually it was more important than that.
It was a revolution against history. It was a revolution against the idea that some men (and women) are worth more than others. It was a revolution for the idea of ​​dignity, human rights and equality before the law.
American settlers fell on July 9, 1776 a statue of King George III on Bowling Green in Lower Manhattan. (William Walcutt (1819-1895). Painted 1857)
And when Jefferson presented his document at the congress, and those 56 men signed it and appeared to King George and to other rulers around the world, they ignited a war in the American colonies that would become a centuries -long war to transform the world of tyranny from tyranny to Liberty.
Read: the declaration of independence
They got war. Five of the signatories were captured, tortured and killed. Nine died of wounds or hardships that fought during the war. All were hit – achieved by violence, destroyed their houses and property, their children pushed into the violence they created. They starved. They lost fighting.
They have to wonder if it was worth it – these ideals that made sure they have deposited a nation in violence. And then, unexpectedly, they won.
When creating America, those founders reformed history. We now live in a world where almost half of the countries are democracies. The combination of political freedom, free markets and the technological innovation that has been unleashed by those systems has removed billions of people from poverty – creating a world that is more than 100 times richer than the one who existed at the time of the declaration of independence.
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The dominant ideology is now worldwide the one who is expressed in the statement. And the revolution in America has become a revolution in human history.
This weekend in the United States we are celebrating Independence Day. We celebrate 56 men who risked everything. But we also solemnly think about the accusation of the statement and its authors.
All people are created. We are all endowed by our Creator with inalienable rights. Each of us deserves life, freedom and the ability to strive for our own unique paths to flourish. But those inalienable rights are not guaranteed. As our ancestors we are called to hug and fight for them.
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Abraham Lincoln once noted that big men “thirsty and burn for distinction” and will have it, “whether it is about emancipating slaves or slave -making free men.” And all over the world the forces that resist freedom, dignity and opportunities are constantly fighting to dominate others.
May we fight back on this Independence Day. May we have the courage and conviction to resist the enemies of freedom and to continue to fight for the promise of the explanation and spiritual basis of America. May we do this out of love – for our neighbors and for the blessings of the Creator. And may we get courage from the example of those 56 men, their hundreds of thousands of countrymen and the ignorable war they won. Happy Independence Day.
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