Today we celebrate the adoption of a document that was to become one of the most monumental entries in human history…The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America.

Something like that isn’t just a spur of the moment decision. This document listed grievances. All of which had previously been brought before the British Legislature and had returned no reasonable means of resolution. This document was the pivotal moment when a rebellion, that started more than a year previously, became a revolution. There is a significant difference in the two terms.

The colonies had had a succession of events in which the British government was imposing its will, on the colonies across an ocean that, that infringed on the rights the colonists perceived were theirs as British subjects. They were being denied rights that their countrymen back in England were enjoying.

The British crown, did not wish for the colonies to declare themselves independent from the crown’s authority. The resources available in this land, the commercial trade and the taxation of all this was something the crown wanted to retain. The colonies were being treated like corporate assets, nothing more. We were not treated like British subjects, we were nothing more than productive labor in the grand scheme of things.

The colonies were producing their own goods and were no longer purchasing from the East India Company. Not only that, but the colonies were producing these good in excess of their needs and were selling it to others at a lower cost than the East India Company was.

The East India Company asked the British crown to make laws to the effect that the colonies HAD to buy their goods…and the laws got made to this effect. The laws didn’t say, directly, these goods had to be purchased from this company. The laws were such that buying from anyone else was illegal in some way, shape or form. Laws such as the Stamp Act, The Townshend Acts and the Tea Act were written in such a way that sanction was not given to the goods made in the colonies.

The colonies did not like having things dictated to them this way and just ignored the laws. The British crown sent troops in to enforce these laws. The colonies liked this even less. The troops were given authority that exceeded anyone else in the colonies. Something the colonies liked even LESS. It’s when the British navy started to interdict the outbound trade goods that the people started pushing back. Pushing back against an established government Definitely has it’s risks.

Let us remember what these men did for us and not forfeit any of it.

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.”
– the last line of text in our Declaration of Independence

There’s that word ‘honor’ again. Looks like it meant something once. This is what we owe them though. Many of those men, that signed that document, went on to put their lives on the line in combat. They, and all those that have bled under our flag since, have done so to ensure that those liberties did not go by the wayside.

We honor the sacrifices made by the men and women that have gone before us by protecting liberty the way they did. Blood, sweat and tears is what it will cost us, because that is what it cost them. Freedom and liberty cost just as much today as it did 240 years ago…if not more.

I will be celebrating Independence Day with family and friends at a lake house on Lake Nocona. We generally have a very good time. We light off about $500 worth of fireworks and cook up alot of really good food while we enjoy each other’s company.

While we are having a good time, let us not forget that the folks that adopted this document did it for the good of themselves and future generations.

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—That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

So let’s remember these words as we enjoy the weight these words carry on our behalf. And y’all have a happy 4th of July!