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Old Jackson County Courthouse, Sylva, NC ©2008, by JRobin Whitley
Independence and freedom call to individuals round the world. Americans however, are some of the most fortunate people because we are in a country where we are not only free to embrace the life we love in our towns and cities, we are free to protest when things/events occur in our country that we disagree with as unjust or limiting freedom. On July 4th, Americans celebrate independence from tyranny; independence that was won first by recognizing a governmental system that was oppressive to the people, then by minds coming together to create an idea of how to change that world (the Declaration of Independence) and lastly, they began to take action to assure that those living in the "new world" could be free. As we all know, the Declaration of Independence led up to the Revolutionary War.
The idea and hope for independence from England in 1776 began when on June 11th, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston were appointed to draft a Declaration of Independence. The first draft of the document was presented on June 28th. July 4th, 1776 was the date that the Declaration of Independence had been revised satisfactorily, adopted and on that day printed. The date that we celebrate our national independence was not the date the war ended, but the date where all agreed to build a new nation separate from England. The war that had begun was still raging as England sought to keep control over the colonies and the actual fight for freedom continued well into 1781 with the defeat of Cornwallis. This fight of the new country was a fight for independence from England and that tends to be our focus on the 4th of July. The thing that we must also remember is that the founders of this country and the writers of the Declaration of Independence also had a vision for our country that not only included freedom from tyranny but a freedom and independence that was based upon each individual's right to be equal. Thomas Jefferson penned these words, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." When the Revolutionary War ended and freedom was obtained from England, a new battle began, that of equal rights.
Here is the start of the Declaration of Independence:
The Declaration of Independence
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776.
THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION OF THE THIRTEEN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
WHEN in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
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.
In 1787 our Constitution was ratified and the new world began growing a country. The Constitution laid out the boundaries of what the new government would look like; how it was different from a monarchy. As the new government grew it was clear that by 1789, the new government needed to spell out more exactly what it meant for people to have "certain unalienable rights" and the first draft Bill of Rights was created. The Bill of Rights sought to clarify how the people now called Americans were to remain free within their own country. Our country continued to make amendments to the Constitution to empower more people to be free within this country to have equal rights. Equal rights is another way of saying that each person has value. The Declaration says it beautifully by talking about individuals being endowed by the Creator to have the right to obtain "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." This view of Equal Rights is the basis, the foundation for all human rights throughout the history of the world. The writing of a Declaration of Independence, a Constitution, a Bill of Rights; the fighting of the Revolutionary War, those were the easier parts of independence because documents and wars are objective, but rights of human beings (who are very different) is subjective and is a continual learning.
The growth of human rights can be traced back to earliest civilizations and indeed, most of the world's history is the story of humanity's struggle for human rights. While there are wars for land and power, history shows us time and again of revolutions, people seeking freedom from tyranny and oppression. Great spiritual leaders arise to speak out against oppression of the poor, the downtrodden, the abused. Whenever a person thinks, "...what is happening to her is not right," the person's eyes are being opened to the value and importance of the other. The ongoing struggle for human rights is a part of history that cannot be quantitative because human beings grow and change.
In Christianity Jesus speaks the words, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." In Buddhism, freedom means "freedom from personal desires or attachments." In Islam, "The freedom that Islam grants is based on commitment and responsibility without which there can be no true freedom." Dennis Prager in his book "The Nine Questions People Ask About Judaism" he tells us that in Judaism, "Freedom is liberation from...servitude; it is the workers' loss of their chains." When we think of freedom, the rights of an individual are never far behind. Freedom to speak the truth, to embrace a religion and to be free from the chains of servitude or slavery is the foundation of all human rights.
Today the United States celebrates Independence, but remember, that with independence comes commitment and responsibility, not to a government, but to a people. Our country began out of a dream to be independent from England and then continues with this exhortation from The Gettysburg Address:
It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they have, thus far, so nobly carried on. 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 here gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in fain; that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Abraham Lincoln
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