Declaration of Independence: The revolution that reworked the world

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200 and forty-nine years in the past, 56 males met within the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia to commit treason in opposition to probably the most highly effective empire on Earth.

Representing 13 colonies of that empire, these males – a mixture of landowners, entrepreneurs, politicians and others – had turn out to be enamored with a brand new set of concepts flowing from enlightenment thinkers and Christian teaching . These convictions led them to begin a battle no sane individual believed they may win.

Keep in mind what authorities regarded like again then. We now stay on the planet these 56 males created – a world through which even dictatorships like North Korea cloak themselves within the language of "republic."

Element of John Trumbull's portray, "Declaration of Independence," which depicts the five-man drafting committee of the Declaration presenting their work to the Congress. ("Declaration of Independence" - element of the portray by John Trumbell)

However in 1776, freedom, equality and self-governance had been nascent ideas espoused by philosophers and adopted solely incompletely in just a few small enclaves. The overwhelming majority of nations on the planet had been hereditary monarchies and empires beneath which equal rights and particular person liberty weren't contemplated. The Founders’ combat appeared incomprehensible.

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In launching it, the Second Continental Congress largely tasked one man – Thomas Jefferson – with drafting the doc that may articulate their imaginative and prescient for humanity and this new nation and reshape historical past.

Think about how he should have felt. Jefferson secluded himself from June 11 to June 28 in a rented house on Market Avenue to draft the doc. He was 33 years outdated on the time. In isolation in that rented townhome he drafted what I feel is among the most stunning passages in historical past:

We maintain these truths to be self-evident, that each one males are created equal, that they're endowed by their Creator with sure unalienable Rights, that amongst these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

The Second Continental Congress largely tasked one man – Thomas Jefferson – with drafting the doc that may articulate their imaginative and prescient for humanity and this new nation and reshape historical past.

Learn it once more. Learn it as when you had been dwelling beneath a Spanish colony in South America or beneath the iron fist of the Qing dynasty in China. Learn it as when you had been a poor tenant farmer beneath the oppressive rule of King George in Virginia or an enslaved individual in Georgia (whose freedom beneath the principles of the Declaration was nonetheless a long time away).

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Learn it as when you grew up in a system that assumed you had been price lower than your neighbor by advantage of your social station, and beneath which your future was restricted by the circumstances of your start.

The Declaration was, in actual fact, a "revolutionary" assertion articulating the ideological and factual foundation for a coup in opposition to empire. However spiritually, it was extra vital than that.

It was a revolution against history . It was a revolution in opposition to the concept some males (and ladies) are price greater than others. It was a revolution for the concept of dignity, human rights, and equality earlier than legislation.

American colonists toppled a statue of King George III on Bowling Inexperienced in Decrease Manhattan on July 9, 1776. (William Walcutt (1819-1895). Painted 1857)

And when Jefferson submitted his doc to the Congress, and people 56 males signed it and shipped it off to King George and to others rulers around the globe, they ignited a battle within the America colonies that may turn out to be a centuries-long battle to remodel the globe from tyranny to liberty.

READ: THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

Struggle they received. 5 of the signers had been captured, tortured and killed. 9 died from wounds or hardships preventing within the battle. All had been impacted – raked by violence, their houses and property ravaged, their youngsters thrust into the violence they created. They starved. They misplaced battles.

They should have puzzled if it was price it – these beliefs that had triggered them to plunge a nation into violence. After which, unexpectedly, they received.

In creating America, these Founding Fathers reshaped historical past. We now stay in a world through which almost half of nations are democracies. The mixture of political freedom, free markets and the technological innovation unleashed by these methods has lifted billions of individuals out of poverty – making a world greater than 100 instances richer than the one which existed on the time of the Declaration of Independence.

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The dominant ideology now globally is the one articulated within the Declaration. And the revolution in America has turn out to be a revolution in human historical past.

This weekend in america we celebrate Independence Day . We have a good time 56 males who risked all the pieces. However we additionally solemnly replicate on the cost of the Declaration and its authors.

All individuals are created equal. We're all endowed by our Creator with inalienable rights. Every of us deserves life, liberty, and the flexibility to pursue our personal distinctive paths to flourishing. However these inalienable rights should not assured. As our forebears, we're referred to as to embrace and combat for them.

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Abraham Lincoln as soon as famous that nice males "thirst and burn for distinction" and may have it, "whether or not on the expense of emancipating slaves, or enslaving free males." And around the globe the powers that oppose liberty, dignity and alternative combat ceaselessly to dominate others.

Might we, on this Independence Day, combat again. Might we have now the audacity and conviction to oppose the enemies of liberty and to proceed to combat for the promise of the Declaration and America’s religious basis. Might we accomplish that out of affection – for our neighbors and for the blessings of the Creator . And will we acquire braveness from the instance of these 56 males, their lots of of hundreds of compatriots, and the unwinnable battle they received. Comfortable Independence Day.