The Fourth of July ranks today as one of the most important holidays in the United States. It is the celebration of our independence and the date that we finalized the Declaration of Independence.
Since the Fourth of July is also the anniversary of the day that the final edits on the Declaration of Independence were made– it might interest some of you to know the reasons the Declaration was made to begin with and why the founders were so passionate about it.
You may not know that many of our founders believed so strongly in what they were doing that they lost everything. Many did not but some paid the ultimate price for their loyalty to the newly formed United States.
The separation from England was inevitable since the men and women who were helping to form the country were passionate that it not repeat the mistakes they saw in their home countries in Europe. For the record, the reasons that the founding fathers felt that they should declare themselves free and risk the loss of home, wealth, freedom and family are these listed in the Declaration of Independence:
- He has erected a Multitude of new Offices and sent hither Swarms of Officers to harass our People.
- He has combined with others to subject us to a Jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution, and unacknowledged by our Laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation.
- For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
- For depriving us, in many Cases, of the Benefits of Trial by Jury
All Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights. That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed. For the support of this Declaration we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
Our amazing nation has traveled a long path, from a day when men and women pledged their lives and their money and their honor to build a country and who risked everything to accomplish it, to this day, when the United States helps other nations to become free and is one of the most powerful nations in the world.
James Kemper is the president of W. H. Meanor & Associates, an executive placement & training company specializing in engineering & manufacturing careers. He can be reached at: jms@whmeanor.com or 704-372-7640 #102 or visit at www.whmeanor.com
