Independence Day

The legal separation of the Thirteen Colonies from England occurred on July 2, 1776 after the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence declaring themselves free from the rule of Great Britain. Having done so, the congress then focused attention on creating what we now know as the Declaration of Independence; they approved it on July 4^th, the day we celebrate our Independence.

But by whose authority did they liberate themselves from their loyalty bonds?  It has been said that ultimatum is the ultimate authority from which all other authorities are derived.  That ultimatum is, as history has proven, the threat of violence.  Yet in this isolated case, there was none made.

The Declaration of Independence was just a notice, along with being an appeal to an agreed understanding of  the shared higher authority between the two societies as belonging to the divine. Based upon that shared recognition, the colonies invoked the right for every man being under God’s dominion, not a kings. From there, liberty to pursue inalienable rights was given by God alone. We American’s are intimately familiar with those as being life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Consider if you will the outrageousness in that time to claim to be free of loyalty to sovereignty? In most cases that was pure unadulterated treason.  So outrageous, it must have been considered a joke.

But an ultimatum that had no consequence?  It must be a joke.  The colonies continued without advising what consequences were to befall disagreement.  They didn’t threaten consequences.  They simple said, we quit.  Clearly England didn’t agree and so the colonies resisted their effort to regain control over the colonies.  So violence was still in the mix, but not as an ante; rather a raised wager. But then it got even stranger.  This new entity didn’t even adopt a government mandate, the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, until 1781, five years since claiming freedom from royal control!  Oh, but it get even better, the Constitution of the United States wasn’t formally in effect until 1789 yet ANOTHER  eight years after THAT.  Imagine that…really….thirteen years after claiming independence you come up with a system you’re going to govern by.  And that accomplished not by threatening consequences for disagreement, but simple committing to doing life different.

This brings me to the true freedom that we should celebrate, because it is truly uniquely American.  Individual freedom is the font from which all possibilities flow:

Figuring things out for yourself is practically the only freedom anyone really has nowadays.  Use that freedom.  Mr. Jean Rasczak, Starship Trooper.