Independence Day in the USA

Nena Arias | July 1, 2019 

Independence Day is celebrated on July 4 and is often known as “the Fourth of July.” It is the anniversary of the publication of the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain in 1776. Fifty-six brave gentlemen who believed in the founding of this new nation signed this historic document and declared themselves and the 13 colonies free from the oppressive English crown.

Before 1776, the United States of America was not a country. They were a collection of colonies belonging to the British Empire. They were called British Colonies. This means that the King and Parliament of Great Britain ruled the Colonies. But the British government had grown too oppressive and the colonies could no longer bear it. They decided to separate from England and form a new and free nation.

On September 5, 1774, delegates from each of the 13 colonies except for Georgia (which was fighting a Native-American uprising and was dependent on the British for military supplies) met in Philadelphia as the First Continental Congress to organize colonial resistance to Parliament’s oppressive acts.

The Declaration of Independence clearly states what the colonies are doing and why they are doing it.  A portion reads:

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. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; 

When they stated that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes, it tells you that the colonists were not rabble-rousers or contrarians just for the sake of revolution. They had thought this through very carefully and saw no other way out of the strong oppressive hand of the British government that was upon them. They even enumerated twenty-seven abuses and usurpations they had been patiently suffering and petitioning for redress to no avail. Their motives were of the quality that they committed their acts to the judgment of Almighty God when they stated:

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — 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.

This clearly expresses the caliber of the character of these men to the degree that God could honor.

Sadly, America has come the full circle and is again under heavy governmental oppression but this time by its own hand. We have enslaved ourselves and must reclaim our foundation once again.

America, let us declare our independence from the very same grievances the Declaration of Independence states.