When we celebrate Independence Day, we celebrate greater possibilities, opportunities, and the legacy created for us by greater men and due credit, the women behind them. Likewise, we hope the legacy created by us for those generations to come remains as compelling and powerful as the gift we received from our forefathers on July 4, 1776. As powerful as it is humbling, Independence Day today is the culmination point of liberty and of remembrance.
In the making of one of the most successful capitalist societies in history, the founding fathers of the United States of America and its 13 colonies drew from a well of deep resolve, fortitude, and incredible vision. These men convened for years to write the collection of thoughts that would begin with the Articles of the Confederation and culminate to form our Constitution of the United States. It took a remarkable effort, far more intense than the same task of today might endure. Consider the barriers of meager infrastructure, harsh travel conditions, great distances, serious threats to health and safety, and prolonged discomfort. These men arrived with plenty of differences: urban & rural experiences, political and religious beliefs, individual experiences with rules of law, taxation, and justice, differing family dynamics, industry successes and failures, and a range of economic beliefs. In spite of these significant barriers they collaborated, arguing in order to UNDERSTAND opposing viewpoints, to IDENTIFY similarities, and to BUILD pragmatic consensus. Their collective expressions delivered the document that ignited the passion of a newly formed nation built upon freedom, liberty, and justice for all. The Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776, some 243 years past.
WE are the result of this important effort and WE are here today because of it. Our forefathers united around common cause, to air grievances, argue to consensus, and recognize the economic power and moral value of a free people. WE can do the same to support, protect, and defend the Constitution and the legacy it continues to provide… so long as we endeavor to choose to abide by it.
Together today, we celebrate the legacy we have both endured and enjoyed and look to the legacy we are building with hope, purpose and intention. In my opinion, there is no better place to envision and build legacy than in our everyday lives. I’ll end with a quote, courtesy Mount Vernon, spoken by POTUS #1, General George Washington:
"However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion."
FAREWELL ADDRESS | SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1796
And an amateur photo of one of many important places in the US where one might deeply connect to our history. If you haven't yet enjoyed the July 4 scene from DC, I recommend you try it soon!
The Washington Monument - July 4, 2018