Day: July 4, 2026

Declaration Of Independence

Today we celebrate the signing of the DoI which lead to the conflict that gave America it’s independence from Mother England.

The document that we celebrate was not the brain child of Jefferson…..as many would like to believe…..personally I think he was just writing a document from notes he had not much original thought there.

All that aside….what is this post about?

Thanks to Benjamin Franklin’s “Poor Richard,” for two decades every member of the Continental Congress was well aware that “haste makes waste.” But the days of late June and early July 1776 cast doubt on the universality of Franklin’s prudent proverb.

By that spring, the colonies had moved closer to independence. Individual colonial assemblies had developed their own list of grievances and calls for independence, many patterned on Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of the Causes and Necessity for Taking up Arms from the previous year, and on his mass-distributed 1774 pamphlet, A Summary View of the Rights of British America. Colonies were also drafting their own state constitutions to be adopted in a free United States of America.

Jefferson had sequestered himself at his beloved Monticello, suffering from migraines. No doubt the stresses of drafting ideas for Virginia’s constitution and grieving the loss of his mother, who died at the end of March, contributed to his condition. But in May, he descended from his Olympus and made the ten-day journey to Philadelphia to join the Second Continental Congress. He originally found rooms in the city center, but by May 23, Jefferson and his fourteen-year-old slave, Robert Hemmings, had found quieter quarters in the Graff House at Seventh and Market Streets. Jefferson had with him his recently acquired writing desk and Windsor chair.

On Friday, June 7, Richard Henry Lee, Jefferson’s fellow Virginia delegate, presented to the Congress Virginia’s resolution on independence: “these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.” During debates on the Lee Resolution on Saturday and Monday, John Dickinson of Pennsylvania, Robert Livingston of New York, and Edward Rutledge of South Carolina argued that the colonies were not ready for independence. Samuel Adams and his cousin John took the other side, stating that the citizens were “eager” and “ahead of Congress” on independence

https://www.coolidgereview.com/articles/declaration-not-all-jefferson

It is my opinion that we celebrate on the wrong day…..yes the DoI is integral part of our fight for independence but I think that the real celebration should be on Constitution Day in September for that is when it officially became the United States of America.

The DoI was a list of grievances against England but these were covered in Paine’s Common Sense…..

Common Sense provided a persuasive argument to leave England and their model of governance for a republic directly elected by the people. While it deals largely with the American case, it also considers larger topics of political philosophy—anti-monarchism, theories that republics will engage in less conflict, and discussions of the state of nature and how the first societies were created. Common Sense answers the question: What does the ideal government look like? In these ways, it is more relevant today than ever.

This is for those that have NO idea what Paine was writing about….it is quick and painless….

https://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/commonsense/summary/

Please remember that there is more to today than beer and BBQ…..it was the beginning of this great country and should be remembered as such.

I you are out celebrating please be careful and do not drive and drink…..if you are participating in the fireworks tradition be extra careful.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Second Declaration

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!

Today we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence and as this country continues it’s downward swing it is time for another declaration and time for the people to take back their nation from the tech bros and the MAGA lunatics….

WHEN in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary to decide that a government that purports to represent the union of states has failed to do so; that the unalienable rights of Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness have been trampled upon by that government; and that the rule of law and the Constitution have been systematically violated, then whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it.

Thus, we the people have determined that the present government under President Donald J. Trump is bent on the destruction of democratic authority and its replacement by an authoritarian regime that does not respect the Constitution, the rule of law, or the fundamental human rights of American citizens and other lawful residents of these United States.

We, therefore, declare that the present government is illegitimate: Its President has violated his oath of office to “protect and defend the Constitution,” instead claiming absolute power; he has unlawfully and dishonorably ordered the prosecution of critics, abusing the independent role of the department of justice; he has appointed people to high government positions based entirely on loyalty to him and with limited or no competence for the office to which they have been appointed; he has undermined the independence of various government agencies and institutes established by Congress, dismantling some and seeking to turn others into arms of the executive branch; he has denied critical funds to state and local governments that resist his administration’s unlawful policies and regulations; he has shown contempt for Congress, ignoring its constitutional role in budgeting, war powers, and appointment of officials; he and members of his cabinet have engaged in numerous corrupt dealings with foreign governments that enrich the President and his friends; he and his administration have systematically undermined civil society, including freedom of the press and freedom of speech in universities and law firms; his administration, turning the department of homeland security into a domestic security tool, has illegally carried out military operations in the states and cities of these United States–operations that provoke violence and deprive Americans and lawful residents of their basic rights; his administration has undermined the purposes and creed of the professional military, removing senior officers without cause and committing US military forces to illegal acts on the high seas; his administration has undermined the reputation of the United States, carrying out policies that are lawless and imperialist in the eyes of many governments and peoples around the world; he and his administration have ignored and denigrated the nation’s science community, dismantling environmental regulations and research programs in defiance of the scientific consensus on global warming; and he and his administration have undermined traditional alliances with democracies, weaponizing tariffs to overcome their resistance to his policies and interfering in their internal politics by promoting the agenda of far-right political parties.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. We vow to use peaceful means and democratic processes to do so, answering force with force only as a last resort, confident that history has shown that mass nonviolent force has proven successful at overcoming oppression.

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.

Time for you to stand up regardless of your personal standings and help take back the country that gave you your position.

I am ready and I am going to do all I can.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”