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”