[COMMENTARY]'All Men...Are Endowed by Their Creator With Certain Unalienable Rights'

[Editor's Note: With these words--239 years ago--our Founding Fathers declared the independence of the United States of America.]

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

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; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. 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.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. 

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

Via: CNS News

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What was the weather like on July 4, 1776?

July 4, 1776
Independence Day

On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was signed signifying our independence from Great Britain. Thomas Jefferson drafted this historical document but he also kept weather logs. Here’s what he recorded for the first Independence Day, 239 years ago.

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Philadelphia Weather Conditions, July 4, 1776

6am: 68°  //  1pm: 76°  //  Warm and humid day*

*Keep in mind that heavy suits and wigs were the fashion of the time. There was not the luxury of air conditioning either.

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Here’s how Jefferson describes his ritual, “My method is to make two observations a day, the one as early as possible in the morning, the other from 3. to 4. aclock, because I have found 4. aclock the hottest and day light the coldest point of the 24. hours. I state them in an ivory pocket book in the following form, and copy them out once a week.”

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In the 1700’s, personal weather diaries allowed people to keep track of the weather. By the 1800’s the U.S. Weather Bureau was founded and became known as the National Weather Service during the 1900’s.

~ Meteorologist Candice Boling

Via: WNCT9

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Fourth of July 2015 quotes, inspirations, history: celebrating America's Independence Day

The Fourth of July 2015 has arrived, and millions will be celebrating America's Day of Independence on Saturday and throughout the weekend.

Even though America has had its freedom since 1776, the Fourth of July's history may surprise: America's Fourth of July celebration has only been official since 1941.

The Fourth of July has been celebrated since the beginning of America's freedom, however.

From History.com: "In June 1776, representatives of the 13 colonies then fighting in the revolutionary struggle weighed a resolution that would declare their independence from Great Britain. On July 2nd, the Continental Congress voted in favor of independence, and two days later its delegates adopted the Declaration of Independence, a historic document drafted by Thomas Jefferson. From 1776 until the present day, July 4th has been celebrated as the birth of American independence, with typical festivities ranging from fireworks, parades and concerts to more casual family gatherings and barbecues."

In honor of America's Independence Day, here are some inspirational quotes about freedom for the Fourth of July 2015:

"Give me liberty or give me death!" –Patrick Henry

 I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure it will cost us to maintain this declaration, and support and defend these states. Yet through all the gloom I see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is worth all the means. This is our day of deliverance."  --John Adams

"It is, indeed, a fallacy, base on no logic at all, for any American to suggest that the rule of force can defeat human freedom in all the other parts of the world and permit it to survive in the United States alone. But it has been that childlike fantasy itself that misdirected faith which has led nation after nation to go about their peaceful tasks, relying on the thought, and even the promise, that they and their lives and their government would be allowed to live when the juggernaut of force came their way." --Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1941

"Equal and exact justice to all men...freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of person under the protection of the habeas corpus; and trial by juries impartially selected, these principles form the bright constellation, which has gone before us." --Thomas Jefferson

"America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination, and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand." — Harry S. Truman

"Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth." --George Washington

"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." --Thomas Jefferson

"My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth." --Abraham Lincoln 

Via: AL.com

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The History of Liberty

In 1559, a political dissident in Europe saw a fundamental problem with the reign of kings:

“It is very rare for kings so to control themselves that their will never disagrees with what is just and right; or for them to have been endowed with such great keenness and prudence, that each knows how much is enough. Therefore, men’s fault or failing causes it to be safer and more bearable for a number to exercise government, so that they may help one another, teach and admonish one another; and, if one asserts himself unfairly, there may be a number of censors and masters to restrain his willfulness.”

These words are so republican-sounding that an Englishman must have written them, if we are to take to heart Daniel Hannan’s argument in Inventing Freedom: How the English-Speaking Peoples Made the Modern World.

The problem: An Englishman didn’t write them.

Hannan’s thesis is that the political principles that made England and America so great—principles of individual liberty, limited and representative government, and the rule of law—evolved from the dank peat of medieval England after the Angles and Saxons invaded the island. These principles were developed and refined through England’s struggles against autocratic kings, Hannan says, culminating in the Glorious Revolution of 1689 and the American Revolution of 1776, and resulting in the spread of an English-speaking empire across the globe.

“Elected parliaments, habeas corpus, free contract, equality before the law, open markets, an unrestricted press, the right to proselytize for any religion, jury trials: these … are specific products of a political ideology developed in the language in which you are reading these words,” Hannan writes.

Via: The Blaze

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