Let Freedom Ring

Today America is celebrating its 233rd birthday. It is the longest lasting democracy in the World and the model for almost every other free nation in the world. I consider it a blessing to live in the greatest country on the earth. The only reason we are free however is because of the men and women who have fought to protect the rights that we now have. It is because of their sacrifice that we enjoy the life that we have here in the United States. John Adams said "Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood." Ultimately though, we need to remember that America is the country that it is because of its divine destiny.


One of the least known stories in American history concerns the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Many people think that all of the founding fathers were willing to sign the declaration. This was not the case. They were worried about the repercussions of their actions. They were worried that the revolution would fail. They were worried about being captured and killed by the British. This led to a heated debate in Independence Hall. In the midst of this debate a voice rang out by a man who had walked through locked doors to enter the hall. Thomas Jefferson recorded in his journal what he said:

They may stretch our necks on all the gibbets in the land. They may turn every tree into a gallows, every home into a grave, and yet the words of that parchment can never die. They may pour our blood on a thousand scaffolds and yet from every drop that dyes the axe a new champion of freedom will spring into birth. The words of this declaration will live long after our bones are dust. ** To the mechanic in his workshop they will speak hope; to the slave in the mines, freedom; but to the coward rulers, these words will speak in tones of warning they cannot help but hear. Sign that parchment. Sign if the next moment the noose is around your neck. Sign if the next minute this hall rings with the clash of falling axes! Sign by all your hopes in life or death, not only for yourselves but for all ages, for that parchment will be the textbook of freedom, the bible of the rights of man forever. ** Were my soul trembling on the verge of eternity, my hand freezing in death, I would still implore you to remember this truth God has given America to be free.


God indeed has given America to be free. Now it is up to us to keep America free. This is something the founding fathers worried about. They doubted whether or not the common citizen would be willing to make the sacrifices necessary to protect the freedoms the people were fighting for. Jefferson warned in his Notes on the State of Virginia that “it can never be too often repeated, that the time for fixing every essential right on a legal basis is while our rulers are honest, and ourselves united. From the conclusion of this war we shall be going down hill. It will not then be necessary to resort every moment to the people for support. They will be forgotten, therefore, and their rights disregarded. They will forget themselves, but in the sole faculty of making money, and will never think of uniting to effect a due respect for their rights. The shackles, therefore, which shall not be knocked off at the conclusion of this war, will remain on us long, will be made heavier and heavier, till our rights shall revive or expire in a convulsion.” Jefferson warned that the intentions of men would change, becoming solely concerned with money and nothing else. This is his warning to not only the revolutionary generation, but it is also directed to our generation of Americans as well. The responsibility that comes with freedom is to keep the “spirit” vigilance so the government does not deny the people of their natural rights. This is especially relevant since in recent months we’ve seen the government take unprecedented control over the lives of its citizens. Most Americans have been silent on this issue. It is time for us to speak up. Even though the times have changed and man’s intentions have changed, the power still rests with us, the people, to control our own destiny. Ultimately, it will be up to us to decide whether or not, as Jefferson states, our “rights shall revive or expire in a convulsion."