As we prepare to celebrate this Independence Day with barbeques, fireworks, friends and loved ones, let us reflect on why we are doing so.
The passage of the Declaration of Independence signed by our courageous forefathers moved to declare the thirteen colonies independent from Great Britain’s rule. A right to choose their own government.
Thomas Jefferson wrote: “We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable 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.”
And as the first draft was being penned John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail on this momentous occasion of which we still follow:
I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.
Let us all celebrate our great nation by singing America (My Country, ‘Tis of Thee), written by Samuel Francis Smith. The song served as one of the national anthems before the adoption of The Star Spangled Banner.
My country, 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims' pride,
From ev'ry mountainside
Let freedom ring!
My native country, thee,
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills;
My heart with rapture thrills,
Like that above.
Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees
Sweet freedom's song;
Let mortal tongues awake;
Let all that breathe partake;
Let rocks their silence break,
The sound prolong.
Our fathers' God to Thee,
Author of liberty,
To Thee we sing.
Long may our land be bright,
With freedom's holy light,
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God our King!
In Unity,
Peter A. Piciulo