On July 2, 1776, future president John Adams signed the Declaration of Independence and penned the following words to his wife Abigail:
“The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. 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 Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfire and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”
To see the entire letter, visit:
http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/aea/cfm/doc.cfm?id=L17760703jasecond
While Adams’s timing was a couple days off from the eventual date set for America’s independence, his foresight was prophetic. As we near the 233rd celebration of American Independence, it is hard not to explore the grandeur of the American Fourth of July celebration; a celebration of monumental proportions with all the pomp and circumstance described in Adams’s letter home. It is a time for Americans to band together and revel in the freedoms we were afforded by men like Adams, who helped architect the greatest country the world has ever known amidst overwhelming odds and a monarchy bent on controlling the lives and minds of her men, women, and children.
“The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. 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 Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfire and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”
To see the entire letter, visit:
http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/aea/cfm/doc.cfm?id=L17760703jasecond
While Adams’s timing was a couple days off from the eventual date set for America’s independence, his foresight was prophetic. As we near the 233rd celebration of American Independence, it is hard not to explore the grandeur of the American Fourth of July celebration; a celebration of monumental proportions with all the pomp and circumstance described in Adams’s letter home. It is a time for Americans to band together and revel in the freedoms we were afforded by men like Adams, who helped architect the greatest country the world has ever known amidst overwhelming odds and a monarchy bent on controlling the lives and minds of her men, women, and children.
Adams knew life would not be easy in America, even after the Declaration, as his final paragraph to Abigail eludes:
“You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. -- I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. -- Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.”
Freedom’s cost is infinite for those who wield the sword and Adams made sure Abigail knew the rays of freedom would eventually shine through the wrath of battle, the toll of securing independence, and the “days transaction.” His foresight again rang true.
As free Americans we enjoy the enthusiasm that eluded Adams and other founding fathers. Our freedom’s were paid for by God-fearing men, men who stood and fought the battles necessary to secure our independence and we need not take it for granted.
This Saturday, when the fireworks explode overhead and the battle hymns ring out amongst the crowds in celebration of American independence, remember the men who “kept the line,” who loaded the cannons, who sacrificed their sons, and pioneered our freedoms. Remember the men and women who have fought for us in the past and those who fight for us today and pray for their safety. Without American heroes there would be no America.
In the words of Katherine Lee Bates, “O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife. Who more than self their country loved. And mercy more than life! America! America! May God thy gold refine. Till all success be nobleness. And every gain divine!”
Happy birthday America! God surely has shone His grace on thee.
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