“The Fourth of July will not pass without reminding us of the great pride we have in our nation.  It must include tributes to our troops, a good picnic or barbecue with family and friends, and some evening fireworks. Add to that recipe a prayer for our men and women in uniform, a parade, and a salute to our American flag, and you have all the makings of a true Independence Day celebration.

 

But the day should not pass without also reflecting on our founders and the documents they forged to give birth to our great Union.  When the Discovery Channel recently held a contest to find the “Greatest American,” George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson finished high up on the list.  They received the honor for good reason – they all played major roles in the production and adoption of our founding documents.

 

Together, the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights are known as the Charters of Freedom.  They have a secure home in the National Archives in Washington, D.C.  Though you can walk by and see the original documents during the day, these three treasures are lowered into a safe at night.  The reinforced steel and concrete safe is 20 feet underground, and it houses the six parchment pages of the original Charters of Freedom as well as a few other precious documents.

 

Why go to such great lengths for some pieces of paper?

 

The Constitution is the basis for both American government and American law.  The Bill of Rights granted Americans the basic freedoms we rely upon for our functioning democracy.  Through our federal government, we look back more than 225 years to interpret these documents in order to create and interpret laws in the spirit of our founders.  Some efforts are more successful than others.

 

To me, however, the most important document among those Charters of Freedom is the Declaration of Independence.  More so than the others, the Declaration motivated the original American citizens to stand up for their God-given rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  The Declaration is a unique document because it intended to explain not only to King George, but also to the world, the reasons why the colonists must be free.

 

The blessings of liberty we enjoy today are the direct result of the unwavering dedication of the colonists to the ideal of individual freedom.  In the Declaration of Independence itself, the date of our nation’s birth is stated.  So are the reasons.  High taxes, a lack of representation in government, few protections under law, and unreasonable restrictions on trade numbered among many of the founders’ grievances.  So they set out to begin anew as sovereign people.

 

In the end, the signatories to this document pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.  With these most precious things on the line, they went to war for independence.  They won the war because they believed foremost in individual freedom and the common good, and their names are the most prominent and memorable in history.

 

Because they were right, we enjoy protections against unreasonable search and seizure, due process, the right to free speech and to freedom of religion, representative government, and the freedom to trade our goods all over the world.  We are the greatest democracy in the history of the world.  We are home to invention, industry, agriculture and ideas that are the envy of the globe.  We have men and women in our nation’s uniform who love our country and defend it with their lives.  We are a bastion of hope for a future of peace, fellowship and democracy.  We are a bright beacon to every nation facing the same oppressions that lit the fires of our own freedom.

 

And that, my fellow Americans, is a wonderful reason to celebrate.”