Let Freedom Ring

"Thus may the 4th of July, that glorious and ever memorable day, be celebrated through America, by the sons of freedom, from age to age till time shall be no more. Amen and Amen." Virginia Gazette on July 18, 1777

Gives you goose bumps, don't it? I have always gotten goose bumps when our national anthem is played. It is such a powerful song and stands for a lot of things for a lot of people, including myself.

Although July 4th is celebrated as America's official split from Britain's rule and the beginning of the AMerican Revolution, the actual series of events show that the process took far longer than a single day.

We celebrate the 4th of July for the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 declaring us independent from Great Britain. It was not until a year later, on July 4, 1777 that Philadelphia marked Independence Day by adjourning Congress and celebrating with bonfires, bells and fireworks. As we all know this tradition spread and the observations across the nation became even more common at the end of the War of 1812, and in 1941, Congress declared July 4 a legal Federal holiday.

These words are from the last letter that Thomas Jefferson ever wrote:

"May it be to the world, what I believe it will be...the signal of arousing men to burst the chains...and to assume the blessings and security of self-government. That fourm, which we have substituted, restores the free right to the unbounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion. All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. ...For ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them."