Reflections on the Declaration of Independence

Perrin C. Hamilton Jr.Board member, American INSIGHT

July 4th is coming and it’s time to get out the burgers, beer and soda. Nonetheless, it takes virtually no time away out of your festivities to appropriately mirror on this, probably the most important of the ten American holidays.

To know the important significance of The Declaration of Independence, one ought to learn the primary, second, after which final paragraph of The Declaration of Independence. All the things between the second and final paragraphs is a listing of grievances and offenses. Attention-grabbing, however not important.

As of 1776, The Declaration of Independence expressed the end result of the Age of Enlightenment.  This declaration made it clear that from this level on, the long-held perception that the rule of kings and different royalty had been God ordained was now fully rejected.  From this level on, Authorities will rule solely on the consent of the ruled and authorities is to not infringe the Pure or God Given rights of all males.

The Declaration of Independence set in movement the chain of occasions that in the end enabled a nation, america of America, to have the best financial progress for the most individuals, with probably the most social justice for all, within the historical past of the world, anyplace on this planet, and at any time within the historical past of civilization – by far.

However this got here at a heavy value. The King of England unleashed the total fury of his historic Kingdom on his personal topics. He employed mercenaries from the principalities of barbaric Germany to brutalize and terrorize his personal topics on this New Land.

The primary clause of the ultimate sentence of The Declaration of Independence; “we mutually pledge to one another our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred honor, turned out to be way over simply phrases.

Almost all the 56 signers of the Declaration had been effectively educated and rich with profitable careers and good reputations. Almost half of the signers had been attorneys who had been joined in signing by profitable businessmen and rich farmers.  All of those signers had a lot to lose.

There was no sensible want for any of them to be in any respect lively within the pursuit of American Independence. All of them would have lived an prosperous and comfy life with out it.

The penalty for signing The Declaration of Independence was demise; and it got here to a number of of those signers.

The Revolutionary Battle rendered various of those signers bankrupt.

I recommend that as we eat, drink, and be merry throughout this festive vacation, we should always take a minimum of a small period of time to mirror on this historical past and be impressed by the bravery and sacrifice of our forebears.