As we barbecue our steaks and enjoy the day off ( hopefully with loads of sunshine ), lets all take some time to reflect on the meaning of this Holiday and share this with our children and others. We all know this is the day we declared our independence from Britain. But how often do we really reflect on all that this led to?  Or the sacrifices ? It is because of the declaration that we became a New and FREE nation. Founded on principles that were NOT the norm elsewhere on the planet. It gave us our Constitution and Bill of Rights. Just working on the draft of the declaration led Ben Franklin to say;

We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.

The resulting war led to the loss of countless lives of Men, women, and children. All willing to fight and die for those freedoms…

We have so much to be thankful for in this Country and it started with this Document and the willingness to stand against Tyranny to achieve Liberty. And to this day we still are a shining beacon to others who would fight for their own freedom.

So have a fun holiday, stay safe, and send  prayers or well wishes to our warriors who cant make it to the cookout.

Links,

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_history.html

http://www.ushistory.org/Declaration/

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. Ben Franklin

More cool Qoutes…..

A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference.

All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.

I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.

predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.

Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and Romans, and must be that of every free state.
Thomas Jefferson

Don’t interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties.

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.

Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as a heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere. Destroy this spirit and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors.

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.
Abraham Lincoln