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Townhall...
Retaining
Harder than Declaring Our Independence
by Jackie
Gingrich Cushman
Jun 28,
2012
We declared
our independence from Great Britain 236 years ago next week. It was a
declaration long in coming, brought about by the overreaching rule of
King
George III and Britain’s insistence on taxation without representation.
The
taxation began in the 1760s, the Boston Massacre occurred in 1770, the
Boston
Tea Party in 1773, and the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April of
1775.
Patrick
Henry’s call to action, “Give me liberty, or give me death,” was the
first
strong public statement that, if we were to be free, if we were to have
liberty, then we would have to fight Britain. Prior to Henry’s speech
to the
gathering of Virginia delegates in Richmond, the prevailing belief was
that we
could negotiate with Britain.
Henry lay
down the gauntlet and clearly presented his understanding of what we
were
facing.
Our choice
was liberty or death.
Our
founders chose to take the challenge and declared our independence from
Britain
on July 4, 1776.
Our
Declaration of Independence is a three-part document: the first a
declaration
of freedom, including our understanding of the natural order of
authority and
power; the second a long list of grievances, reinforcing the belief
that there
was no choice but to declare our independence as a free country; the
third an
acknowledgment of risk and the oath of the signers to one another.
The first
section is the one that is most often quoted: “We hold these truths to
be
self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by
their
Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life,
Liberty and
the pursuit of Happiness. -- That to secure these rights, Governments
are
instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of
the
governed, -- That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive
of these
ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to
institute
new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing
its
powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their
Safety
and Happiness.”
This
introduction represents the core of American Exceptionalism. We are
exceptional
as a nation not because we are inherently better people (people are the
same
everywhere), but because our government is built on a different
structure than
those of other countries. Our founders understood and articulated our
belief in
a creator (God), who endows people with rights. The people then loan
the rights
to the government to secure their individual rights (life, liberty,
pursuit of
happiness).
The
introduction also provides for recourse if government becomes
destructive to
individual rights, “to alter or to abolish it,” meaning the government.
The second
part, less often referenced, lays out the reasoning for why we were
seeking
independence, a reasoning that included a long list of King George
III’s
grievances.
“Prudence,
indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be
changed
for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath
shewn, that
mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than
to right
themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But
when a
long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same
Object
evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their
right, it
is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards
for
their future security. ... The history of the present King of Great
Britain is
a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct
object the
establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.”
A detailed
list of grievances for all the world to view followed.
Our
founders concluded the document with the pledge to each other, and an
invocation of God. “And for the support of this Declaration, with a
firm
reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to
each
other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
Knowing
that their declaration would be seen as an act of treason by the king,
the
signers also knew that, if they were not successful, they would risk
losing
their lives.
This
document declared us free, outlined the foundational understanding of
our
rights, from whom they came, and our responsibilities to maintain them.
These days,
of ongoing budget deficits, increasing regulation and taxation,
retaining our
independence might be more challenging than the original declaration.
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