Tuesday, March 19, AD 2024 2:24am

Why Do We Celebrate the Fourth of July?

 

 

 

During the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858, both Lincoln and Douglas, in addition to their joint appearances at the debates, gave many separate speeches.  On the evening of July 10, 1858, Lincoln gave a speech in the evening in Chicago.  During the course of that speech he touched upon why we celebrate the Fourth of July.

Now, it happens that we meet together once every year, sometime about the 4th of July, for some reason or other. These 4th of July gatherings I suppose have their uses. If you will indulge me, I will state what I suppose to be some of them.

We are now a mighty nation, we are thirty—or about thirty millions of people, and we own and inhabit about one-fifteenth part of the dry land of the whole earth. We run our memory back over the pages of history for about eighty-two years and we discover that we were then a very small people in point of numbers, vastly inferior to what we are now, with a vastly less extent of country,—with vastly less of everything we deem desirable among men,—we look upon the change as exceedingly advantageous to us and to our posterity, and we fix upon something that happened away back, as in some way or other being connected with this rise of prosperity. We find a race of men living in that day whom we claim as our fathers and grandfathers; they were iron men, they fought for the principle that they were contending for; and we understood that by what they then did it has followed that the degree of prosperity that we now enjoy has come to us. We hold this annual celebration to remind ourselves of all the good done in this process of time of how it was done and who did it, and how we are historically connected with it; and we go from these meetings in better humor with ourselves—we feel more attached the one to the other, and more firmly bound to the country we inhabit. In every way we are better men in the age, and race, and country in which we live for these celebrations. But after we have done all this we have not yet reached the whole. There is something else connected with it. We have besides these men—descended by blood from our ancestors—among us perhaps half our people who are not descendants at all of these men, they are men who have come from Europe—German, Irish, French and Scandinavian—men that have come from Europe themselves, or whose ancestors have come hither and settled here, finding themselves our equals in all things. If they look back through this history to trace their connection with those days by blood, they find they have none, they cannot carry themselves back into that glorious epoch and make themselves feel that they are part of us, but when they look through that old Declaration of Independence they find that those old men say that “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,” and then they feel that that moral sentiment taught in that day evidences their relation to those men, that it is the father of all moral principle in them, and that they have  a right to claim it as though they were blood of the blood, and flesh of the flesh of the men who wrote that Declaration, (loud and long continued applause) and so they are. That is the electric cord in that Declaration that links the hearts of patriotic and liberty-loving men together, that will link those patriotic hearts as long as the love of freedom exists in the minds of men throughout the world. [Applause.]

Now, sirs, for the purpose of squaring things with this idea of don't care if slavery is voted up or voted down,'' for sustaining the Dred Scott decision [A voice---Hit him again”], for holding that the Declaration of Independence did not mean anything at all, we have Judge Douglas giving his exposition of what the Declaration of Independence means, and we have him saying that the people of America are equal to the people of England. According to his construction, you Germans are not connected with it. Now I ask you in all soberness, if all these things, if indulged in, if ratified, if confirmed and endorsed, if taught to our children, and repeated to them, do not tend to rub out the sentiment of liberty in the country, and to transform this Government into a government of some other form. Those arguments that are made, that the inferior race are to be treated with as much allowance as they are capable of enjoying; that as much is to be done for them as their condition will allow. What are these arguments? They are the arguments that kings have made for enslaving the people in all ages of the world. You will find that all the arguments in favor of king-craft were of this class; they always bestrode the necks of the people, not that they wanted to do it, but because the people were better off for being ridden. That is their argument, and this argument of the Judge is the same old serpent that says you work and I eat, you toil and I will enjoy the fruits of it. Turn in whatever way you will—whether it come from the mouth of a King, an excuse for enslaving the people of his country, or from the mouth of men of one race as a reason for enslaving the men of another race, it is all the same old serpent, and I hold if that course of argumentation that is made for the purpose of convincing the public mind that we should not care about this, should be granted, it does not stop with the negro. I should like to know if taking this old Declaration of Independence, which declares that all men are equal upon principle and making exceptions to it where will it stop. If one man says it does not mean a negro, why not another say it does not mean some other man? If that declaration is not the truth, let us get the Statute book, in which we  find it and tear it out! Who is so bold as to do it! [Voices—me''no one,” &c.] If it is not true let us tear it out! [cries of “no, no,”] let us stick to it then, [cheers] let us stand firmly by it then. [Applause.]

It may be argued that there are certain conditions that make necessities and impose them upon us, and to the extent that a necessity is imposed upon a man he must submit to it. I think that was the condition in which we found ourselves when we established this government. We had slavery among us, we could not get our constitution unless we permitted them to remain in slavery, we could not secure the good we did secure if we grasped for more, and having by necessity submitted to that much, it does not destroy the principle that is the charter of our liberties. Let that charter stand as our standard.

 

My friend has said to me that I am a poor hand to quote Scripture. I will try it again, however. It is said in one of the admonitions of the Lord, As your Father in Heaven is perfect, be ye also perfect.'' The Savior, I suppose, did not expect that any human creature could be perfect as the Father in Heaven; but He said,As your Father in Heaven is perfect, be ye also perfect.” He set that up as a standard, and he who did most towards reaching that standard, attained the highest degree of moral perfection. So I say in relation to the principle that all men are created equal, let it be as nearly reached as we can. If we cannot give freedom to every creature, let us do nothing that will impose slavery upon any other creature. [Applause.] Let us then turn this government back into the channel in which the framers of the Constitution originally placed it. Let us stand firmly by each other. If we do so we are turning in the contrary direction, that our friend Judge Douglas proposes—not intentionally—as working in the traces tend to make this one universal slave nation. [A voice—“that is so.”] He is one that runs in that direction, and as such I resist him.

My friends, I have detained you about as long as I desired to do, and I have only to say, let us discard all this quibbling about this man and the other man—this race and that race and the other race being inferior, and therefore they must be placed in an inferior position—discarding our standard that we have left us. Let us discard all these things, and unite as one people throughout this land, until we shall once more stand up declaring that all men are created equal.

The Fourth of July is the birth of this nation and that is cause enough for commemoration.   However we also celebrate the Fourth because the Founding Fathers brought forth something new: a nation consecrated at its birth to safeguarding liberty, with the ultimate goal of expanding the blessings of liberty to all Americans.  This was remarkable since only a minority of Americans, white, adult men of property, enjoyed such liberty at the time of the Declaration, but the Founding Fathers boldly asserted that such liberty was the birthright of all of mankind, a gift they received from the hand of their Creator.  The Founding Fathers thus set down a marker that future generations of Americans, always imperfectly and with much conflict, have striven to realize.  That is worth a few extra  fireworks and some additional hoopla every Fourth!

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Mary De Voe
Monday, June 30, AD 2014 9:08pm

because we were able to define and articulate ourselves as united, ratified as one nation, one people created equal.

Philip Nachazel
Philip Nachazel
Sunday, July 3, AD 2022 7:44am

……and an prostitute librarian at Cornell University removes the Gettysburg address as well as a bust of Abraham Lincoln?

She might as well be ripping apart the American Flag and kicking President Lincoln in the face.

An example of Higher Education at Cornell or just another educated delinquent soaked on the cool-aid of liberalism?

Art Deco
Art Deco
Sunday, July 3, AD 2022 8:29am

An example of Higher Education at Cornell or just another educated delinquent soaked on the cool-aid of liberalism?

It’s possible that the provost or whomever the library director reports to is responsible.

A chronic people pleaser of a sort who make the world worse by giving bad people what they want because the bad people are more aggressive. Another possibility is a political leftist who despises our ancestors. A third possibility is someone who is a hybrid of the two. Obviously, an occupational segment with 200,000 people in it is going to contain a great deal of variation in dispositions. As a rule, they’re much more likely to get their back up about what they consider an invasion of their personal domain than they are about something as offensive as the complaint with which they were presented at Cornell. Also, librarians themselves and especially those active in the American Library Association (not the specialized associations) tend to be gliberals and leftoids by default. There was 15 years ago a small countercurrent of librarian bloggers, but I think they largely gave up after a short while.

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Sunday, July 3, AD 2022 9:53am

Reportedly, Democrat organizations in AZ and CO plan to celebrate Independence Day one, by burning Old Glory and two, by holding an ‘eff’ America day.

Those execrable people are currently ruining America through Beijing Biden.

Philip Nachazel
Philip Nachazel
Sunday, July 3, AD 2022 10:24am

T. Shaw.

Those donkey organizations in CO & AZ will one day be lamenting Luke’s Gospel chapter 23. If all things work together for those who love God then the opposite is true.

29For behold, the days shall come, wherein they will say: Blessed are the barren and the wombs that have not borne and the paps that have not given suck. 30Then shall they begin to say to the mountains: Fall upon us. And to the hills: Cover us. 31For if in the green wood they do these things, what shall be done in the dry?

For the blood which was poured out from our heroic veterans wasn’t done in vain. They live again. The vile ignorant enemies of the Republic will harvest what they plant and it will be a devastating day indeed when they must eat their words and digest their actions.

A forfeit of God’s graces will not be lost.
They freely leave the gift. The gift will go to another who will rightfully welcome and benefit from the grace.

Those in AZ and CO are standing in the dust from the sandals that were shaken of the righteous who tried to bring them Peace. No Christ. No Peace.
As they burn the flag they burn themselves.
So be it.

John the Mad CD Major (Ret'd)
John the Mad CD Major (Ret'd)
Monday, July 4, AD 2022 4:27pm

As a Canadian military veteran I salute the United States of America and Americans on your Independence Day. Your country and mine are passing through extraordinary times and facing great challenges to the survival of freedom. May we surmount those challenges with the vigour and determination American and Canadian patriots have demonstrated throughout our glorious history.

Foxfier
Admin
Monday, July 4, AD 2022 4:48pm

Sounds like a plan!

Mary De Voe
Tuesday, July 5, AD 2022 5:11pm

“all men are created equal” because God loves us perfectly and in full. “all men are created equal” in original innocence with sovereign personhood, free will and reason. Reason is the use of intellect in exercising free will. Choice as it were is the use of reason morally, intellectually, legally and truthfully.
Exercising choice in free will without moral, intellectual, legal and truthfull reality is annihilation of sovereignty. With the annihilation of sovereignty, sovereign personhood is damned in ignorance.
The sovereign personhood endowed by “their Creator” in our Founding Principles is created at procreation. The living soul created in original innocence embodies the living soul of mankind, the human race, the natural law, the universal law instituted by “their Creator” for the gift of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of truth, man’s Happiness.
Being procreated into mankind, the human race, is the universal desire to know, to love and to serve The Infinite Supreme Sovereign Being in WHOSE image man is created as the only Sovereign Being worthy of perfect love and perfect service.
The newly begotten living soul loves and serves almighty God from the very first moment of his existence. Gifted with the gift of Faith, the living soul trusts in God his Maker. Religion is man’s response to the gift of Faith.
Therefore Freedom of Religion is our Founding Principles to acknowledge The Infinite Supreme Sovereign Being and accomodate the reality of the human being’s innate human rights.
The human being’s innate human rights are equal in all sovereign persons, be their vocation to motherhood or babyhood or kingliness or queenships.
Derelicts, disabled, abandoned and discarded sovereigns are with God WHO is awaiting the patient and kind for their suffering here in this place for their place in eternity, their destiny, their true home with “their Creator”.
Mary De Voe

Mary De Voe
Wednesday, July 6, AD 2022 12:17am

‘A chronic people pleaser of a sort who make the world worse by giving bad people what they want because the bad people are more aggressive.’
Our American Flag, our Founding Principles and our history belong to each and every American in joint and common tenancy. The American Flag is our synbol of all that is rightly American. “We, the people…” claim our heritage and our legacy to our Constitutional Posterity to preserve and safeguard their original innocence, the standard of Justice for our nation.
You will know them by what they do.

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