Defending the Call for "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…”

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

It’s July 4, a holiday for many American workers (please be especially kind to those working today, especially in the grocery stores and restaurants), and a time to reflect on some of the notable facts about the day we celebrate the nation’s independence.

Whether or not the freedoms envisioned by those who founded our country have continued to evolve remains up for debate, but a new world was born when the Declaration of Independence was written setting the stage for the United States of America. So, it is fitting we celebrate the spirit of this great document and it’s message which has served as a moral compass for this country for nearly 250 years. 

“When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

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…”

The main author was Thomas Jefferson, with four others members of a committee who drafted the document: Roger Sherman, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Robert Livingston. But it was John Hancock who was the first to sign the final document, the President of Congress. 

Though the Declaration of Independence was dated July 4, congress actually voted for to separate from Great Britain on July 2, 1776, and it was not signed by everyone until a month later on August 2, 1776. Three of the presidents who signed the Declaration of Independence died on July 4, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson on July 4, 1826, and James Monroe July 4, 1831.

The document was first printed in the “Pennsylvania Evening Post” was the first newspaper to

on July 6, 1776.

John Adams was first to promote the celebration of the day with parades, bonfires and fireworks, however the day he declared Independence Day as July 2.

The very first July 4thfireworks show took place in Philadelphia in 1777, with fireworks, canons and bells honoring the 13 original states.

George Washington helped the troops celebrate on the 4th of July in 1778.by allowing them a double ration of rum, according to Live Science.

Despite its importance, July 4 didn't become a federal holiday until 1870.