Independence Day

The majority of modern Americans think of July 4th as “Independence Day.” The more historically astute note the Continental Congress actually declared independence on July 2, 1776. The documented prepared to explain that declaration to the English was merely signed on the Fourth.

But Americans had already declared their independence more than a year earlier, on April 19, 1775. The amateur politicians had spent the intervening months attempting to test the winfs, and playing catch up.

“Stamp Act.” “Taxation without representation.” The Boston Tea Party. These are the things schoolchildren are usually told led to the War for Independence, and it’s — incompletely; with a million people, you’ll find a million and a half motives — true, so far as it goes.

Ah, but the shooting. What ticked off the Colonials enough to abandon legal challenges, parliamentary action, and civil disobedience? To start the war proper?

On the aforementioned April 19th, the British attempted to ban and confiscate American weapons and supplies. Specifically, they tried to confiscate and destroy “military-style,” “military grade,” weapons held by citizens.


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4 thoughts on “Independence Day”

  1. “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. 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.”

    1. Thank you, Comrade X. It is never a bad time to be reminded of these words. And it is never a bad time to remind ourselves of the spirit that led to them, and to always seek to remind others as well.

  2. And one of my favorite parts, that is talked about at every Appleseed: We mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our Sacred Honor,

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