LAS VEGAS CITY COUNCILWOMAN MICHELE FIORE (Ward 6) 4th OF JULY SPECTACULAR INVITATION!

Independence Day -Thankful for those whoresist.

Today we celebrate the Fourth of July as a classic American holiday, filled with fireworks, hot dogs, American Flags, and patriotic messages. It happens every year, and it seems to be over and done within a matter of 4 to 5 hours, depending on whom you party with. I wonder though, how many of us stop and think about the real significance of the day, and how different our lives would be if it weren’t for our Declaration of Independence?

Have you ever read or listened carefully to the reading of the entire Declaration of Independence, written by 33-year-old Thomas Jefferson and edited by the Second Continental Congress in 1776?

Click the following link if you are interested in hearing the Declaration word for word (It's only 1,400 words).  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uE-tqe0xsQ I personally enjoy the breakdown and explanation of the Declaration's components that this link offers:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS-tshQ9sys

Here is some added history to set the tone for what we are celebrating on the 4th of July. Our country, in its youth, was once the British American Colonies under the rule of King George III. After the French and Indian War of 1763, the British Parliament passed the Stamp Act in 1765, directly imposing taxes on the people of the colonies through the British Parliament (to pay for the war and other expenses). The British government had been doing this all along, but people did not know because, until then, it was pushed through the colonies’ legislative bodies more sneakily.

After the Stamp Act, people felt they were being taxed without consent, that they were being deprived of property, and became fearful that the taxation would grow worse and worse. Property was a HUGE deal back then, partially because of a man from the Enlightenment named John Locke who wrote The Two Treatises on Government, which talked about the natural rights that all people are born with.  He wrote about a person’s natural rights to life, liberty, andproperty. He also wrote and believed that when governments become tyrannical, that it becomes the right of the people to rebel. Added below, is a picture of John Locke.

People became unsettled in 1765. British soldiers were walking around acting as enforcers within the colonies in times of peace. Parliament added the Navigation Act so that we could only trade with Britain. People were taken overseas and punished for made-up crimes; many unjust atrocities were taking place in the colonies. The Declaration of Independence only lists 25 of them in its 1,000 word body. The whole situation was a mess, but at the time, only a small minority of the people thought it was appropriate or even possible to separate from Great Britain. Those who considered a revolution were deemed radical.

In 1773, the Boston Tea Party started the movement for independence. In 1774, Thomas Jefferson wrote A Summary View of the Rights of British America outlined in Some Resolutions Intended for the Inspection.  That same year, the First Continental Congress met and wrote out the Declaration of Rights and the Articles of Association, basically telling Britain to stop taxing and coercing the colonies, or the colonies would stop importing British goods. After that, they disbanded.

You have to understand, back then, the British Government considered these men traitors. The Continental Congress would have been considered a radical, illegal assembly, not recognized by the British Government, only authorized by a minority of the people of the colonies. They were outlaws, in a time when there was no electronic polling and mail came by horse. They could have quickly been hanged for treason, which is one of the reasons they had to wait until 1776 to declare independence.

They had to first, make sure that they were backed up by the majority of the people of the colonies, and the only source they had were papers, letters and word of mouth. Could you imagine that happening today?

In 1775, it was written in Thomas Paine’s Common Sense “The Declaration by the Representatives of the United Colonies of North-America, now met in General Congress at Philadelphia, Setting Forth the Causes and Necessity of their taking up Arms.” This document mostly blamed the British Parliament and its Ministers (not the King directly), but it started getting people riled up, and the first shots of the Revolution were fired at the Battle of Lexington that year.

Now understand that our Continental Army was small, and we were going to need help. Therefore, in 1776, the Second Continental Congress met up. Thomas Jefferson wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence, which was called “Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America.”  The next day, Congress debated the submitted language, and 25% of the document was edited before they agreed to the final version. The Second Continental Congress passed the actual Declaration of Independence unanimously on July 2, 1776, and it was officially ratified on July 4, 1776. The purpose behind the Declaration of Independence was to list the grievances the colonists had against King George, but, not necessarily, against Great Britain. Because we signed an official declaration of independence from Great Britain, our newly created country was able to get help from France. The language contained in the Declaration of Independence makes a compelling statement about why we had to go to war with Britain and separate ourselves from the old form of government.

John Willis is the writer of American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic. He states that the sentence, “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” are “the most potent and consequential words in American history.” With the help of France, we eventually won the Revolutionary War in October 1781 and became officially independent when the Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3rd, 1783.

We declared our independence 242 years ago; we have been officially free for almost 235 years. Thank God for those who resisted, the old-time radicals, better known today as the Minutemen of 1776.

Have a wonderful day celebrating our Independence, and the Many Freedoms we have! With Love and Liberty, Michele