Why Celebrate July 4th?
One of the things I love about Independence Day is that it is not a day of war but the day of an idea. No famous battle was met on that day, and no flag was waved in either victory or surrender. It was a day not of victory in the present over tyrants of the past, but a day of vision for the future. It was a day not of the defeat of our enemies, but a day marking the definition of our national character.
It would be just as easy, and perhaps more fitting to celebrate our nation’s birthday on October 19th, when General Cornwallis surrendered, or on September 3rd, when (three years later) the British formally signed the treaty of Paris or on January 14th when the Continental Congress ratified that treaty. It could be argued that it was at those moments, legally, according the rule of law and the other countries involved that the United States was born.
But we choose to celebrate the moment of conception rather than the moment of delivery as our country’s birthday. We celebrate a concept — independence based not upon might, but upon rights that are innately ours.
Independence Day is the celebration of the idea of independence and self-determination for people and for nations. There have been other nations that granted certain levels of freedom and certain kinds of rights to subjects before ours. But our declaration is unique. It begs no rights from a…
