America 250: Happy Birthday, historic nation

It's finally here! It's finally July 4, 2026. That's 250 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. To many, they thought the notion of all men being created equal was the product of heretics. Others thought that the notion that our rights came from God, not governments, proved that the men that signed the Declaration were traitors to the British throne. Those that read the entire document, though, thought that these men were principled geniuses. The thinking in the 'indictment' wasn’t about being vindictive.  It was about obtaining justice.

It said that this wasn't about petty differences. Instead, it said that "Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes..." Listen to some of the injustices visited upon the colonists. The colonists accused the British king of committing substantive crimes. For instance, the indictment said the British king "has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good."

It accused the British king of vindictiveness. It accused him of tyranny. Here's another charge in the indictment:

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

Take your pick. The British king was accused of either pettiness or vindictiveness.

As substantive as the indictment was, this is the most powerful part of the Declaration:

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.--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

This explanation, delivered by Morgan Freeman, is particularly powerful:

Finally, these 56 men knew that they'd be tried for treason and convicted. They finished this Declaration this way:

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

These aren't the words of racists or tyrants. They're the Declaration of a noble but imperfect people searching for an emancipation from a British tyrant. These men declared their independence from that vindictive British king, then wrote the Constitution, which has produced a system that encouraged prosperity, liberty and stability for these past 2+ centuries. Not bad for a bunch of peasants. Finally, Hubert Humphrey once said that the U.S. is the only nation in human history that established happiness as a national priority. That's why he was known as a "happy warrior."