Although July 4th is the date we celebrate the adoption of our Declaration of Independence, the first public reading of the document did not take place until July 8th. in Philadelphia; that was also when the ringing of the Liberty Bell took place. Petalumans had an opportunity to ring its “Liberty Bell” (the former Korbel Lumber Company bell) at the 53rd. annual local 4th of July celebration last Saturday on the steps of the Historical Museum & Library, 4th and B Streets.
Most Americans consider our Declaration of Independence one of the most significant historic document of our nation. Many of us remember the following from our studies in history classes as students: WHEN in the Course of human Events; but do we remember the rest of that opening paragraph? “it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws 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.”
The second paragraph starts off with 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 them are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” But what about the rest of that paragraph? (It’s wordy, but please take the time read it.) “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 Power Powers in such Form, as to them seem most likely to effect their SAety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Government 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, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security. Such has been the patient Sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the Necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The History of the present King of Great-Britain is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a Candid World.,”
Illustration related to our Declaration of Independence may be found at ….
http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/compare.htm