July 4th is noted for several important reasons. One is that it is the day after Kelsey's birthday! I guess not too many people know that, but it is important to her Memaw and to her. Well, of course, to her parents, too. This year on the 4th, Kelsey will be 7 years and one day old.

HAPPY ONE DAY AFTER YOUR BIRTHDAY, KELSEY!

To all our service men who have so valiantly protected our country, I say, "THANK YOU SO MUCH!"   Your courage and bravery are deeply appreciated.

The fourth of July is also noted for our country's birth. On that day in 1776, representatives of the colonies in North America adopted a statement setting forth our reasons for declaring our independence from Great Britian. Thomas Jefferson was given the task of preparing the draft. On July 4, 1776, Congress adopted the final draft of the Declaration of Independence. It now resides in the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C., above the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights. These documents are sealed under glass.

This is the beginning of the Declaration of Independence of our great nation:

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 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 shown, 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...

You can go here to read the rest of the Declaration of Independence.

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