Today we pause and celebrate the many blessings of liberty and what it means to be a free, self-governing people. We also remember and honor the sacrifice of those who gave so much so that future generations could enjoy God-given liberties. To secure the ideals of Declaration—timeless truths like the equality of men, the duty of government to protect life, liberty, and private property, and just government power delegated by self-governed people living under God’s natural law—they pledged to give their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. And many did.
Of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence on this day, 249 years ago:
- 5 signers were captured by the British and tortured as traitors until they died.
- 2 lost their sons in battle.
- 2 had sons who were captured and tortured or starved to death.
- 9 signers fought as soldiers in the war and died from wounds suffered in the line of service.
- 12 had their homes ransacked and burned and their families displaced.
- 17 lost their homes and/or fortunes as a result of the war. Ellery, Clymer, Hall, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton lost all their worldly possessions to British soldiers and vandals. Braxton, a wealth trader and planter, lost his fleer of ships to the British and sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.
- 5 lost their fortunes due to personally helping fund the war. Thomas Nelson Jr. died bankrupt after personally funding the Virginia militia. Richard Morris, who personally financed several million dollars for the Continental army, lost everything and went to debtor’s prison.
- 3 were hunted and terrorized by the British, lived in caves or the wilderness, and lost their children, spouses, and ultimately, their own lives.
- Francis Lewis’s wife died as a result of the inhumane treatment she endured as a British prisoner of war.
The heroic stories of sacrifice could go on. All 56 signers were relentlessly hunted by the British throughout the war, often with large bounties on their heads—yet not one of them waivered or recanted their signature on the Declaration. Historians estimate that an additional 25,000-70,000 American Patriots died during active military service during the war. Such sacrifice and hardship is hardly fathomable to us today. As John Adams wrote, “Posterity! You will never know, how much it cost the present Generation, to preserve your Freedom! I hope you will make good use of it!”
What do you think John Adams would think of this nation, 250 years later?
- 13 colonies became a union of 50 states and the mightiest nation in the world, more often wielding that power for peace than conquest.
- Billions have been lifted from abject poverty through American innovation and economic opportunity. America invented the patent, and with it, countless inventions that have improved the human experience, including 161 of Encyclopedia Britannica’s 321 Greatest Inventions of all time. America has given the world 413 Nobel Laureates (roughly three times as many as the next-ranked nation). Pioneering advances in medicine, technology, clean water and energy, transportation, and more are the result of America’s protection of intellectual property. This promise of opportunity has forever changed the world, saving and improving lives at home and abroad.
- Our 236 year-old Constitution has proven the longest lasting in the world (with the average lasting only 17 years), and it has done more to advance the cause of civil and human rights than any other government document in history. Like a city on hill, it has become the beacon for freedom around the globe and template for countless other self-governing nations.
And yet there are many ways where we have used our precious liberty for less-than-noble purposes. As a nation and a people, we have so much work left to do before we can say that we have fully realized those beautiful, lofty ideals enshrined in the Declaration of Independence. Each generation since the Revolution has chosen to sacrifice and steward liberty, so that posterity like us would have the same opportunity to enjoy and preserve it. As George Washington reminded the American people in his First Inaugural Address:
“The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.”
The American Experiment—which so many have given so much to advance—can only succeed if we, the people, will join with the Signers and pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor to the cause of liberty. Even then, the task is beyond what we can accomplish on our own.
The founders pledged everything they had to this noble cause “with a firm reliance on Divine Providence,” echoing the words of the Lord to Zerubbabel recorded in Zechariah 4:6 “‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.”
The Author of our liberty is no less than the Lord himself, and we will never succeed in preserving it without His aid. As Elias Boudinot (President of Congress, Signer of the Peace Treaty to End the American Revolution, First Attorney Admitted to the US Supreme Court Bar, and framer of the Bill of Rights) said:
“Let us enter on this important business under the idea that we are Christians on who the eyes of the world are now turned…Let us earnestly call and beseech Him, for Christ’s sake, to preside in our councils…We can only depend on the all powerful influence of the Spirit of God, Whose Divine aid and assistance it becomes us as a Christian people most devoutly to implore.”
As you and your family celebrate this incredible nation and the many blessings of liberty, will you join us in humbly seeking the Lord and in praying for a fresh move of His Spirit across this land to accomplish His good and perfect will? Will you join us and generations of Americans before us in sacrificially working to preserve the blessings of liberty “with a firm reliance on Divine Providence?”
May God bless America, and may America again be used of God for His glorious purpose!
Happy Independence Day!
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