echeese
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The letter from Thomas Jefferson at the end is courtesy of HIll Country Horn. The rest is mine. . . .Happy 4th of July,
[SIZE=14pt]As time goes by, the brilliance of our Founding Fathers becomes more and more apparent to me. This is a great day, the 241st anniversary of those rebellious undesirables casting off the yoke of tyranny and forever changing the world as we know it. Sometimes it is hard to appreciate just how amazing a feat it was or the wisdom of their vision.[/SIZE] [SIZE=14pt]We reap the rewards of their vision even today.[/SIZE]
No, we did not get it perfect right away. It took some time to hammer things out for the better, even today will still strive to improve but what our founding fathers left us is something truly remarkable. A nation and a vision unlike one the world had ever seen. We put the individual first, not the government, not the king, but the power comes from the people and even Jefferson (a dietist) said it was divinely granted.
For many, this is a day of fireworks and families and grilling out or hanging at the pool.
So many of these liberties we take for granted today but when you hear that wonderful song, a song Fredrick Douglas loved to play on his violin for his grand children, remember the words, remember all those who have done so much to bring us to where we are today. Be thankful for the bounties we have and our many blessings.
Let me leave you with a letter written by Thomas Jefferson from Monticello to John Adams, two of the key founding fathers, two men who were heated political rivals yet later in life, enjoyed an active correspondence. These 2 men would pass onto the next world within hours of each other, appropriately enough, on the 4th of July, 1826, exactly 50 years after our Declaration of Independence. In the letter, Jefferson was drawing a comparison to the fall of the Roman Empire.
[SIZE=14pt]I shall not die without a hope that light and liberty are on steady advance. We have seen indeed once within the record of history a compleat eclipse of the human mind continuing for centuries. And this too by swarms of the same Northern barbarians, conquering and taking possession of the countries and governments of the civilized world.
Should this be again attempted, should the same Northern hordes, allured again by the corn wine, and oil of the South, be able again to settle their swarms in the countries of their growth, the art of printing alone and the vast dissemination of books, will maintain the mind where it is, and raise the conquering ruffians to the level of the conquered, instead of degrading those to that of their conquerors and even should the cloud of barbarism and despotism again obscure the science and liberties of Europe, this country remains to preserve and restore light and liberty to them. In short, the flames kindled on the 4th of July 1776 have spread over too much of the globe to be extinguished by the feeble engines of despotism. On the contrary they will consume these engines, and all who work them.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=14pt]God Bless America[/SIZE]
[SIZE=14pt]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=14pt]As time goes by, the brilliance of our Founding Fathers becomes more and more apparent to me. This is a great day, the 241st anniversary of those rebellious undesirables casting off the yoke of tyranny and forever changing the world as we know it. Sometimes it is hard to appreciate just how amazing a feat it was or the wisdom of their vision.[/SIZE] [SIZE=14pt]We reap the rewards of their vision even today.[/SIZE]
No, we did not get it perfect right away. It took some time to hammer things out for the better, even today will still strive to improve but what our founding fathers left us is something truly remarkable. A nation and a vision unlike one the world had ever seen. We put the individual first, not the government, not the king, but the power comes from the people and even Jefferson (a dietist) said it was divinely granted.
For many, this is a day of fireworks and families and grilling out or hanging at the pool.
So many of these liberties we take for granted today but when you hear that wonderful song, a song Fredrick Douglas loved to play on his violin for his grand children, remember the words, remember all those who have done so much to bring us to where we are today. Be thankful for the bounties we have and our many blessings.
Let me leave you with a letter written by Thomas Jefferson from Monticello to John Adams, two of the key founding fathers, two men who were heated political rivals yet later in life, enjoyed an active correspondence. These 2 men would pass onto the next world within hours of each other, appropriately enough, on the 4th of July, 1826, exactly 50 years after our Declaration of Independence. In the letter, Jefferson was drawing a comparison to the fall of the Roman Empire.
[SIZE=14pt]I shall not die without a hope that light and liberty are on steady advance. We have seen indeed once within the record of history a compleat eclipse of the human mind continuing for centuries. And this too by swarms of the same Northern barbarians, conquering and taking possession of the countries and governments of the civilized world.
Should this be again attempted, should the same Northern hordes, allured again by the corn wine, and oil of the South, be able again to settle their swarms in the countries of their growth, the art of printing alone and the vast dissemination of books, will maintain the mind where it is, and raise the conquering ruffians to the level of the conquered, instead of degrading those to that of their conquerors and even should the cloud of barbarism and despotism again obscure the science and liberties of Europe, this country remains to preserve and restore light and liberty to them. In short, the flames kindled on the 4th of July 1776 have spread over too much of the globe to be extinguished by the feeble engines of despotism. On the contrary they will consume these engines, and all who work them.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=14pt]God Bless America[/SIZE]
[SIZE=14pt]
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