By Max Nesterak | Deputy Editor
Good morning, Reformers.
Happy Fourth of July (observed).
This weekend we celebrate 250 years since the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Although the 13 colonies had already been fighting British troops for over a year, this document formally renounced British rule while laying out a political philosophy for these united states and a list of grievances against King George III.
We publish the Declaration of Independence in its entirety every year for the Fourth of July as a reminder of our foundational political philosophy: that we are all created equal with unalienable rights; we govern ourselves, and we do not submit to the tyranny of kings.
“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.”
Read the full Declaration of Independence.
Signing of the Declaration of Independence. Courtesy of Smithsonian American Art Museum.
By Frederick Douglass
We also published excerpts from abolitionist, diplomat and former slave Frederick Douglass’s 1852 speech in Rochester, New York on the meaning of Independence Day to the slave as a reminder of America’s long struggle to live up to the ideals laid out in its founding documents.
“Americans! your republican politics, not less than your republican religion, are flagrantly inconsistent. You boast of your love of liberty, your superior civilization, and your pure Christianity, while the whole political power of the nation (as embodied in the two great political parties), is solemnly pledged to support and perpetuate the enslavement of three millions of your countrymen. You hurl your anathemas at the crowned headed tyrants of Russia and Austria, and pride yourselves on your Democratic institutions, while you yourselves consent to be the mere tools and body-guards of the tyrants of Virginia and Carolina.”
IN OTHER NEWS
Tick bites are surging in the US this year. Here’s what to know. | Reformer via States Newsroom
Conservation leaders reflect on Roosevelt’s legacy, share vision for future | Reformer via North Dakota Monitor
America’s 250th birthday is on sale. Where’s all that merch money going? | Reformer via States Newsroom
Minnesota-ordained priest excommunicated by Pope Leo | Forum Communications
Song of the day, “Streets of Minneapolis” by Bruce Springsteen.
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