0:03 Who are you and where are you going? [Music] What do you want? [Music] Hello and welcome to this special edition of the Way to Wow Show. I'm your host Kevin Bemel and I'm here well on special editions I'm only here when there's a holiday and this is actually the um I think it's the one-year anniversary of me doing these um and
0:41 they they they started on um um in Independence Day last year um because I I I had a tradition I have a have had I don't know what do you call I guess it's it's passed when you're uh anyway I have a tradition of uh reading the declaration of independence day every uh every July 4th and and so uh I you know I um there was no one to with whom to read
1:16 it last year so I decided to do a show and and then I've continued kind of through the the calendar of of doing these shows. So, here we are back again on Independence Day. Um July the as as hopefully you know um the United States or the the the what were called at the time the United Colonies declared their independence on July 4th, 1776. They declared their independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain and the
1:51 they published the declaration of independence which explained to the world why they were taking this hereto for this is redundant why they were taking this unprecedented step. We we hear this word unprecedented quite often now. Um and really what it means is uh egregious because somebody's saying this is unprecedented they can't do this you know that kind of thing. Um that's not what unprecedented means. Uh unprecedented means there is no precedent. There is no nothing this this
2:28 type of event had never preceded uh had never was not preceded by a similar event. uh no nation or no group of people had declared themselves independent from their mother country. And so uh and so the United States was was the first. And because they knew it was an unprecedented action, they decided to publish a document explaining why uh why they were doing this thing. So, as I as I always do on these shows, uh I
3:04 I I talk a little bit about the background of of the day uh and um uh um and and you know, why we're celebrating, what led uh to the celebration. And I I let's see, I'm just I realize I've have the wrong title crawl up here. One second. Oops. And And I'm not going to be able to spell.
3:41 There you go. Okay. And Okay, there we go. Sorry. So, now we have the right title crawl. Um and uh um so I'm gonna I'm gonna what last year I talked about the events leading up to the Declaration of Independence. Uh and this year I'm going to talk about the impediments and the incentives for uh seeking independence. So there's o
4:16 over the last I would say um you know 10 20 years there seems to have been this this sort of frankly ahistoric take uh that that's come to the four on why the colonies declared independence and and so going to take the opportunity to talk about what was going on at that time that served served as like I said impediments or incentives to take this um this step that was never taken
4:51 before. So on on the impediment side of of the ledger uh first of all um many of the colonists wanted to retain their loyalty to king and country the country being Great Britain. So they identified as British subjects. Okay. Now we in the United States we call ourselves citizens and typically in a republic which is what the United States is. Um we are citizens
5:26 of the republic. But in a monarchy, one is a subject because one is subject to okay the authority of the monarch, the king or the queen typically, right? And and many but beyond that many of the colonists believe that King George III of Great Britain had their best interests at heart. So they they disagreed with ideas like King George III is a tyrant. uh which is which is what uh John Adams and Tom Thomas Jefferson and and
6:02 Benjamin Franklin among among other delegates to the uh to the um convention um thought the Continental uh Congress I should say. Um they they thought King George III was a tyrant. They believe they had the proof. Um it actually is enumerated in the Declaration that we'll read in in a little while. Um but others disagreed with that quite vehemently and and so that was this this disagreement was an impediment. Um as well the idea
6:38 of of a monarchical a monarchy was deeply ingrained in European political culture. Uh most people had never known any other type of government. In fact, none really had ever known any other type of government. Now, there was a democracy in in ancient Greece, but of course, nobody from ancient Greece was still alive in the uh late 1700s. So, it was just from most people's or from many people's standpoint, a monarchy was the natural order of things. And so, there
7:15 was it made no sense to change it. it just wasn't in their in their worldview to think it should be otherwise. Um and even among some of the revolutionaries so um they felt like um they ought to address their grievances while remaining part of the British Empire um and hence why the olive branch petition was made in 1775 which pledged loyalty to the king and asked for peace. This was this was after the battles of Lexington and Concord and
7:50 and and uh Bunker and Breeds Hill Breed Bunker and Breed Hills. Uh and and and so you know like we see today even members of the same party often have very different views from each other. So these weren't monolithic camps the the revolutionaries and the anti-revolutionaries or what were probably at the time better known as the Tories. Right? So loyalty to king and country was an impediment to the United States uh becoming an independent nation. Um another impediment was fear
8:27 of military retaliation. So uh Great Britain's military was arguably the strongest in the world. Certainly the Royal Navy dominated the seas. Now France had a strong land army. its land, its army may have been stronger than Great Britain's uh but it but its its navy was not uh the the French um had a strong navy but not as not as strong as as Great Britain. Uh Germany also had a strong army. Um but
9:02 uh and it might have been the ar its army might have been stronger than than Great Britain's, but its navy was nowhere near anything like the navy that Great Britain had. Great Britain basically had a worldwide empire uh by this time and it needed a strong navy in order to sustain that empire. And so, uh, much of Great Britain's, uh, wealth went to supporting that navy, which most Britons agreed was a good thing, um, because
9:38 the commerce and the the material prosperity that came from Great Britain's empire was to the benefit of a large large proportion of the the the British population. So um the the British military was also well seasoned. Um it had uh fought um and and and essentially won the um the uh uh Seven Years War. Um known in the in in the the in the colonial America as the French
10:14 and Indian War. Um it had um it had overcome rebellions in uh Ireland and Scotland. uh and and so the the colonists knew they were they were lightly armed. They were poorly organized. They lacked international allies. And so from a pure military standpoint, the colonies were not a match for Great Britain. Um, hence the the brilliance of George Washington who crafted a strategy strategy that allowed
10:51 the United States to prevail. So, if you saw my show for George Washington's birthday back in February, I I talked about about that a little bit. So uh again the the military disparity and the fear of military retaliation was an impediment to independence. Uh another was the colonies economic dependence on Great Britain. So the way the colonial system worked was essentially the colonies produced raw materials that
11:27 were then sent to the mother country where they were manufactured into products. So cotton would be grown primarily in the south. Uh that cotton would be sent to Great Britain where it would be mil into cloth and then the the cloth would be uh sewn into clothing. So there was not a lot of manufacturing in the colonies. Certainly in the south there was virtually none. Right? The south was producing um products like cotton, indigo, tobacco.
12:02 Uh but much of the manufacturing process happened in Great Britain. And so there was a you know some people would call it a symbiotic relationship a mutually bene beneficial relationship in in terms of of economic uh growth. Others would have called it a parasitic relationship. the the revolutionaries felt it was parasitic because um in essence uh Great Britain prohibited much much of manufacturing capacity in the colonies in order to sustain what what amounted to a monopoly in Great Britain itself.
12:38 They didn't want the colonies to be competing with with them in terms of manufacturers. So So that was that was a that was a problem. And then um you know revolution would have disrupted other forms of trade uh between um uh Great Britain and and the colonies um thereby having a a a a very bad impact on shipping and ports like Boston, New York, Charleston that
13:14 owe their prosperity primarily to shipping were concerned that they would see an economic collapse as a result of independence. So economic dependency was was a a third impediment to uh to you know declaring independence. Uh the fourth was a lack of unity among the colonies. So the colonies differed in religion, in economy, in in in how they were settled. And so, you know, for example, Massachusetts was dominated by
13:50 Puritan congregationalists. Pennsylvania was was primarily a Quaker colony. Um, and it also had a a large German uh population, German immigrant population. The south was dominated by uh Anglicans who were for the most part planters and and as I mentioned a few minute just a couple minutes ago the south was largely agrarian. So they they produced as I as I mentioned a minute ago cotton, tobacco, rice was another crop that was produced in the south, indigo. So uh the
14:28 the south had an agrarian economy. um the the north had a a more um trades tradesmanoriented economy. So Paul Rivervier, for example, he was a silver smith and a copper smith uh and and there there were lots of there were lots of uh tradesmen like uh Paul Rivere in the north. And so their economy was based more much more on uh on on trade and crafts type manufacturing
15:04 than the south's was. And so uh how independence would impact them and how lack of independence would impact them differed north and south and and and and even in the middle colonies. So um because of these different interests it made the the concept of becoming an independent nation more difficult. So um and as well the one region oftentimes didn't have a whole lot of sympathy for the grievances of another. So the
15:40 southern colonies in general, they weren't particularly open to hearing about the grievances of Massachusetts and Boston where the British were blockading the harbor. They were attempting to strangle trade because of what they saw as the uh active rebelliousness of Boston and larger Massachusetts. And many of the southern many southerners thought that well look this is what you get for for conducting the activities like the the tea party and and and other forms of rebellion. So you know just because the British are punishing you
16:15 doesn't mean that we should declare independence from the mother country when especially when our whole economy is dependent on on trade with the mother country as as well. uh the south at at this time in the late 1700s it much of the labor that went on in the south was done by slaves and and so uh um you know they and and and in the north there was already um an active anti-slavery movement. Benjamin
16:52 Franklin had already started the first anti-slavery organization in the colonies. the uh the movement was gaining more and more popularity in in the north and in the middle colonies and in fact even among southerners uh the the maintenance of slavery was was was they were kind of losing their stomach for it. So and and and and and people accuse uh for example Thomas Jefferson and George Washington among others of being hypocritical because uh Thomas Jefferson was anti-slavery
17:28 while at the same time he owned slaves and he he found it very difficult to essentially destroy his livelihood for his beliefs. So uh look I I I mean I don't you know one need not commend him uh for that decision but one need not uh condemn him either. Um it it was a a very difficult uh situation in which he found himself.
18:03 Uh and uh and and and he just wasn't sure what to do. Um in the end he freed his slaves when he died. Um George Washington did something similar. Um both men thought that slavery needed to be um essentially phased out. Um they they on the one hand couldn't see that it would be ended you know like you know a week from today kind of thing because it would have destroyed uh the economy of the south. On the other hand they didn't want to see it perpetuated. And that's why when Thomas Jefferson wrote
18:40 the Declaration of Independence, he um condemned slavery and and and essentially called in it for uh he he um essentially put a call in it for the uh eradication of slavery um in in America. Um that particular clause did not survive debate on the on the Declaration of Independence. Um the the South was solid in essentially saying if you keep that phrase or that part of the the
19:16 Declaration of Independence in the document, we will not vote for independence. And because I believe it was threearters of the colonies needed to ratify the Declaration of Independence, um the the American colonies as a group could not have declared independence with without at least one or perhaps two of the southern colonies and and to and for the uh northern and middle uh middle uh states to have declared independence without the South uh almost for sure. um a a a
19:52 war which most people knew they would have to fight with Great Britain if if declar if independence were declared. That war would have been lost without the South. The South was well first of all George Washington was a southerner and a lot of the um best officers uh came from the south as did a lot of the manpower. So um it was not it was just not possible to declare independence without the south on board. So um on the other hand in colonies like New York and
20:27 New Jersey and even in the Carolinas there were large groups of loyalists called Tories as I mentioned before and they were ideologically committed to staying loyal to King George III and Great Britain. And uh um you know, George Washington remarked that New York and and Manhattan in general was a hotbed of of essentially Tories attempting to undermine the the fight for independence.
21:03 uh and and uh in fact when Great Britain lost uh the the war for independence um many of the Tories left America because they were afraid that retribution would be taken on them and so they they left rather than staying in the now um you know established free United States of America. And then finally uh the final impediment to independence was there was an absence of
21:38 of a clear alternative government. So while there were many um who disliked British rule, um they they like what was going to be the alternative and they were afraid that the col colonies would descend into anarchy and some demagogue might take over and and they would be worse off than they were under King George III. So before the Declaration of Independence and the the Continental the the colonies operated under what was known as the um
22:15 Articles of Confederation. It was a a loose grouping of a loose grouping of the colonies. The the there was no real central government um like we like we know today and like what was established by the US Constitution. And so uh and and it had there was there was little ability to uh legally enforce the articles of a confederation. Um and and and so um you know they were just very unclear what what is what is going to happen from a governance sense uh if
22:51 if we declare and become independent from Great Britain. So uh you know the idea of republican government small R republican government um a republic it was this was not a tested idea. It was that there were not republics you know in Europe uh for all intents and purposes. And so while while people especially people who you know who were welllearned understood it at least intellectually in actual practice they were concerned
23:26 that it might start as a republic or intend to be a republic but it could fall into tyranny. And again that that that tyranny could be worse than what what the colonies were dealing with under King George. Um or it could lead to a tyranny of the majority where so for example um Baptists were they were a a minority uh religion back then and they were afraid of what um the majority might do with respect to their religious rights. Roman Catholics had a similar fear. And so, uh, again, the the because
24:02 there was no clear sense of what a a government in an independent America would be, um, there were many people who were just who were at best indifferent about independence and in in many cases they were opposed to it. So, all of those were impediments to independence. Now there were many incentives for uh for the de for declaring independence and becoming an independent country. One of them that one of the best known was that the the the colonists felt that they
24:37 were being taxed without having representation. So the colonists had no seats in the British Parliament yet they were being taxed. So on the one hand they were they were Englishmen evidently um but they as unlike their um peers in in Great Britain um they did not have representation in the British Parliament. And so when it came to the Stamp Act, for example, in 1765, that required printed materials such as newspapers and legal documents and
25:13 playing cards to carry a tax stamp that had to be bought and paid for in British currency and and the Townsen Act, which imposed duties on goods like glass and lead and paint and paper and tea. So and and and the the revenue from the towns and act was used to pay the royal officials like the tax collectors and the governors. So it reduced the the control that the colonials had over these British officials. So that that that this taxation was going on, this
25:49 reduction of control of their daily lives was going on and at the same time they had no representation in the British Parliament. smacked of tyranny to many of the colonists who became revolutionaries. So that was one incentive for uh declaring independence. The second was economic restrictions that the mother country put on the colonies. So the navigation acts which started in uh uh in in the 1650s they restricted colonial trade to being
26:25 carried by British ships and they required that all goods be shipped through Britain first. So so for example uh you know Georgia which was a cotton producing state Georgia could not ship cotton on French ships directly to France. that the the navigation acts did not allow that. And the and the reason Britain did that was because it prevented competition and therefore essentially allowed them to allowed the British to set the price for the goods
27:00 that they bought from from the colonies. And so this this economic restriction uh really put uh limits on on not just the free trade but also on the profits and wealth that the colonies the colonists uh could could aspire to. Um as well um there were what were known as rits of assistance. These were general search warrants that allowed British officials to search homes and businesses for smuggled goods without any specific cause. So,
27:37 you know, today in order to get a search warrant, uh, a law enforcement agency has to go to a judge and and demonstrate cause for for getting the authority to search a particular uh, residence or business. Under a rid of assistance, the the the official did not need to have any cause whatever. they could go in and just go on a what amounted to a you know fishing expedition as we call them today. And so this was seen by many colonists as an abuse of power. And then finally um
28:15 so many merchants and consumers uh thought that independence would allow for free trade and therefore greater prosperity. So the economic restrictions that Great Britain put on the colonies which by the way the British the these were not these were not placed only on the American colonies. All British colonies had these restrictions. It's just that the the colonists felt them more keenly and and realized that that they could achieve greater prosperity without them. And so the the the the
28:51 fact that Great Britain maintained these restrictions and and was absolutely they were just absolutely committed to maintaining them. They showed no indication that they would lighten them up. So this gave the the colonists an incentive to to declare independence also. So so the first two are are are kind of practical considerations. Um but enlightenment ideas were bubbling up at this time the late starting in the late mid to late 1700s. Um among the best known enlightenment philosophers was
29:27 John Lockach who argued that people had what he called natural rights to life, liberty and property. And indeed in the original Declaration of Independence um Jefferson said that among these rights are life, liberty and property. um property was changed to the pursuit of happiness but the pursuit of happiness was was generally thought to be sort of economic prosperity that that's how happiness was meant in that context. So um Loach also uh propounded the
30:02 philosophy that government should only exist with the consent of the governed. Okay. So, so therefore people had the right to overthrow a tyrannical ruler. And this idea um heavily these ideas in general heavily influenced people such as Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and James Otis. Um three of the most ardent revolutionaries. uh and but it's it's why um they felt that they had the right to declare
30:39 independence from uh King George III. They they declared him a tyrant um and and and that he no longer had the consent of the govern i.e. the colonists and so they had the right to declare independence and there was nothing the king could could do about that. Now of course not everybody in the colonies uh held by enlightenment ideas. Certainly the the loyalists the Tories did not uh but but these ideas were discussed uh broadly and many people who may not have
31:14 been literate enough to understand uh Lock's writings themselves um andor may not have been able to afford his books. Still these ideas permeated through society in the colonies and they were just they were broadly discussed. Okay. Next going back to a more pragmatic incentive British military action. So this is what I discussed last year. I talked about uh various precipitating events that led up to the declaration of
31:49 independence. one in 1770 in which British soldiers killed five civilians in what was called the Boston Massacre. It was it was widely propagandized at at the time. Uh and interestingly enough, John Adams uh defended the British soldiers uh in in in a trial uh in which if they had been convicted, they could have been sentenced to death. Um um Adams, although a committed revolutionary himself, was equally
32:25 committed to to justice. And so uh that's why he took on that case. Uh in 1775, the British attempted to seize uh colonial weapons uh stored in co in conquered Massachusetts leading to the battles of Lexington and conquered. This was the first uh open uh armed conflict um in in the uh in what became the American Revolution. Um British burned towns like Falmouth, Maine and Norfor, Virginia. This further inflamed public opinion and finally the the British army
33:03 hired uh Hessen i.e. German mercenaries, okay, uh to fight um for them in the colonies. And this caused a great deal of of of not just resentment but but fear that um that you know because these Hessins were not uh Englishmen like themselves that um you know they would they would fight with barbarity um and there would be you know even there would be foreign interference and even greater oppression um you know than than they were experiencing currently um if they
33:41 remained with you know within the British Empire. empire. So, so British military actions were uh were were also an issue. So, and then along came in January 1776 the publication by Thomas Payne of a a small book really a pamphlet called Common Sense and it used plain language to argue for uh independence. Um, Payne attacked the uh the monarchy as being absurd. He's saying it was unnatural for a small island ruled by a king to rule
34:18 over a vast continent. The the the common sense sold over a 100,000 copies within months. This was this was a huge number, okay, given the population of the colonies at the time and also um given literacy rates. So, just to give you an idea, while in New England, um, white men had a literacy rate of about 85 to 90% and and and in the middle colonies 60 to 70% and in the south, 50 to 60%. And and white women um had a a
34:55 literacy rate of 45 to 65% in New England and maybe 30 to 40% in the South. um slaves had um literacy rates of less than 10% because it was illegal to teach them to read and even free blacks um probably didn't have a lit literacy rate much higher than that. Now contrast that today where the literacy rate among white Americans is probably above 95% maybe as high as 99%
35:32 among uh black Americans probably 85 to 95% among uh Latino Americans probably between 80 and 90%. Okay. and and so you know the literacy rates were significantly lower then than they were today. And despite that uh there was massive sales of common sense and it it allowed the average person to understand philosophically the underpinnings of the calls for independence by the revolutionaries.
36:08 So then fi then you know two more uh imped I mean sorry two more incentives for declaring independence. One is the the the the many of the colonists saw that reconciliation was was just not going to happen. So they had submitted many uh petitions and appeals to the parliament and to the king. Most notably the one I mentioned earlier, the olive branch petition seeking compromise. All were rejected. In fact, summarily rejected. And then punitive laws like
36:43 the pro um the pro prohibitionary act of 1775 which declared the colonies in rebellion and cut off trade became the result. And so the the colonists were I think rightly insensed that even as they were trying to reach a compromise the the the parliament and and the king were intractable. Now uh to be accurate there were many in the British Parliament. There were many MPs, ministers of parliament who were in favor of compromising with the uh with
37:22 the colonists. There were some who supported American independence. Okay. So just like in America opinion was not monolithic nor was that in the case in Great Britain even among the ruling class. Okay. So um it was just that there was enough uh or I should say there was not enough support among the compromisers and the the those in favor of independence in parliament for them to carry the day. uh and and and so many of the colonists ended up
37:58 concluding that Great Britain was was just they were not interested in in reconciliation or moderate rule um the kind of rule that they might have that they exercised in the mother country. They were absolutely committed to domination and so there was no other choice but to uh declare independence. And finally, there was the opportunity to to start and build a new nation. And this was a a big incentive, especially for people like Thomas Jefferson and
38:33 James Otis who were very well very knowledgeable about enlightenment principles and were eager to found a country with those principles as their basis. uh free from aristocracy, free from what they felt was the corruption that is endemic to aristocracies. And so they really had this idea of creating an idyllic country where every man was free, every person was free and and and it's why they were opposed to slavery.
39:08 And now Thomas Jefferson had more of a sort of an agrarian idyllic uh country in mind. Others felt that you know the the the country's economy would be more broadly based. Um but they als what they also saw was um that that a a country based on enlightenment principles would have a level of social a potential for social and economic mobility that just was not present in Great Britain at this time. And in fact,
39:46 um, it would take another century before some of the social structures in Great Britain moderated enough to where there was really any kind of meaningful uh, social and uh, economic mobility um, among among you know a majority of the British population. Now there was some economic mobility in Great Britain even in the 18th century but you know nothing like what um what America offered um
40:23 after independence and other groups um some groups I should say like like farmers and frontiersmen. So they thought that independence would give them an opportunity to gain land and and and have some power about uh o over you know how the country was governed whereas you know such people in in Great Britain would would not had no hope of of gaining power certainly not in their lifetimes. So all of these were incentives that were were discussed, debated and
40:59 finally led to uh the decision by the Continental Congress to declare independence and then to write the Declaration of Independence and publish it uh which which occurred essentially on uh July 4th. So, I'm going to now read the Declaration of Independence. Um, a as has been my practice for many years now. I think it's incumbent upon us to uh read this document once a year so we can understand uh the
41:34 underpinnings of our country. Uh the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution together really tell us what the United States of America is all about. So, Declaration of Independence in Congress, July 4th, 1776, the unanimous declaration of the 13 United States of America. 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
42:09 earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitled them a decent respect to the opinions of mankind require 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 by their creator with certain unalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these
42:44 rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the govern. that where 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 it its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness. Prudence indeed will dictate that
43:21 governments long establish long established should not be changed for light or transient causes. And accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are mo more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable than to write themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurppations pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute desperatism. It is their right,
43:56 it is their duty to throw off such government and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufference 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
44:33 a candid world. He has have refused his ascent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance unless suspended in their operation till his ascent should be obtained. And when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people unless those people should relinquish the right of representation in the legislature. A right inestimal to them and formidable
45:09 to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. He has refused for a long time under such dissolutions to cause others to be elected whereby the legislative powers incapable of annihilation have returned to the people at large for their exercise.
45:46 the state remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without and convulsions from within. He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states for that purpose obstructing He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states. for that purpose obstructing the laws of naturalization of foreigners, refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands. He has obstructed the administration of justice by refusing his ascent to laws
46:23 for establishing judiciary powers. He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their offices and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of new offices and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance. He has kept among us in times of peace standing armies without the consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to the civil power.
46:59 He has combined with others to sub to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unagnowledged by our laws, giving his ascent to their acts of pretended legislation. For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us. For protecting them by a mock trial. from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states. For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world. For imposing taxes on us without our consent. For depriving us in many
47:36 cases of the benefits of trial by jury. For rep for transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pended offenses. For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province. establishing therein an arbitrary government and enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies. For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws and altering fundamentally the forms of our
48:11 government. for suspending our own legislatures and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. He has abdicated government here by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny already begun with
48:46 circumstances of cruelty and perity scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous uh ages and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation. He has constrained our fellow citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands. He has excited domestic insurrections among us and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants
49:21 of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages who known rule of warfare is indistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. In every stage of the oppressions, we have petitioned for redress and in most humble terms. Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. Nor have we been wanting an attention to
49:58 our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our immigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnuminity magnamity and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurppations which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf, deaf to the
50:35 voice of justice and of consequentity. We must therefore acquies in the necessity which denounces our separation and hold them as we hold the rest of mankind enemies in war in peace. Friends, we therefore the representatives of the United States of America in General Congress assembled appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions do in the name and by the authority of the good
51:12 people of these colonies solemnly publish and declare that these United Colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved, and that as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace,
51:48 contract alliances, establish commerce and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And so and for support of this declaration with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence. We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. especially
52:24 the last part of the declaration where independence is actually declared. It never fails to move me despite having read it numerous times. I think there's there's a couple of things I' I'd like to point out in closing. One is throughout the Declaration of Independence, we see the the the founders of our country calling on God to guide them and protect them to make the this this experiment in Republican Republican government successful.
53:00 The language that Thomas Jefferson wrote calls us to a a high sense of ideals. And so this Independence Day, I'll I'll leave you with with these two thoughts or these few thoughts. Number one, if you're not already flying your flag, I hope you will. I hope you'll fly it with pride for our country that is still to live up to its ideals. Number two, I I hope you'll
53:38 hear in your soul the inspiring words of Thomas Jefferson and allow them to guide what you say and do today so that we can celebrate Independence Day as Americans. ans united, not Americans divided. And finally, I I hope you'll take a moment to contemplate how God has truly
54:13 blessed this country. It was not a sure thing that the Declaration of Independence would see its purpose fulfilled in a war that began in 1775 and and lasted until 1883. It was not a foregone conclusion that the framers at the Constitutional Convention would write a document that has served this country well for over two centuries. We
54:48 are blessed and if we remember it no other day of the year, hopefully we'll remember it today. So I thank you very much for joining me on this special edition of the Way to Wow shows. I wish you and your family, your loved ones, your friends, all the people you'll be gathering with today um a a meaningful and an outstandingly enjoyable Fourth of July. Thank you so much for watching.