To the editor: This coming July 4, our United States of America will celebrate its 246th birthday. We are the only nation on planet Earth that has a birthday. The Declaration of Independence declared our independence from England on that day.
The Declaration begins: “When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for our people to dissolve the political bands which have connected then with another, and to assume among the powers of the Earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of natures God entitles them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to separation.”
The next long body of the Declaration states the multiple reasons for this separation.
The last part of the last paragraph, “And for support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we (the signers) mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”
Below this Declaration are 56 signatures representing 13 states. One of the signers, John Witherspoon, was clergy. These are the men who put their lives on the line publicly for the U.S.A.
Years ago, what was known as the Freedom Train toured the nation with the original documents. I was a teenager. It was a cold winter night. I stood in line for more than an hour to board the train and see the Declaration and the original Constitution. I’ll never forget it!
Peter Marshall, son of the late Peter Marshall, Chaplain of the Senate, and David Manuel researched history supporting the belief that God has a plan for America. I am convinced they were right. I own the three volumes of their research. They begin with Columbus and end just before the Civil War. I commend them to you.
George C. Kaulbach
Cornelia