Believe me, dear Sir: there is not in the British empire a man who more cordially loves a union with Great Britain than I do. But, by the God that made me, I will cease to exist before I yield to a connection on such terms as the British Parliament propose; and in this, I think I speak the sentiments of America.
—Thomas Jefferson, November 29, 1775
Before social media, before the internet, before TV, radio and modern newspapers, people relied on often hand-written words of great minds and brave souls. In the latter half of the 1700s, throughout the original colonies of what would become the United States of America, a radical seed was planted, one of Freedom and liberty. It would be cultivated and nourished into what eventually became our Declaration of Independence and would immediately turn the writers and supporters of it, those we call our Founding Fathers, into traitors of the Crown. They became the face of the American rebellion that had already been raging for over a year. Let that sink in a moment. These brave men, putting themselves at extreme odds with the most powerful country on earth, faced death for an idea – 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.
July 4, 1776 was the day the Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence. There was no sharing that news on Facebook. No one tweeted it. But each year since, Americans have celebrated and commemorated that event with parades, picnics and flag waving. In honor of those who put the lives of themselves and their families at risk during that very dangerous time. NanoLumens would like to wish everyone a safe and happy 4th of July.
[divider style=”hr-dotted”]
“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.” – Thomas Paine
“America is much more than a geographical fact. It is a political and moral fact – the first community in which men set out in principle to institutionalize freedom, responsible government, and human equality.” – Adlai Stevenson
“Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed – else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower
“The American Revolution was a beginning, not a consummation.” – Woodrow Wilson
“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty.” – John F. Kennedy
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” – Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address, 1863
“In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
“This, then, is the state of the union: free and restless, growing and full of hope. So it was in the beginning. So it shall always be, while God is willing, and we are strong enough to keep the faith.” – Lyndon B. Johnson
“But what do we mean by the American Revolution? Do we mean the American war? The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments, of their duties and obligations…. This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people was the real American Revolution.” — John Adams
“What light is to the eyes, what air is to the lungs, what love is to the heart — liberty is to the soul of man.” — Robert Green Ingersoll
“Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.” — George Washington
“I think of a hero as someone who understands the responsibility that comes with his freedom.” – Bob Dylan
“Freedom is the open window through which pours the sunlight of the human spirit and human dignity.” — Herbert Hoover