Celebrating Freedom
On July 3rd, 1776 Massachusetts delegate John Adams sat down to write his wife, Abigail, an exuberant letter. The day before, delegates voted to break free from British rule and would soon sign the formal Declaration of Independence. The vote was to be marked by "Pomp and Parade with shows, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations," Adams wrote, "from one End of this continent to the other from this Time forward forever more." And that's still what we do today.
Independence Day is fundamentally a celebration of liberty and freedom. In this revolutionary act of separation, America's Founding Fathers enshrined the natural and god-given rights that every person enjoys and forever set the United States apart from the rest of the world. Residents of the Thirteen Colonies would no longer be "subjects" of a distant monarch; Americans were to be free and full "citizens" of a republic, instituted to protect their rights and liberties.
The Founders pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor to maintain the nation's new independence. But all Americans understood the price to be paid for asserting their rights and liberties.
This 4th of July, I hope you will take time to reflect on the heroism of America's revolutionary generation. It seems many in Washington today oppose the principles of limited and accountable government that were championed in 1776. But as your congressman, I assure you, I will continue to fight for a free America as men like Jefferson and Adams hoped it would be.
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Sincerely,
Sam Graves