Happy 250th Birthday, America!

250 years ago, the United States of America was born as a grand experiment in freedom. Built by men who risked everything they had, including their lives, our nation endures today and stands as the greatest country in the world.

That day, July 4, 1776, changed everything when the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, declaring the 13 original colonies free of Britain’s reign. Fifty-six delegates signed the document that would establish not only what they wanted to be free from, but what they wanted to be free for and the principles that freedom would rest upon.

“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 rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”

These transformative ideals reshaped the world. Our founders declared at the outset that they weren’t just splitting off from Britain to form another version of it; they were declaring our country to be a free and sovereign nation founded on the idea that we have rights, they come from God, and government simply exists to protect those rights, not infringe upon them. It is up to the people to ensure that remains the case.

The men who signed the Declaration knew the risks. Treason is punishable by death, and they faced that reality when they signed it. Not only could they have been put to death for their declaration, but many other men had already sacrificed their lives, and many others would during the Revolutionary War, to secure the freedoms we enjoy today.

I’m proud to be an American. I’m grateful for our founders, who were granted by God not only a remarkable vision of liberty, but the fortitude to see it through. That freedom wasn’t free, though—it came at a cost, and I’m thankful for those who fought to establish it then and those who continue to defend it now.

250 years later, we celebrate the greatest nation on earth and the blessing of calling it home. God Bless America!

Sincerely,

Sam Graves