There has been, and will be, much commentary as we approach July 4th. However, it will never be enough to capture or express the significance of that date.
July 4, 2026, marks the 250th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence. Other than the Bible itself, no document has had a more profound effect on the country and the world. As a young boy, I vaguely recall in 1976 the 200th anniversary and the warmth and sense of patriotism that surrounded that day.
This July 4th feels different. That is likely because as an adult I am much more aware of how fraught and fragile our form of government, and life itself, are. That awareness only underscores the magnitude of the Declaration.
As I have written before, Progressivism holds that our rights flow from an “enlightened” and “benevolent” government which serves as a replacement for God who, in the secular view of Progressivism, does not exist.
The Declaration directly contradicts that premise, declaring that our natural, unalienable rights flow not from man or government but from God. That is why the values enshrined in the Declaration are directly antithetical to Progressivism and reflect a diametrically opposed world view and concept of ‘Nature and Nature’s God,’ to employ Thomas Jefferson’s eternal phrase.
There has simply never been a founding document like our Declaration of Independence, enshrining as it does one of the most profound principles in history:
“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…”
Jefferson was a brilliant man and, as he sat there in the candlelight, dipped his quill pen in ink, and began his beautiful cursive, he fully understood that this principle of God-given equality he was laying down certainly did not exist in the colonies at the time he authored the document, or likely would during his lifetime. We know that this principle of equality would, in fact, not be fully realized for another 150 years in this country.
But that is what makes so astounding his inclusion of such a principle in the founding document of our fledgling nation, a principle that was later embedded in our Constitution, and our Supreme Court jurisprudence.
That Jefferson would have the wisdom, foresight, and courage to boldly include the principle that—no matter when it may be fully achieved—equality was the fundamental and surpassing ideal. No nation in world history had ever included as part of the very blueprint of its government the belief that all its citizens were created by God and all of them were created equal.
Jefferson also wrote that “we hold these truths to be self evident…” which means he intended to place the truths forming the foundation of this principle of equality beyond debate. They were settled; Were so clear anyone could recognize and understand them.
The Declaration also declares that governments “are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.”
WOW. Those two sentences say alot!
It means that government is only legitimate when it functions with the “consent of the governed” (do we feel that government today operates with our “consent”?) and that when government fails to do so it may be “altered or abolished.”
Jefferson knew full well what the words “alter” and “abolish” meant. He understood that he was justifying rebellion and revolution against an illegitimate and oppressive government. (Much as Americans would rise up against the tyrannical government of King George).
Nevertheless, all of these efforts would have amounted to nothing without the 1.2 million Americans who sacrificed their lives since the Revolutionary War up until Operation Epic Fury, and the millions of service members who suffered terrible injuries in all of America’s military engagements, to give value, meaning and life to Jefferson’s beautiful words.
There has never been a document like the American Declaration of Independence. I still marvel at its strength and simplicity. The intrinsic God-given rights and equality it recognizes and protects, and the demand that government only exists to serve the people, are unprecedented. I hope we will reflect upon that, this glorious 4th!
Happy 250th America! Here is hoping and praying for 250 more!
Shreveport attorney, Royal Alexander, worked in D.C. in the U.S. House of Representatives for nearly 8 years for two different Members of Congress from Louisiana.