Free Market Friday: Grace lacking in departure
July 8, 2016
Jonathan Small
July 4th marked the 240th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. It is difficult to understand the importance of that day and the sacrifices that were necessary to make it possible.
The signers of the Declaration, their families and anyone who supported them instantly became targets to be eradicated by the King of England. The signers found it necessary to “mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
The reason for leaving England was a fundamental disagreement about the purpose of and limits on government power. “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 whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”