Bonus Episode: Independence Day!
Happy 4th of July!
Independence Day! I love my country, and the more I learn the truth of her godly heritage, the more I love her! Let us raise little patriots, teaching them to honor the flag, to say the Pledge of Allegiance, and sing the National Anthem (have you read all the verses?? It will rock your socks off!). Let them see the tears swell in your eyes when you tell the stories of the men who fought and died that we might have a free country. Teach them to pray for our nation and those who have been elected to serve us. Read to them the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and the Bill of Rights—the two documents that changed the world forever, and which were founded on the truth that all of our rights come from God, not from the government.
Some quotes from a few of our founding fathers:
“You will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make a good use of it.”
-John Adams
“The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil constitution, are worth defending against all hazards: And it is our duty to defend them against all attacks.”
-Samuel Adams
“They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security.”
-Benjamin Franklin
“Freedom is not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God and nature.”
-Benjamin Franklin
“I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”
-Patrick Henry
“A sacred respect for the constitutional law is the vital principle, the sustaining energy of a free government.”
-Thomas Jefferson
“Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.”
-Thomas Jefferson
“To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them…”
-Richard Henry Lee
“Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution and to the Republic for which it stands. Miracles do not cluster, and what has happened once in 6,000 years, may not happen again. Hold on to the Constitution, because if the American Constitution should fail, there will be anarchy throughout the world.”
-Daniel Webster
John Adams to Abigail Adams (the 2nd of July was the day the Declaration was signed, and the 4th was the day the final wording was adopted):
“The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epocha in the history of America. I am apt to believe it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forevermore.
You will think me transported with enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost us to maintain this Declaration and support and defend these states. Yet, through all the gloom, I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is more than worth all the means. And that posterity will triumph in that day’s transaction, even although we should rue it, which I trust in God we shall not…”
Resources I love:
Links:
Read the founding documents for yourself in the National Archives
Learn how to display and honor our country’s flag
Books:
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