A short clip from the Mini-series “John Adams” showing the vote to approve a Declaration of Independence.
The spirit of 1776, which we celebrate this and every fourth of July, is a celebration born of pain and frustration at a king who would not give to us that which we felt was our birthright, freedom. Through trials and unnecessary burdens placed upon America to pay for Great Britain’s wars, among other things, we were made to suffer through what was to our forefathers unbearable.
So we fought, though all were not for independence. Early in the year of 1776, Thomas Paine wrote a pamphlet which set the American landscape aflame, titled “Common Sense” which put forth the simple supposition that the United States ought to be free, and that the acts of the king and his government were intolerable, and brought many people to the cause of American freedom.
And though we were already in a fight, it was through this pamphlet that a great many were inspired to join the cause of liberty. Americans wanted peace on their own terms, but through more intolerable acts, such as the Prohibitory act, which blockaded American ports and declared American ships “enemy vessels”, and the hiring of German mercenaries to use against his own subjects, it was made plain to all that there would be no peace.
Britain had made it easier for us to break the chains that held us down. And in the summer of 1776 we made it official, finalizing the text of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776, although the document would not be signed by the continental congress until August 4th of that year.
Have a happy Independence Day everyone! Remember that this day is about more than just fireworks and barbecue’s. 
It’s about the freedom which we cherish so dearly and keep in our hearts at all times. God Bless America!
Today’s Nuggets, by George Washington, Via Wikiquote: The time is now near at hand which must probably determine whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their houses and farms are to be pillaged and destroyed, and themselves consigned to a state of wretchedness from which no human efforts will deliver them. The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army. Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us only the choice of brave resistance, or the most abject submission. We have, therefore, to resolve to conquer or die.
The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the republican model of government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.
