Would You Pledge Your Life, Liberty, and Happiness to the Idea of America?

Tomorrow is Independence Day, the 248^th anniversary of the day the Congress officially adopted the Declaration of Independence. This history site published the following about the original Independence Day, July 4, 1776. 

The Declaration of Independence was the first formal statement by a nation’s people asserting their right to choose their own government.

When armed conflict between bands of American colonists and British soldiers began in April 1775, the Americans were ostensibly fighting only for their rights as subjects of the British crown. By the following summer, with the Revolutionary War in full swing, the movement for independence from Britain had grown and delegates of the Continental Congress were faced with a vote on the issue. In mid-June 1776, a five-man committee including Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin was tasked with drafting a formal statement of the colonies’ intentions. The Congress formally adopted the Declaration of Independence – written largely by Jefferson – in Philadelphia on July 4, a date now celebrated as the birth of American independence.

Americans declared independence from Great Britain on the idea that government is held in the collective hands of the people being governed. The editorial board at The Deseret News asked this question: “Would you be willing to risk your life, fortune and honor for an idea. 

Most nations have their origins in ethnicity. The United States, however, originated with an idea. Rather than seeing people as subjects to a higher power, this idea placed power in the collective hands of the people, and it recognized basic human rights as being universally endowed by a creator.

Among these rights are “liberty, free speech, freedom of religion, due process of law, and freedom of assembly,” as the Library of Congress website enumerates them.

“America’s revolutionaries openly discussed these concepts,” the website notes. However, then, as now, many regular citizens accepted these ideas better in the abstract than in reality.

From the beginning, Americans have struggled to live up to the nation’s founding principles and ideals, whether the subject was slavery, women’s suffrage, equal public education opportunities or other practical applications.

And yet, as Americans celebrate another Fourth of July this coming Thursday, it is fitting to remember that the original signers of the Declaration of Independence were willing to sacrifice all for this idea. The end of that document asserts that the signers “mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.”

They knew war was imminent. Their devotion to the idea was deadly serious. But they also asserted “a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence,” which was borne out time and again as they overcame desperate odds to defeat what was the world’s greatest military power at the time.

Thankfully, that idea still resonates today. It is found in the brave men and women who volunteer to serve in the armed forces and who, too often, are called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice.

The editorial board discussed how the idea is found in refugees who suffer hardships to immigrate to the United State. The idea is “found in millions of everyday citizens who live quiet lives as kind neighbors and conscientious stewards of their communities and neighborhoods.”

There are louder voices in election years calling their chosen candidates as “true patriots. “But real patriotism lies with those who study candidates and issues and who vote with the best interests of the nation in mind.” It is found in people who report for jury duty or who volunteer to help the needy. “It is found in people who are, by nature, grateful for blessings.”

On July 4, 1876, on the 100^th anniversary of the nation’s independence, President Ulysses S. Grant issued a proclamation that expressed that theme.

“It seems fitting that on the occurrence of the hundredth anniversary of our existence as a nation a grateful acknowledgment should be made to Almighty God for the protection and the bounties which He has vouchsafed to our beloved country,” Grant said. He added that, amid the celebrations of the day, Americans should find time for “some public religious and devout thanksgiving to Almighty God for the blessings which have been bestowed upon us as a nation during the century of our existence, and humbly to invoke a continuance of His favor and of His protection.”

If Grant could see many blessings from the nation’s first 100 years, how many more can we see from the 148 that have passed since then? How much more gratitude should we express amid the fireworks, barbecues and other appropriate expressions on this holiday?

Above all, how much thanks should today’s Americans give to courageous founders who established an idea that revolutionized the world, and that continues to spark hope in people worldwide?

As explained on this site, gratitude is now and has been an essential principle and virtue in cultures throughout time. In fact, gratitude is at the center of Christianity and important in many other religions. Throughout history, prophets – ancient and modern – have taught the importance of gratitude. Scriptures teach us to “give thanks” in everything (1 Thessalonians 5:18) and to arise every day with a heart “full of thanks unto God” (Alma 37:37). 

Latter-day revelation warns: “And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments” (Doctrine and Covenants 59:21). Gratitude is an essential characteristic of disciples of Jesus Christ.

If and when Americans express gratitude for the blessings of living under the Constitution of the United, then God can freely bless America. Please join me on this Independence Day to express your gratitude for all the blessings that God as poured out on America and Americans as He protected America in revolutionary days, during World Wars I and II, and all through the years. However, as Americans turn from God and worship other “gods,” God will leave us to operate under our own abilities.

The Book of Mormon – Another Testament of Jesus Christ proclaims that America is a promised land that will be protected as long as the residents worship the God of the land, even Jesus Christ.