https://stream.org/why-july-4-is-americas-holy-day/
Too many Americans underappreciate the meaning of holidays such as July 4th, also known as Independence Day. While some connect fireworks with the firing of cannons in the Revolutionary War, most forget that when the 56 members of the Continental Congress agreed to put the pen to parchment and affirm the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, all knew that being a signatory put a death threat on their heads as traitors to Britain.
A Serious and Somber Occasion
The War of Independence was in its second year by July 1776, and George Washington’s rag-tag colonial army was about half the size of the highly trained professional British army and the German Hessian mercenary troops fighting for the English. Additionally, Washington’s army was undertrained, underequipped, and underfunded. The naval mismatch was even greater at the outset of the war. In the first year of the war, the Continental Navy had less than 10 converted merchant ships while the British amassed 250 dedicated warships, concentrated along the coastline and in ports between the Delaware Bay and Boston. Indeed, things appeared grim for the patriot cause.
The last sentence of the Declaration of Independence before the space allotted for signatures reads, “…for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.” Indeed, July 4 for those Founders was a serious and somber occasion.
Two Political and Moral Principles
As we think about July 4th, we should remember that America was first in human history to establish a free and independent constitutional republic based on two political and moral principles. First, the government was required to protect its subjects’ unalienable God-given freedom and rights, which would be later formalized in the Constitution’s Bill of Rights. Second, it was the first country to establish that the legitimacy for government resides exclusively in the people, who would elect their leaders.
America Was Built on Courage, Determination and Godly Principles
We must never forget the courage, determination and godly principles that were necessary to establish the United States. General George Washington was in New York, preparing its defense, when on July 6, 1776 a courier from Philadelphia arrived to deliver a copy of the Declaration of Independence that had been agreed upon by delegates of the Continental Congress just two days before. There were just two signatures on that document: John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, and Secretary Charles Thomson. Because the odds of prevailing against the British were so low and the penalty for treason was death, it had been decided not to reveal the identities of the other 54 who had voted for the Declaration.