The Day of Deliverance

By Wes Westmoreland | Special Guest Columnist for The Sunday Column

Wes Westmoreland | The Sunday Column

An excited John Adams wrote to his beloved Abigail: “The Second Day of July 1776… 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 Shews (shows), Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.” It was on July 2nd that a new nation was born when the Continental Congress passed the Lee Resolution, declaring America to be a nation, independent of Britain.

Two days later, on July 4th, the delegates approved the official statement, enumerating the reasons for the separation from the mother country and the purpose of the new sovereignty.

For the first time, a nation was born of virtue, spawned of duty and necessity, of cooperation, not coercion. It began with the simple premise that rights did not come from mankind, rather from God— therefore no man could put himself above the Grantor of those rights. The words of freedom rang like a bell, extolling mankind’s greatest experiment as within the concept dawn rose on the grandest hope of all civilization.

This small, fledgling nation was begat with numerous contradictions, yet acknowledged the point from which all government should originate. 250 years later, contradictions remain, for we are governed by imperfect individuals. James Madison said in Federalist 51, “If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary." But alas, our earth is not the purview of angels, it is the domain of imperfect people; we are the rulers of the realm. Herein lies our challenge.

Jefferson reminds us that the preservation of the spirit of the ‘day of deliverance’ requires vigilance. His words from 1787 to Adams’ son-in-law are applicable today, “...what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?” President Reagan echoed this theme, reminding us that “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. It has to be fought for and defended by each generation.” Herein lies our responsibility.

It is only through a citizenry, informed and led by an intentional moral code, that we may maintain and defend the beacon of liberty. As we seek to consistently ensure the absence of coercion, we fertilize the tree of liberty. As we defend the smallest minority, the individual— and the God-given right to his own life— we focus the lens through which freedom shines throughout the world. Herein lies our goal.

The realization of these incontrovertible words have been the hope of mankind since the dawning of time: “...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 to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”

Let us then, with renewed commitment, fan the flame of liberty through our undying commitment to this concept, that the Day of Deliverance will be forever celebrated as the definitive epoch of the human race.

Wes Westmoreland is president and founder of Westmoreland Printers, Inc., co-founder and vice-chair of Pinnacle Classical Academy, and a director of Polyhymnia, a think-tank advancing American culture through engagement with the aesthetic and philosophical foundations of Western society.

Read The Sunday Column, every week, only at ShelbyIndependent.com 

The Sunday column is made possible by: Land Pros Land Management

The Sunday Column | The Shelby Independent.