July is the pinnacle of summer, in my opinion. School is out for almost every student, baseball is in full swing, the days are hot, and the swimming pools are cool, and back yard grills fill the streets with delicious aromas of good old-fashioned barbecue (I’m a Texas girl, but I won’t hold it against you if you misguidedly prefer KC-sauce). Is there anything more American than July in the US of A?
July, of course, is also host to our most important national holiday. Independence Day is a chance for us to celebrate the founding of our nation. You and I are quite familiar with those sacred words:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that 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.
Please tell me your heart swelled just a little at those beautiful words. Any supporter of Mountain States like yourself knows we are firmly and fervently committed to this beating heart of the Declaration. You know from all of my previous letters just how dedicatedly our team of attorneys work to preserve these self-evident truths every day and in every case.
Sometimes, however, it can be easy to forget that, while Independence Day is arguably the peak of summer, and the season culturally begins with another important commemoration—Memorial Day—that these days mean something important. For most folks, these days are another three-day weekend filled with friends, lawn games, and good eating. Which is just grand! Heaven knows I love the holidays, too.
Nevertheless, it is so important to truly remember what these days are about. In both instances we are remembering the cost of liberty. It wasn’t, and isn’t, free. Independence Day was celebrated as our nation braced itself for war with the greatest power of the day. We had declared we were independent, but we still had to prove it. And Memorial Day was proclaimed just three short years after the Civil War ended as a way to honor and remember those who died in the Armed Forces to preserve the Republic and to expand liberty. Both holidays remember our commitment to those principles so beautifully framed above. There is a special honor reserved for Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen—and their families—who, as Lincoln once wrote to a grieving mother, “laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.”
These men and women died for love of each other, their families, their communities, and their nation. That nation, “conceived in liberty,” is one born from the truth that all men are created equal. Each unique person—different as they are in their skills, their physiques, and their capacities—is equally human in dignity and under the law. THAT is what those armed servicemen died for, to uphold and preserve a very precious and very necessary idea.
Independence Day in its own way does the same thing. Potentially 70,000 American Patriots died during the Revolutionary War, each committed to the words freshly penned by Thomas Jefferson and echoed by Thomas Paine. The Fourth of July isn’t just about celebrating the ideals of our country, but equally recalling the tremendous sacrifice of lives, fortunes, and sacred honor each Founding Father was prepared to make. And when I say Founding Father, I don’t just mean Washington or Hamilton or Adams. I also mean the lowly foot soldier at the Crossing of the Delaware, or the citizen-soldier who volunteered for the Lexington and Concord militias. Our Founding Fathers include our very great grandfathers and mothers who did their part to secure a future of freedom for us today.
In their memory—their lives, their sacrifices, their struggles, their hopes and dreams, and their vision for their children’s children—we celebrate Independence Day. I get a little misty-eyed thinking about the blessing it is to be an American. We are co-heirs to the Revolution, recipients of a most grand experiment in self-government, generosity, and equality.
Call me biased, but I think Mountain States is the finest organization dedicated to those ideals. Firmly rooted in the Declaration of Independence’s principles, fiercely dedicated to its manifestation in the Constitution, and unapologetically proud of our fellow citizens and clients, there is no one else quite like us. There’s another reason to boast about how the Foundation embodies the American Founding best—that’s you. Supporters are the beating heart of who we are. I know you are always eager to ask, “What else can we do for liberty?” Rarely do I have to ask you for help. You so willingly offer it, because you—like our forefathers—are willing to do what’s necessary for a better tomorrow, and to see that Independence Day is celebrated for generations to come.
Thank you, with all my heart, for being a friend of the Foundation. Happy Independence Day!