SATURDAY WE CELEBRATE the 239th birthday of the great American experiment — the world’s first true democracy.
The Declaration of Independence — its eloquently crafted words adopted July 4, 1776 — has become a symbol of liberty and equality to freedom-seeking peoples around the globe.
But have you ever READ the Declaration of Independence?
It’s in the print edition of today’s (Friday-Saturday edition) Peninsula Daily News — with a facsimile of the document and a transcript you can read with the original’s capitalization, punctuation and spelling.
Plus there’s an accompanying story in today’s PDN: “The price the Founding Fathers paid.”
It used to be a tradition to read the Declaration of Independence out loud on the steps of county courthouses across the nation, to honor the patriot spirit and remember the foundation of our country.
Why read it today?
“I have never had a feeling politically,” Abraham Lincoln declared in Philadelphia on his way to the White House, “that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence.”
From columnist William Kristol in a 2008 New York Times article:
“The last few years, we’ve spent July Fourth at the house of friends who have had the assembled company read the entire declaration.
“It’s a longer document than one thinks; the charges against the king take quite a while to get through.
“But I can report from firsthand experience that the declaration as a whole, and not just its most famous phrases, remains remarkably immune to the degrading effects of excessive familiarity.
“I was doubtful at first that reading the declaration would enhance the overall beer-and-hamburger experience of the day.
“But the effort has proved more thought-provoking and patriotism-stirring than I expected.”
READ MORE: Many, many articles, films (such as “1776,” a good Netflix pick for this weekend) and books about the Declaration of Independence. Check out “Empowering Words,” a 2014 New York Times review of the book “OUR DECLARATION. A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality,” by Danielle Allen.
(Allen, who grew up in a mixed-race African-American family, addresses the complexity of the slave-holders who signed the declaration, including its principal author, Thomas Jefferson, and the declaration’s claim that “all men” are created equal. Read the review at: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/06/books/review/our-declaration-by-danielle-allen.html?ref=topics&_r=0 )
Happy birthday, America.
