On this day 249 years ago, representatives of the United States of America appealed to the Supreme Judge of the world and declared American independence. They mutually pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor to each other. These great and remarkable men were determined to resist what they considered absolute despotism and to assert their right to rule themselves.
That Declaration and that pledge were the beginning of the most significant political event in the history of the world, the American Revolution.
A revolution brought about by unprecedented prosperity, scientific progress, and military power.
And it also set in motion something even more profound.
It provided a model of rights-based political liberty that inspired the entire world.
If you believe in the rule of law, the consent of the governed, and the progress of science and commerce, then you are a disciple of the American Revolution and founding. None of these blessings would exist without the debt we owe the men who brought this nation into existence.
For 12 generations, our nation has built upon that foundation. And on the sacred national day, it is our duty to recall that no great nation can endure by forgetting, overturning, or undermining its history and its principles. Nations do not survive by teaching their younger generations to despise their country or themselves. That is how nations descend into self-destruction. And what comes after is not a state of moral purity. What comes after is poverty, strife, and eventually foreign conquest. Throughout history, these have always been the rule, with freedom the exception.
We are free, industrious, and innovative people. However, we are also a people connected through our shared history, our territory, our common language, unifying traditions, and profound religious faith. They have guided us for 12 generations, making possible our miraculous rise. We must always strive, especially on these days of national commemoration, to reawaken in ourselves that assertive, noble, and sensible spirit of our founders. Let it always live in us.
Today is the first day of the 250th year of American independence. We are at the beginning of an era, and we are poised to recover American greatness. We are poised to regain our sovereignty. We are poised to rediscover our spirit of liberty. To keep America worthy of the last full measure of devotion, we must prove ourselves worthy of the blessings of liberty.
This is the core of our national renewal.
This is our patriotic devotion today.
So, God bless you, and God bless our great nation, the United States of America, on this Independence Day.
