6 Short Excerpts to Read this July 4th
This Independence Day, as we celebrate the birth of our great nation, we at Chapel Field invite you to read these six short excerpts from American texts, speeches, and sermons. As we reflect on our country’s storied history, it is good and right to soak in the wisdom of our forefathers and to give thanks to our God. We hope you’ll read along with us…
1. From Patrick Henry, 1775
We shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable--and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.
It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace-- but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
Patrick Henry, Speech to the Second Virginia Convention (March 23, 1775)
2. From President Abraham Lincoln, 1863
The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address (November 19, 1863)
3. From President Calvin Coolidge, 1926
About the Declaration there is a finality that is exceedingly restful. It is often asserted that the world has made a great deal of progress since 1776, that we have had new thoughts and new experiences, which have given us a great advance over the people of that day, and that we may therefore very well discard their conclusions for something more modern. But that reasoning cannot be applied to this great charter.
If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress, can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward, toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction cannot lay claim to progress. They are reactionary. Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient, than those of the Revolutionary fathers.
Calvin Coolidge, "Speech on the Occasion of the 150th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence" (July 5, 1926)
4. From Rev. Martin Luther King Jr, 1965
And that is something else that we notice in this American dream, which is one of the things that distinguishes our form of government with some of the other totalitarian systems. It says that each individual has certain inherent rights that are neither derived from or conferred by the state. They are gifts from the hands of the Almighty God. Very seldom, if ever, in the history of the world, has a sociopolitical document expressed in such profound, eloquent, and unequivocal language the dignity and the worth of human personality. For the American dream reminds us that every man is an heir of a legacy of worthfulness.
Martin Luther King Jr., The American Dream Sermon Delivered at Ebenezar Baptist Church” (July 4, 1965)
5. From President Ronald Reagan, 1986
My fellow Americans, it falls to us to keep faith with them and all the great Americans of our past. Believe me, if there's one impression I carry with me after the privilege of holding [ the office held by Adams and Jefferson and Lincoln, it is this: that the things that unite us -- America's past of which we're so proud, our hopes and aspirations for the future of the world and this much-loved country -- these things far outweigh what little divides us. And so tonight we reaffirm that Jew and gentile, we are one nation under God; that black and white, we are one nation indivisible; that Republican and Democrat, we are all Americans. Tonight, with heart and hand, through whatever trial and travail, we pledge ourselves to each other and to the cause of human freedom, the cause that has given light to this land and hope to the world.
Ronald Reagan, Address to the Nation on Independence Day (July 4, 1986)
6. From the Declaration of Independence, 1776
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.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776)
This July 4th, we wish the entire extended Chapel Field community a blessed Independence Day. May we remember and honor the many great Americans who came before us, and give thanks to our merciful God for the innumerable blessings He has bestowed on this land.
God bless and Happy Independence Day! 🇺🇸
