We hold dear this day, July 4th, 2020 - Independence Day, especially in these ever-changing, turbulent times. To understand today, we look to yesterday and to our roots as a nation.
During the 18th century in America and Western Europe, the awakened and inspired consciousness of the Anti-Slavery Movement (Abolitionism) sought to end slavery and the immoral Atlantic slave trade. At the time, there were millions of Africans and thousands of Native Americans dehumanized and enslaved.
July 2, 1776, is when the formal assertion (the Lee Resolution) resolved the Thirteen Colonies of America to be free and independent from the British Empire. The Declaration of Independence was the formal document signed on July 4, 1776 by representatives from New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
Four days later on July 8, 1776, a 2,000 pound copper and tin bell known as the Liberty Bell, rang-out for freedom from the Pennsylvania State House, (now known as Independence Hall) as the Declaration of Independence was read to the pubic for the very first time.
From that day to October 19, 1781, the fight for freedom continued till the British surrendered after the Siege of Yorktown. The Treaty of Paris, signed between Great Britain and the United States, made it official on September 3rd of 1783.
On that date, the United States of America became a sovereign and independent nation, thanks to the leadership of Washington, the many who sacrificed their lives and fought with valor, the combined efforts of the French Navy, and the Valley Forge Rescue Mission provided by the Oneida Native American Nation through its Chief, Shenandoah, and an Oneida woman, Polly Cooper.
It’s easy to forget history, but we do well to remember. Our best future lies in knowing the past and from whence we came, why we came, and who we are.
The Declaration of Independence — its edited version — still holds true for all Americans…. "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.”
Today, as we move into the beginnings of the 21st century, that promise haunts the weaponized and terrorized air-waves as we all break through a different kind of enslavement — one of the mind, the spirit and the soul.
We look for the awakened and inspired consciousness that helped our nation in its beginnings, but we must look within ourselves and each other for that flame of truth and justice.
Lady Freedom is our guiding light above the Capitol dome in Washington. Though hidden in plain sight since the bloody Civil War, she shines light into every darkness. To Morrnah Nalamaku Simeona, the kahuna lap’au (healer) of Hawai’i and teacher of the ho’oponopono prayer and life way, the Lady of Freedom symbolizes the consciousness of our nation, the world, and the cosmos, but to see her - we must see ourselves, first. Wake up America! and be truly free.
Author
Kristen Farquhar
Photograph
REUTERS/Erin Scott
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