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Show EDITORIAL A DAY TO HONOR AMERICA July 4th, 1974 John Hancock of Massachusetts signed the Declaration Declara-tion of Independence with a bold, elaborate and most legible flourish. It was followed by the signatures of 55 others from the 13 American colonies, 198 years ago today. And in signing this document they called their erstwhile colonies, "FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES", by appealing to the Protection of divine Providence (the capitals are theirs) and did "mutually pledge to each other our lives, our Fortunes, and our Sacred Honor." On July 4, 1776, this was no empty pledge. It meant very starkly that each signer had affixed his signature to his own death warrant. Each inscription convicted its perpetrator, automatically, of treason. Yet such was the overwhelming strength of their patriotism in their fledgling nation that they pledged their all that it might be achieved. And in years of battle, blood, hardship and often despair, it was achieved. Today nearly two centuries later, we of America are still a nation bound by the principles set forth in that Declaration and in the Constitution which followed it. John Adams, second President of the United States, wrote of July Fourth-"It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, guns, bells, bonfires, bon-fires, and illuminations, from one end of the country to the other, from this time forever more." Our nation has survived much, from minor upheavals up-heavals to major corruptions, to bloody civil war. But that Declaration and that Constitution remain intact. We still pledge to them our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. And in these troubled times, more than ever, we might take heed of one of our most prominent contemporary con-temporary constitutional lawyers, Louis Nizer, who in a recent address at New York University Law School, said: "Ours is a great and noble nation. We must not give vent to despondency or skepticism. . .our great nation couldn't have achieved its eminence in science, business, and culture without a healthy core. . ." We hold these truths to be self-evident. . . And by honoring America's founders we also honor America, itself. Prepared by the Honor America Committee of the American Historic and Cultural Society, Inc., Washington, D.C. 20004. |