Friday Film: "Inside the Declaration of Independence"

It does not do to sugarcoat history, but to understand where we are, we have to know where we came from.

The Declaration of Independence written was written by real men with all the baggage real people carry. Surely the throwing off of the tyranny of royalty is the lasting contribution of its words. Making us live up to that opening,

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.

is the story of all the years since July, 1776 to the present.

Update: Four Things Every American Should Know About the Declaration of Independence which should be read in its entirety:

Calvin Coolidge put it best in 1926 to mark the country’s 150th birthday. “There is something beyond the establishment of a new nation, great as that event would be, in the Declaration of Independence which has ever since caused it to be regarded as one of the great charters that not only was to liberate America but was everywhere to ennoble humanity. It was not because it was proposed to establish a new nation, but because it was proposed to establish a nation on new principles, that July 4, 1776, has come to be regarded as one of the greatest days in history.”