Celebrating Independence Day!

As we get ready to commemorate Independence Day, I hope you all are celebrating the freedoms we have as a country. One of these being the freedom of speech and the ability to write without censor, and this we can do every day. Huzzah! Sometimes I shudder at the the things that are allowed to be in print, yet by that same freedom I am allowed to write and read what I will. And where would we be had the Declaration of Independence been not penned?

Did you know that the legal separation of the American colonies from Great Britain actually occurred on July 2nd?

In a letter to his wife, Abigail, John Adams wrote:

"The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more."

Adams was correct about the celebration, although the day chosen as the anniversary, as we know, is July 4th which after debating and revising the Declaration of Independence,  the congress approved it.

"Our own Country's Honor, all call upon us for a vigorous and manly exertion, and if we now shamefully fail, we shall become infamous to the whole world. Let us therefore rely upon the goodness of the Cause, and the aid of the supreme Being, in whose hands Victory is, to animate and encourage us to great and noble Actions -- The Eyes of all our Countrymen are now upon us, and we shall have their blessings, and praises, if happily we are the instruments of saving them from the Tyranny mediated against them. Let us therefore animate and encourage each other, and show the whole world, that a free man contending for Liberty on his own ground is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth."
George Washington, 1776

Please click on this link if you would like to revisit my post from last year
 that includes an inspiring video from the film John Adams.


But before you go, please let us know how you are celebrating your independence as a writer.