On this day in 1776

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes that impel them to the separation.....

With these words, 232 years ago, our people became a nation.

We were a small people, back then. The ragtag belt of colonies stretching from Maine to Georgia held a population of fewer than three million. The military struggle to overthrow British rule had already been raging for over a year and would continue for several years to come.

No one, back then, could have anticipated what we would achieve, how far we could come.

In less than a quarter of a millennium, that ragtag belt of colonies with fewer than three million people has grown into a continent-spanning nation of more than three hundred million. From Maine to Midway and from Barrow to Brownsville, we are the richest, mightiest, most advanced nation that the world has ever known. At times our country has fallen short of its ideals, and has chosen leaders who were not worthy of its heritage, but the genius and resilience of our system have enabled it to stay on course despite such afflictions, and the record of achievement upon achievement remains.

And it all began on this day in 1776, when the colonies finally declared openly that enough was enough and we were ready to run our own affairs, without the meddling of a distant regime in which we had no voice.

On this Independence Day, please take a few moments away from the tired vulgarity of squabbling political parties and flashy mall sales and noisy fireworks, to contemplate the true meaning of this document and all that followed from it.