Just hearing the words “Independence Day” conjures up imagery of fireworks, barbecues, and red, white, and blue decorations. However, for other nations around the world, “independence day” means something very different. India marks its independence day on August 15 by flying kites colored like the country’s orange, white, and green flag. Mexico celebrates on September 16 by hanging lanterns and having their president ring a historic bell. Australia celebrates on January 26th by having boat and surfing races. It seems that just about every nation has at least one holiday celebrating its inception, liberation, or unification. That invites the question: Is America’s Independence Day just another national holiday like so many others around the world?
Increasingly, public school students are taught to believe just that. They are told America is not unique. However, this false assertion is based more on a disdain for America’s exceptionalism than historical evidence. In President Abraham Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address, he describes our national government as one “of the people, by the people, for the people.” He further describes our nation as being “conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” Don’t forget that he also confirmed that our nation is “under God,” a proposition that was far less controversial in Lincoln’s day.
Lincoln’s words are not mere jingoism; they are an accurate description based on historical fact. No nation before ours was so uniquely conceived in liberty. Throughout human history, one tyrant has wrested power from another for their own gain. Some have been more benevolent than others, but none recognized unique human rights granted by God that no human power could take away. The British Magna Carta of 1215 laid the foundation by diminishing the absolute power of the king, but even that only redistributed the power to lords rather than to the people.
Only America’s Independence Day celebrates a nation “founded in liberty,” a nation whose government is “of the people, by the people, [and] for the people.” Enjoy those fireworks and barbecues tomorrow, but remember that we celebrate because America was the first to acknowledge those “certain unalienable rights” “endowed by [our] Creator.”
