History of our 4th

The following was written by our unit First Sergeant, Jeff Mock. When not deployed he is a middle school teacher in southern Arkansas. He is one of the most patriotic soldiers know. He shared this history of Independence day with all of our unit. It's worthy of your attention too.

Well here we are on Independence Day. It is a holiday like all othersin America where we have long since forgotten the significance orrelevance of the day and its importance. Take time today to find a copyof the Declaration of Independence and give it a read.Two hundred and thirty-two years ago our founding fathers took amonumental leap in declaring our independence from the British Empire.The Declaration of Independence outlines all the reasons that thethirteen original states believed it was necessary to seek a divisionfrom Great Britain. Most of the very issues that were consideredviolations of our rights as British citizens found their way into theConstitution and the Bill of Rights some years later. You can read inthe Declaration at all the things that Parliament did to the Americancolonists that were violations of individual rights and then read theBill of Rights and see where the states ratified the first tenamendments to the Constitution in order to protect the very individualrights of all citizens of our Republic: freedom of speech, freedom ofreligion, right to assemble, right to petition our government, theindividual's right to bear arms, right to a trial by jury, protectionagainst cruel and unusual punishment, and the amendments that limit thepowers of the Federal government and empowered the States and thepeople.For more than a year before the Declaration of Independence militiaunits of various states were actively involved in combat with the forcesof the British Empire. The Battles of Lexington and Concord had alreadyoccurred and the Battle of Bunker Hill. The American Revolution began ayear prior to the Declaration of Independence. There were some in thecolonies that did not support the war or independence. As a matter offact many historians believe that only a minority of people in thecolonies would have been considered Patriots. Many people in the 13colonies did not care one way or the other who won the war, they did notsupport either side. Then there was another segment the population thatout right supported the British, known as the Tories.It is interesting to consider that on our nations 232ND birthday thatour Revolution for Independence was not supported by a majority of theAmerican people and yet through Providence our Founding Fathers and thecountless numbers of Patriots that fought for our independence struggledthrough a war and win a victory over the British Empire.It would not be until 1787 that the thirteen states would considercreating the Constitution. For those years of the Revolutionary War andthe few years following the end of the war our nation was governed underthe Articles of Confederation.From the time that our Founding Fathers declared Independence on 4 July1776 it was not until 1789 that our Constitution was ratified, 13 years.We should be glad and thankful that no one in the world instituted atime table or established a set of parameters over the creation of ourRepublic. It took thirteen years to create the document that governsour Republic today. If we could not do it overnight it may be doubtfulthat anyone else can either.
Happy Independence Day
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We hope you enjoy your Independence Day weekend. Take care.

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Out.