Blog #1 - My Thoughts on the Declaration of Independence

When I think about the Declaration of Independence I think back to many years ago when I saw the musical 1776 in Cedar City, Utah. This play shows the founding fathers in the second continental congress where they write and eventually sign the Declaration of Independence. However, even though I had this great experience of seeing 1776 I did not learn too much of the Declaration of Independence but I did get to hear some catchy show tunes. Luckily, my education on the declaration of independence doesn’t just come from the musical 1776.
A little background information on the Declaration of Independence that I did not learn in class is that it was approved on July 4, 1776, hence why America celebrates the fourth of July. Many believe that it was signed that day but it actually was not signed until a little while later. Many important people in history point to the declaration of independence as there personal philosophy.
When reading the Declaration of Independence, I cant help but think what beautiful of a document it is and how it has to be truly inspired by God. The best example of Gods hand in the Declaration of Independence is when Thomas Jefferson wrote, “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.” Slavery was a big part of the economics of America at the time, however, the founding fathers still knew that all men are created by God and should be treated fairly. They could not fix it at the time, because they needed all of the help they could get. But even though they could fix it they put all men are created equal hoping that one day they would be.
One of my favorite parts of going of BYU is that we can discuss Gods hand in our world. When talking about something like the Declaration of Independence it is hard not to mention Gods hand in that document and in the revolutionary war. America’s chance defeating the British was so slim that it had to be God that helped the soldiers fight and helped the founding fathers make the very difficult decisions that they had to make to rule over the new country.
The founding fathers knew they what was at stake when they signed the Declaration of Independence but they still signed it because they knew what they were doing was right. In class we talked about the last paragraph of the Declaration of independence where they write, “We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.” This line really sums up the entire document and shows the world that America was ready to fight until death, leave there children fatherless, and ruin their reputation for generations to come, for the independence of the United States of America.