233 years ago on this day, the first American was born; not of the union of man and woman, but of the tyranny of a distant king, and the will of men to be free.
On that day, an unknown soldier fired a single shot; and in so doing, declared himself a free man, and a citizen; no longer subject to any but himself, and to God.
It was 14 long and hard years between that shot, and the realization of the American republic; conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men were created equal.
Still, something was not right. All men were indeed created equal; but some were considered less than a man by their position in society, or the situation of their birth; and they were subject to tyranny from other men.
It was 71 years more, to the day in fact; that the nation born of free men, began to make ALL within it free. It took five years; the hardest and bloodiest years the nation has ever seen; to realize that freedom.
But it was complete. We were all free men, subject to none but ourselves, and to God.
90 years...
In the lifetime of a man, a nation was born, passed through adolescence, and finally stood as a man does; truly declaring that all men were created equal, and endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; and that among them were the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Never before has such a thing been done; and most likely never again.
Value it.
