Jefferson’s words would endure as the paramount expression of the republic, that all men are created equal and that they are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” “Well,” said Jefferson, “if you are decided, I will do as well as I can.” Reason third, you can write 10 times better than I can.” Reason second, I am obnoxious, suspected and unpopular. “Reason first,” Adams said, “you are a Virginian, and a Virginian ought to appear at the head of this business.
Many years later, Adams would recall that Jefferson tried to delegate the job to him: On June 11, Congress appointed a committee of five to draft its own declaration, which included Thomas Jefferson, at 33 the youngest member, and John Adams.īut they still did not know where it would land. In April, the chief justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court declared George III had “no authority over us, and we owe no obedience to him.” And declarations of independence were bubbling up from towns and assemblies. Whether or not to do it was still a question, but there were powerful arguments that it already had been done by Great Britain earlier that year, when Parliament blockaded American ports and declared their ships enemy vessels. Something similar transpired in 1776, when the Second Continental Congress took up the matter of declaring independence. “We cannot succeed when half of us are held back.” -Malala YousafzaiĮmily Gaudreau is the Administrative Assistant for CASA of Yellowstone County.Serena Williams, the most successful tennis player in the Open Era, maintains even she does not know where her serve is going until she lands it. We will never build a strong society if we do not first build up its most vulnerable and disadvantages members. We affirm they are loved and that their lives matter. We begin to build a stronger nation by showing up for the people in our small corners of the world and by advocating for them to have better lives and brighter futures. We must ask ourselves: how do we build strong children, strong families and strong communities? I think we start by working to ensure that each person in our society not only has the opportunities to attain life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but also that they feel worthy of attaining these principles. The importance of advocacy and support for children and families who come from disadvantaged circumstances or populations cannot be underestimated. How difficult it must be for many of them to even begin to imagine what a future with these three principles would look like in their own lives. I think of children who are not having their most basic needs met in their homes, children who are living with domestic violence, chronic abuse or addiction and children who may have escaped these situations and are now trying to heal from their trauma. As we approach this Fourth of July holiday, I have been reflecting on our nation’s founding principles, namely the ideal that each person has the “unalienable right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” The sad reality is that for children in abusive or neglectful situations, the ideals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness may seem unimaginable and unattainable.