After about a three week hiatus, I’m back and just in time for Independence Day.

My beautiful America is turning 248 years old today. You didn’t think I would pass up the opportunity to celebrate with a post, did you?

If you were to show up at my family’s Independence Day celebration, you would find the house decked out in red, white, and blue from top to bottom. My sisters, mom, and I would be jamming to patriotic music while getting food ready in the kitchen (we do a mean rendition of God Bless America 😉). You’d hear the Declaration of Independence read in its entirety and indulge in homemade ice cream, all while enjoying the fellowship of family and friends.

But why do we celebrate Independence Day? Is it just another holiday? Is it simply a day to enjoy a BBQ with friends and family? Or is it more than that?

American Independence was a long time in coming from the time of the Pilgrims’ arrival on this Continent. Time and time again Parliament and the King imposed tyranny upon the Colonies, and each time the Colonies begged to have their voices heard in the matters.

If you were to study the years leading up to the American War for Independence, you would find that there are milestone-marking documents that paved the way for the Declaration of Independence.

I am going to list four of them for you today. It is my highest recommendation that you read each of them, if you haven’t already. (You get bonus points if you read one today. 😁)

Declaration And Resolves of the First Continental Congress

Many of us are familiar with the list of grievances listed in our Declaration of Independence. But did you know that the Declaration of Independence was not the first time the Patriots had laid out their grievances before Great Britain and the world? No, far from it.

They did not simply wake up one day and decide to declare independence. Rather, it was a decision that came with time. In 1774, the First Continental Congress met together to determine a course of action against the tyranny being inflicted upon the Colonies.

In doing so, they wrote a declaration documenting some of the reasons for which they met. They laid out the rights that they should’ve had as British subjects and yet were being denied to them.

Ultimately their sole purpose in meeting was explained in this way in the opening statements of the document:

“…in order to obtain such establishment, as that their ( the Colonies) religion, laws, and liberties, may not be subverted…”

Declaration & Resolves of the First Continental Congress

Olive Branch Petition

I’ve heard some people describe America’s founders as wild eyed traitors who were looking for a fight. They are portrayed by some to be bloodthirsty insurrectionists. Others would claim that in choosing to break away from the British Crown, our founders were jumping too quickly to arms.

I would say to those who hold these views, have you ever studied the Olive Branch Petition or even heard of it? It is one of America’s earliest founding documents from the period we now recognize as our fight for Independence.

Adopted by Congress on July 5, 1775, it was a document intended to prevent the coming war between the Colonies and Great Britain. You see, it was not without heavy hearts that our founders chose to break free from what was once their Motherland. The War for Independence came only after much repeated injury on the part of Great Britain and countless pleas from America that fell on deft ears.

The Second Continental Congress predominantly believed, in July of 1775, that Parliament was acting outside of the King’s knowledge when they passed the repeated injurious legislations against the Colonies. It was with this in mind that the Olive Branch Petition was created.

It was addressed to King George, and it laid out the heartfelt appeal for their grievances to be heard. Reading through the petition, one can easily see the heart with which our founders came to King George. It emphasized not only their loyalty to the Crown, but also their desire to avoid a bloody war that would cost thousands of lives.

You will find, while reading the petition, that our founders came to King George with the utmost respect, humility, and honor.

Their deference for the King, however, was rewarded with insult. Not only did King George refuse to even read the petition, but he then declared a Proclamation of Rebellion that stated the Colonies were in “open and avowed rebellion”. This proclamation completely ignored the plea for peace that the Colonies had presented him.

The final appeal for peace and restoration was turned away by Great Britain, and so the war began.

The Cause and Necessity of Taking Up Arms

Prior to the Continental Congress meeting in 1775, the battles for Concord, Lexington, and Bunker Hill had left their mark in history.

Many in Congress still hoped for peace and redress for their grievances. That was plainly displayed in the Olive Branch Petition. However, our founders believed that the world and Great Britain deserved an explanation as to why Americans had taken up arms in the previous battles.

Thomas Jefferson and John Dickinson penned The Cause and Necessity of Taking Up Arms to fulfill this obligation. It was adopted on July 6,1775.

“We are reduced to the alternative of choosing an unconditional submission to the tyranny of irritated ministers, or resistance by force. — The latter is our choice.”

The Cause And Necessity of Taking Up Arms

Every American would do well to read this document. It is the epitome of why America went to war for independence in the first place, and why our Second Amendment is so vitally important. It documents the very reason our founders risked everything to form a nation founded in liberty. Apart from our Constitution, this has become one of my top favorite documents.

“With hearts fortified with these animating reflections, we most solemnly, before God and the world, declare, that, exerting the utmost energy of those powers, which our beneficent Creator hath graciously bestowed upon us, the arms we have been compelled by our enemies to assume, we will, in defiance of every hazard, with unabating firmness and perseverance, employ for the preservation of our liberties; being with our [one] mind resolved to die free-men rather than live slaves.”

The Cause And Necessity of Taking Up Arms

Common Sense

This past January, I wrote a post about Thomas Paine’s Common Sense. It was a pamphlet that shook the civilized world. It came just months before the Declaration of Independence was signed, and it begged America to break away from Great Britain.

Paine eloquently explained the reasons he was no longer a British subject. He explained the evils of monarchies, which would lay the foundation for America forming a new type of government.

Common Sense stirred the embers of patriotism within the Colonists and largely contributed to the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in July of the same year.

“O! Ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose not only the tyranny but the tyrant, stand forth!”

Thomas Paine

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The Constitution and Declaration of Independence are a given when it comes to important documents Americans should read. I cannot emphasize their incredible importance enough. They are the bedrock of our nation. However, the documents listed in this post will give you a far better understanding of why our Constitution and Declaration are so important.

My sister noted, while reading the Cause And Necessity of Taking Up Arms, how it shed light on why we have a Bill of Rights. Our founders gave us a Bill of Rights because they knew what it was like to face the very things prohibited by our Bill of Rights.

They had faced persecution and tyranny in its most unjust forms, and they vowed it would not happen to their children and grandchildren.

I again urge you to take the time to read these documents. They will not disappoint.

As we reflect on the magnitude of the freedom that has been given us, let us spend time thanking God for it. Ultimately freedom comes from Him.

I firmly believe that He raised America up to be a bastion of hope to the oppressed, a bulwark of freedom to the slave, and a light of liberty for those held captive by tyranny’s darkness.

Happy Independence Day, my fellow Americans. May God forever bless our land.

A. M. Watson

Hebrews 13:8