This week we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. (It would be another seven years before a treaty formally ended the war between the citizens of the thirteen American colonies and the British Army.)

The Declaration of Independence codified the why of the bloody conflict and rallied a young nation behind the fundamental rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Government was established by the consent of the people to protect these rights.

It would be a full decade later that the United States Constitution would speak to “a more perfect union” – a statement of humility that our democracy was (and is) a work in progress.

As we reflect on this incredible milestone, it’s with appreciation for the enduring nature of our democracy as well as its comparative youth. Sustaining and enhancing our democracy for 250 years is generational work. And yet in 2023, our home city of Portsmouth, NH marked the 400th anniversary of European settlement, which in turn, seems fleeting in comparison to the thousands of years the Pennacook and Abenaki peoples inhabited the shores of the Picataqua River.

We’re also amused with the exuberance of John Adams in a letter to his wife Abigail dated July 3, 1776:

“The Second Day of July 1776*, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more. You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.”

*While the Continental Congress approved the resolution of independence on July 2nd, it was adopted by the Congress on July 4th.

Cheers to our more perfect union – yesterday, today, and tomorrow!

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