"CALLS DECLARATION 'A GREAT SPIRITUAL DOCUMENT'"

PRESIDENT GIVES ADDRESS AT SESQUICENTENNIAL EXPO

Philadelphia (JFK+50) On July 5, 1926, President Calvin Coolidge spoke here in Philadelphia at the Sesquicentennial Exposition* "commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence."

Mr. Coolidge, according to the Evening Star, referred to the Declaration "as a great spiritual document" and told his audience "we must follow the spiritual and moral leadership" which the Founding Fathers demonstrated.

The President said...

"If there is any one thing among us that is developed beyond question, it is self-government--the right of the people to rule."

JFK+50 NOTE

According to AI, the Declaration does NOT establish a specific religion but DOES refer to a "Creator" and "Nature's God" as the source of human rights and the basis of a moral argument for revolution.

Thomas Tweed reminds us the Declaration does NOT cite the Bible as a source of government policy nor does it say that America is a Christian nation.

He argues that the Declaration actually "provides evidence for less polarizing and more nuanced views" for today's generation. 

*Sesqui-Centennial Exposition, Philadelphia 1926, was a world's fair in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence & the 50th anniversary of the 1876 Centennial Expo.

SOURCES

"Coolidge Invokes Spirit of Fathers in Sesqui Address," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., July 5, 1926, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/

"What the Declaration of Independence does--and doesn't--say about God," by Thomas Tweed, The Conversation, April 24, 2026, www.theconversation.com/

 

 

Sesquicentennial International Exposition Logo

The Cooper Collections

PD

"THE WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN!"

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

Knoxville, Tennessee (JFK+50) Happy Independence Day, July 4, 2025.  Today marks the 249th anniversary of the adoption of The Declaration of Independence.

On July 4, 1776, we declared our independence from Great Britain and in doing so "mutually pledged to each other our lives, our Fortunes and our sacred honor."

For that Declaration to have any meaning, the colonies would have to defeat the most powerful military nation in the world.  When that was accomplished in the final battle at Yorktown (Virginia), the British army band on the field of surrender played "The World Turned Upside Down*."

Probably the most quoted part of the Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, is...

"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."

What is not often discussed is the long list of charges against King George III of Great Britain including his attempt to establish "an absolute Tyranny over these States."   Jefferson concludes that this "tyrant...is unfit to be the ruler of a free people."

John F. Kennedy was born and grew up in Boston, Massachusetts not far from where the first battles of the American Revolution were fought, Lexington and Concord.  His mother, Rose, took him to all the historic sites in the area including the Old North Church where the lanterns were hung on April 18, 1775, and Bunker Hill where Patriots stood strong until running out of ammunition.

JFK came to the presidency with a deep knowledge of United States and World History and the importance of America's revolution was not lost on him as he prepared his inaugural address.  He wrote...

"The same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue...the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.

We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution.  

Let every nation know...that we shall pay any price...to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger, I do not shrink from this responsibility, I welcome it."

The National Archives says that while his colleagues submitted ideas for the inaugural address, "the speech was distinctively the work of Kennedy himself."

JFK+50 NOTE

It seems that President Kennedy used repeatedly in his speeches terms like "liberty," "freedom," and "republic," constantly reminding us of the importance of the ideals on which this country was founded.  

I'm sure presidents since JFK have used those terms on occasion, but not with the regularity that he did.  

I have a personal note to add on this 4th of July.  I taught US History for 40 years & every year I spent a good deal of time teaching about JFK.  I like to think my students appreciated my efforts in that regard.  

Yesterday I was having coffee at Dunkin Doughnuts near my home, when a lady came up to me and said "Aren't you Mr. White?"  I said, yes.  

She told me that she had been my student back in high school in 2002 & always remembered my teaching about JFK.  She said she thought if I ever have a daughter, I'm going to name her 'Kennedy.'  

She said, I did have a daughter and Kennedy will be five years old this year.  I think that is so sweet.

*The World Turned Upside Down was an English ballad first published in the 1640s against the policies of Parliament relating to celebrating Christmas.  The playing of the tune at Yorktown is legend, in part, because accounts of it did not appear until a century after the fact.

SOURCES

"Declaration of Independence:  A Transcription," America's Founding Documents, National Archives, www.archives.gov/

 "President John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address (1961), Milestone Documents, National Archives, www.archives.gov/

World Upsidedown

Pamphlet (1646)

www.bl.uk/

"WE PLEDGE OUR LIVES, FORTUNES & SACRED HONOR"

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE ADOPTED BY 2ND CONTINENTAL CONGRESS

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (JFK+50) On July 4, 1776, "the unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America" was adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting here in Philadelphia.

Largely the work of Thomas Jefferson of Virginia representing the Committee of Five, the document is a statement declaring the causes which impelled the original thirteen British colonies in America to declare their independence from the mother country.

Much of the document includes a list of grievances against King George III "all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States."

The Declaration of Independence was first signed only by John Hancock, president of the 2nd Continental Congress & Charles Thomson, Secretary.

Other signers, although not all, added their signatures on August 2, 1776.  The order of signing was by state delegation geographically from North to South beginning with New Hampshire and ending with Georgia.

Except for the names of Hancock and Thomson, the other signers names were not made public until early 1777.

Following is a list of the number of delegates representing each State:

Pennsylvania 9, Massachusetts 7, Virginia 7, New Jersey 5,    Connecticut 4, New York 4, Maryland 4, South Carolina 4,  New Hampshire 3, Delaware 3, North Carolina 3, Georgia 3, Rhode Island 2

The signatures are just below the last sentence of the document...

"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, Fortunes and sacred Honor."

Of the 56 signers, 24 were lawyers or jurists, 11 were merchants, and 9 were plantation owners/farmers.  According to Ann Landers, no signer was killed outright by the British for signing the Declaration.  

17 held commissions in the Continental Army and although some were captured during the war, none were tortured.  Many lost property and possessions but most were able to reestablish themselves financially after the Revolutionary War. 

SOURCES

"Declaration of Independence:  A Transcription," National Archives, www.archives.gov/

"Declaration Signers," by Michael W. Smith, July 4, 2015, www.michaelwsmith.com/

"History revised:  True Story of the Declaration Signers," by Ann Landers, Chicago Tribune, July 4, 2001, www.chicagotribune.com/

"On this day, the Declaration of Independence is officially signed," by Scott Bomboy, Interactive Constitution, August 2, 2021, www.constitutioncenter.org/ 

 

 

Marker About the Signers of the 

Declaration of Independence 

Photo by John White

  

"A THEORY OF GOVERNMENT FOR PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD"

JFK LAYS WREATH AT INDEPENDENCE MONUMENT IN MEXICO CITY

Mexico City (JFK+50) Sixty years ago, June 30, 1962, President John F. Kennedy participated in a wreath laying ceremony at Independence Monument* located here in Mexico City.

President Kennedy said...

"The people who wrote the Declaration of Independence...recognized...they were not merely advancing a theory of government for the people of the United States, but for the people around the world."

*Independence Monument, a.k.a. Angel Monument, is a victory column on a roundabout in downtown Mexico City.  It was built in 1910 for the centenary of Mexican independence.

JFK+50 NOTE

Some might wonder why JFK said "the people who wrote" the D of I rather than Thomas Jefferson who most recognize as the author.

President Kennedy was a student of history so he would have known that a Committee of Five was assigned by the Continental Congress on June 11, 1776 to write the Declaration.  In addition to Jefferson, other committee members were Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman & Robert Livingston.

Since Jefferson was recognized as the best writer on the committee, he was chosen to write the first draft.  Benjamin Franklin made minimal changes but "the draft was more thoroughly changed" by the Congress.

The Library of Congress says that Jefferson "retained his prominent role in writing the (Declaration)," & doing so it "was the defining event" of his life.  Mr. Jefferson must have agreed because he chose it as one of three accomplishments to be engraved on his tombstone at Monticello. 

SOURCES

"Benjamin Franklin and the Declaration of Independence," by Doug Day, The Current, The Franklin Institute, www.fi.edu/

"Thomas Jefferson," Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/  

 

 

 Independence Monument

Mexico City

Photo by Sarumo74 

"JULY 2ND WILL BE CELEBRATED WITH PARADES & ILLUMINATIONS"

JOHN ADAMS WAS WRONG ABOUT JULY 2ND, OR WAS HE RIGHT?

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (JFK+50) On July 3rd 1776, John Adams wrote letters to his wife Abigail telling her that July 2nd would be celebrated with "parades, speeches, songs and...illuminations" because independence from Great Britain had been declared by the Continental Congress here in Philadelphia the previous day, July 2nd 1776.

Joseph Ellis questions whether or not John Adams was wrong.  He writes that most delegates did not even sign the Declaration until August 1776.  Why, then, do we celebrate Independence Day on the Fourth?

It seems the Declaration of Independence was sent to the printer on July 4 and so it was that date which was put on the document.  For fifty years the date of the celebration of independence was wrong, but when both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on July 4, 1826, July 4th became the "sanctioned anniversary for American Independence."

SOURCE

"Op Ed:  We celebrate Independence Day on the wrong date for the right reasons,"  by Joseph J. Ellis, July 2, 2017, Los Angeles Times, www.latimes.com/

Writing the Declaration of Independence

Benjamin Franklin, John Adams &

 Thomas Jefferson

by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (1900)

Virginia Historical Society  

Library of Congress Image

THE BEST LEADERS TEACH US ABOUT OUR VALUES

JFK SAYS TO READ THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE IS TO HEAR A TRUMPET CALL

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania  (JFK+50) On Independence Day, July 4, 1962, President John F. Kennedy spoke at Independence Hall here in the city of Philadelphia.

The President said...

"To read it today is to hear a trumpet call.  For that Declaration unleashed not merely a revolution against the British, but a revolution in human affairs.  Its authors were highly conscious of its worldwide implications."

John Q. Public analyzes JFK's Independence Day speech as follows...

"The best leaders teach us about our values.  Sometimes by giving speeches that move us 53 years later."

JQP believes that our Founding Fathers "were not merely great authors penning thoughts about their high minded ideals"  but also "men of honor who staked their lives to these values." 

SOURCE

"JFK's Speech at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, July 4, 1962", by J.Q. Public, July 4, 2015, www.jqpublicblog.com/

JFK & Mayor Tate View Liberty Bell

WHEN ANY BARRIER FALLS IT CLEARS THE WAY FOR EVERYONE

JFK+50:  Volume 6, No. 2024

HISTORY MADE IN PHILADELPHIA ONCE AGAIN

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (JFK+50) Two centuries and forty years ago this month history was made here in Philadelphia when the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence largely considered "the birth certificate of the United States of America."

Last night history was made once again here in "the cradle of liberty" when former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton accepted the Democratic Party's nomination for President.  She became the first woman of any major party to be the presidential nominee.  The significance of the moment was not lost on Mrs. Clinton.  She said...

"When any barrier falls in America, it clears the way for everyone."

One night earlier, President Barack Obama gave Mrs. Clinton perhaps the greatest compliment she has ever received.  He said...

"I can say with confidence there has never been a man or woman...more qualified than Hillary Clinton to serve as president of the United States of America."

In her acceptance speech last night, Secretary Clinton hit hard her Republican opponent on the issue of competence to be commander-in-chief.  She said...

"Imagine (Donald Trump) in the Oval Office facing a real crisis.  A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons."

Mrs. Clinton went on to illustrate her point with a reference to a statement made by former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.  The Secretary said...

"I can't put it any better than Jackie Kennedy did after the Cuban Missile Crisis.  She said that what worried President Kennedy during that very dangerous time was that a war might be started, not by big men with self-control and restraint, but by little men, the ones moved by fear and pride."

She continued...

"America's strength doesn't come from lashing out.  Strength relies on smarts, judgment, cool resolve and the precise and strategic application of power. That's the kind of commander-in-chief I pledge to be."

*Hillary Diana Rodham Clinton was born in Chicago in 1947.  She graduated from Wellesley College in 1969 & Yale School of Law in 1973.  HDRC was the 1st woman partner in the Rose Law Firm.

Hillary was First Lady from 1993 to 2001  & served as U.S. Senator from New York from 2001 to 2009 & Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013.  

Hillary Clinton Sworn-In

as Secretary of State by

Associate Judge Kathryn Oberly

January 21, 2009

Photo by Michael Gross

US State Department Image

WHEN IN THE COURSE OF HUMAN EVENTS...

JFK+50:  Volume 6, No. 2000

UNITED COLONIES DECLARED THEMSELVES FREE & INDEPENDENT STATES 240 YEARS AGO

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (JFK+50) Two centuries and 40 years ago today, July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress, meeting here in Philadelphia, adopted the Declaration of Independence, a statement announcing the 13 American colonies were "and of right ought to be" free and independent states.

The Declaration, largely the work of Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, followed more than a year of armed conflict with Great Britain the "mother country."

The Declaration of Independence reads...

"When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate  and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind require that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

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 & the pursuit of Happiness."

Most of the remainder of the document is a list of specific charges against His Majesty, King George III of Great Britain.  These charges are listed with the intent to demonstrate that the King had violated colonial rights.

Thomas Jefferson drew on George Mason's draft of the Virginia Declaration of Rights and the English Declaration of Rights of 1689.

Declaration of Independence

July 4, 1776

"Yale Dunlap Broadside"

 printed by John Dunlap

PRESIDENT KENNEDY SPEAKS AT INDEPENDENCE HALL

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania  (JFK+50) Fifty-four years ago today, Independence Day 1962, President John F. Kennedy spoke at Independence Hall here in the City of Brotherly Love.

The President said...

"To read it today is to hear a trumpet call.  For that Declaration unleashed not merely a revolution against the British, but a revolution in human affairs.  Its authors were highly conscious of its worldwide implications."

JFK & Mayor Tate View Liberty Bell

TWO PRESIDENTS DIE HOURS APART ON THE FOURTH OF JULY

Charlottesville, Virginia & Quincy, Massachusetts (JFK+50) One hundred ninety years ago today, July 4, 1826, on the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, two of the men most instrumental in its existence died just hours apart.

They were the second President of the United States, John Adams and the third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson 

Mr.Adams last words were "Thomas Jefferson still survives", but he did not know that his old friend and sometimes adversary had passed away a few hours before.

Franklin, Adams & Jefferson

Committee to Draft 

the Declaration of Independence