This Saturday, July 4th, citizens of the United States celebrate the nation's 239th birthday, the anniversary of the day our country's leaders adopted the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and established the birth of our great nation.
While July 4th has been a federal holiday in the United States since 1941, the tradition of Independence Day celebrations goes back to the 18th century and the American Revolution (1775-83). According to the History Channel, in June 1776, representatives of the 13 colonies then fighting in the Revolutionary War weighed a resolution that would declare their independence from Great Britain.
On July 2, 1776, Congress voted to approve a complete separation from England. Two days later, the early draft of the Declaration of Independence, penned by Thomas Jefferson, was signed. Four days later, members of Congress, many of whom were trained as ministers, took the document and read it out loud from the steps of Independence Hall, proclaiming it to the city of Philadelphia, and afterwards they rang the Liberty Bell. The inscription on the top of the bell is Leviticus 25:10, which reads, "Proclaim liberty throughout the land and to all the inhabitants thereof."
CBN notes that one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, John Adams, felt the Fourth of July should be a religious holiday, celebrated in a manner that would commemorate the day as a "day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty."
"The general principles on which the Fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity," he famously wrote in a letter to his wife, Abigail, the day after Congress approved the Declaration.
From 1776 until the present day, July 4th has been celebrated as the birth of American independence, commemorated across the nation with parades, outdoor barbecues, concerts, and firework displays.
In honor of this special day, The Gospel Herald has compiled the top inspirational quotes and songs for you to enjoy as you take a moment to thank God for the freedoms U.S. citizens enjoy today, and for the many blessings He has bestowed on our great nation.
Independence Day Quotes
"Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual. ... Continue steadfast and, with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us."
-John Hancock, 1st Signer of the Declaration of Independence
"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here."
-Patrick Henry, Ratifier of the U.S. Constitution
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it."
-Mark Twain, American author
"A man's country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle and patriotism is loyalty to that principle."
-George William Curtis, American author
"Happily for America, happily, we trust, for the whole human race, they pursued a new and more noble course. They accomplished a revolution which has no parallel in the annals of human society."
- James Madison, author of the United States Bill of Rights
"This, then, is the state of the union: free and restless, growing and full of hope. So it was in the beginning. So it shall always be, while God is willing, and we are strong enough to keep the faith."
-Lyndon B. Johnson, U.S. President
"Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day."
- Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of the Independence
"This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or exercise their revolutionary right to overthrow it."
- Abraham Lincoln, U.S. President
"Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth."
- George Washington, U.S. President
"Freedom is the open window through which pours the sunlight of the human spirit and human dignity."
- Herbert Hoover, U.S. President
Independence Day Songs
The Battle Hymn of the Republic
"Mine eyes have seen the glory
Of the coming of the Lord
He is trampling out the vintage
Where the grapes of wrath are stored
He has loosed the fateful lightening
Of His terrible swift sword
His truth is marching on
(Chorus)
Glory, glory, hallelujah
Glory, glory, hallelujah
Glory, glory, hallelujah
Our God is marching on"
America the Beautiful
"O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!"
The Star Spangled Banner
"Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?"
My Country, 'Tis of Thee
"My country, 'tis of Thee,
Sweet Land of Liberty
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims' pride,
From every mountain side
Let Freedom ring."
God Bless America
"God bless America,
Land that I love,
Stand beside her and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above;
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans white with foam,
God bless America,
My home, sweet home.
God bless America,
My home, sweet home."
