Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956, 1883-07-05
The Great Gala Day Of America.

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A BRIEF REVIEW OF THE HISTORY
+ OFAMERICAN INDEPENDENCE.A z
Speech Of George Robertson, Esq. at
Rines' Grove, July 4th. ts'''i
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN AND FEL-
Low-CTIzENs: One hundred and sew
en- years ago to-day, the instruments
which has just been so eloquentlyi
read in your presence, was adopted
by convocation Of patriotic states
men, representing the original thir-.
teen colonies of the great nation,
since occupying place in the rank
| of nations as the United States OF
America. Whatever may be said
OF the history Of these people al,
colonies, and as subordinate gov,
ernments, dependencies upon 81 the
mother country, the history as7of
America began with the unanimous
vote of these thirteen colonies which
gave this declaration Of rights, and
Indictment of wrongs against King
George, page On the history of the
world i.s~4a.ap -sI y 15a4 --iynea
All peoples and nations of every
age and cline have had their days Of
displays and demonstrations, to. keep
green in their memories some fact
which they regarded worthy of COM
memoration. The ancient Jews had
their Passover, which brought to them
remembrance of their deliverance
from Egyptian bondage. Greece
had her gymnasium and Olympic
games. Rome her saturnaliaz and
gladitorial shows. In Spain, to this
day, they have the bull fight and
their carnivals. But, with US the
H q
great gala day in country. village
and town-the day when all business
is suspended, and all the people turn
out to catch and enjoy the prevailing
spirit of the occasion, is the birthday
of American liberty and independ-.
ence. On this day we see persons of
all conditions and ranks in life, of all
classes and pursuits-the statesman, J.
the divine, the lawyer, the physician,
the merchant, the mechanic, the
farmer, the high and the low, the
learned and the unlearned,a the old
and the young, father, mother,
daughter, son, the soldier-whether
he fought under the bars or stars
all congregate together, and filled
with one common object-to glorify
the fact that we are all American cit
! izens. On this great natal day, to
the American citizen the sun beams
with brighter radiance, the birds.
on the branches of the trees sing q
far sweeter carol, and every surround
ling thing, animate or inanimate
seemingly sends forth its exultations
to mingle with the gladness of the
occasion; and, this is true of him,
l care not whether his eye first saw
light in the land of Washington or
Dante, whether he hailed from the
frozen zones of Scandinavia, or from
the shores of oppressed and weeping
Ireland. ......- .f..EGs
When the Declaration of Independ-
ence was passed, ,absolving the politi-
cal bands which connected the thir-
teen colonies with Great Britain and
declaring that these. colonies were
and of right ought to be free and in
dependent states, John Adams arose
in that august body Of assembled
wisdom and patriotism and thus spoke
of the Importance Of this day to them
and their succeeding generations: q
''This day will be the most memo
rable epoch in the history of Amer
lca--to be celebrated by succeeding
generations as the great anniversary
festival, commemorated as the day of
deliverance by solemn acts of venera-
ton to Almighty God, from one end
of the continent to the other, from
this time forward ferevermore. if2'
Why should he not have predicted
that this day Of all other days would
be held in commemoration by future
ages, and SO long as men enjoy free
dom, love liberty and reverence law.
No magma charter, no declaration Of
rights had ever until this immortal
instruments penned by the hand Of the
great Jefferson enuneiated as q politi-
cal tr,lism that all mem tare created
equal, endowed by their Creator by
certain 0unalienable rights. Among
these rights are life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness, and that gov
lernments derive their, just powers
from the consent of the governed.
These self-evldent truths, though
brought forth into the world for the
first time, were to serve as the foun-
1dation rocks for a new political fab
ric, born with the severence of the
tie with England. For the support
Of this new political doctrine and this
new government, the members Of that
congress pledged not merely in words,
tbut in fact, their fortunes, their lives,
and their sacred honor. The colonies
were weak. They extended over
simply a strip of the Atlantic coast,
! from the st. Lawrence to- little be.
yond the Savannah. The population
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