Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1910-07-04
PHOENIX. ARIZONA, JULY 4, 1910
A Day of Significance.

BY all thoughtful Americans every
where the Fourth of July is held in
solemn honor 1t is the anniversary
of that day, 134 years ago, when the
immortal Declaration was made the
creed of the first modern republic.
The day is still further hallowed by
the fact that on the Fourth of Jaly.
1926, just fifty years after the sign
ing of the Declaration, its two sur
viving signers-one of them the author
of the inspired document, and the
other its most powerful advocate on
the floor of the continental congress
Thomas jefferson and John Adams.
passed from earth. And for the
thoughtful citizen OF Arizona this
Fourth of July is not only a hallowed
day, but is notable as the last indie
pendence Day that, in all probability,
will be celebrated in the territory of
Arizona-next year it will be celebrat-
ed for the first time in the State
of Arizona
This day is therefore most particu
larly an opportune occasion for the
orators of our several celebrations to
impress upon their hearers that, for
the people of Arizona, the Declare
ton of independence should have, Just
now, an especial significance. The
average youngster, if questioned as
to why he noisily celebrates the day,
would answer: I'm celebrating our
freedom from England" and the av
erage man of mature years would not
succeed much better, we fear. But,
in fact, our throwing off of King
Georges yoke was nothing like so i'm
portant as the declaration of princi-
pies which Thomas jefferson gave
to the world on that day. Without
the declaration, the secession of the
colonies would have presented nothing
novel History was full of instances
of the secession of dissatisfied units
from the parent nations-the disinte-
grafton of empires was. indeed, the
most familiar feature of the worlds
history. But jefferson brought to
mankind a new message-the most
extraordinary message since the Ser
mon on the Mount. How trite it all
seems now; but in 1875 it was rev.
elation to humanity.
We hold these truths to be self-evi
dent: That all men are created equal.
that they are endowed by their crea-
tor with certain unalienable rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty
and the pursuit of Happiness That
TO secure these rights governments
are instituted among men, deriving
their just powers from the consent
of the governed. That whenever any
form of government becomes destruc-
tive of these ends, il is the right of
the people to alter or abolish it, and
to institute a new government, laying
its foundations on such principles and
organizing its powers in such form.
as to them shall seem most likely to
effect their safety and happiness.
And in his sublime Gettysburg
address, Abraham Lincoln expressed
in a matchless sentence the meaning
of the Declaration:
Fourscore and seven years ago our
fathers brought forth on this CONT
nent a new nation, conceived in liberty
and dedicated to the proposition that
all men are created equal.
Its meaning was made effective in
the federal constitution. and the pur-
pose to make it effective was con-
cisely stated in the constitutions
preamble:
We, the people of the United States,
in order to form more perfect Union.
establish Justice. insure domestic
Tranquility, provide for the common
defense. promote the general welfare
and secure the Blessings of Liberty
to ourselves and our Posterity. do or
dain and establish this Constitution
for the United States of America.
Now, 134 years after the Declare
ton of Independence. the people of
Arizona and of New Mexico, living in
a land which in 1776 was unknown,
are called upon to complete the work
that was begun by the fathers. To US
falls the task of forming two new re-
publics within and subordinate to the
great republic. This is a good day
for thought as to how we shall build.
"A decent respect to the opinions OF
mankind"-to use the words of Thomas
Jefferson-would require that we take
care as to the manner of our build