For this Independence Day message, my eighteenth consecutive one, I want to return to Calvin Coolidge. Admittedly, President Coolidge, our thirtieth president, was not known as a Lincolnesque orator. Far from it. Indeed, the underappreciated Coolidge acquired the nickname "Silent Cal." Upon learning of his death, the writer and poet, Dorothy Parker, a founding member of the famed Algonquin Round Table, remarked wittingly, if not somewhat cruelly, "How can they tell?”
No matter the “Silent Cal” witticisms. To mark the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, President Coolidge delivered an address in Philadelphia on July 5, 1926. It would have done the Founders proud. And so too Lincoln, who drew so much of his foundational thinking about equality and liberty from the Declaration.
Titled "The Inspiration of the Declaration of Independence," Coolidge’s speech deserves to be more widely read. This is true any day of any year. But it is especially true in today’s America, when our divisions run deep, and when too many appear not to understand or appreciate, or worse yet, disdain, the principles articulated in the Declaration and what they should still mean today – “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.”
That America has not always remained true to those principles does not mean that they are any less, as the Declaration puts it, self-evident “Truths.”
While I commend Coolidge's address to you in its entirety, here are some excerpts especially worth considering this Independence Day:
"It is not so much, then, for the purpose of undertaking to proclaim new theories and principles that this annual celebration is maintained, but rather to reaffirm and reestablish those old theories and principles which time and the unerring logic of events have demonstrated to be sound. Amid all the clash of conflicting interests, amid all the welter of partisan politics, every American can turn for solace and consolation to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States with the assurance and confidence that those two great charters of freedom and justice remain firm and unshaken. Whatever perils appear, whatever dangers threaten, the Nation remains secure in the knowledge that the ultimate application of the law of the land will provide an adequate defense and protection."
"It was not because it was proposed to establish a new nation, but because it was proposed to establish a nation on new principles, that July 4, 1776, has come to be regarded as one of the greatest days in history. Great ideas do not burst upon the world unannounced. They are reached by a gradual development over a length of time usually proportionate to their importance. This is especially true of the principles laid down in the Declaration of Independence. Three very definite propositions were set out in its preamble regarding the nature of mankind and therefore of government. These were the doctrine that all men are created equal, that they are endowed with certain inalienable rights, and that therefore the source of the just powers of government must be derived from the consent of the governed.
"It is often asserted that the world has made a great deal of progress since 1776, that we have had new thoughts and new experiences which have given us a great advance over the people of that day, and that we may therefore very well discard their conclusions for something more modern. But that reasoning can not be applied to this great charter. If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people."
President Coolidge’s words are worthy of deep consideration this Independence Day – and, for that matter, every day.
Best wishes to you and your family for a safe and meaningful Independence Day 2024!
Randy
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