A Novel Ideal

One hundred and sixty-nine years prior to 1776, the foundation of the American Republic was laid out as a novel ideal, one the world had never witnessed and would eventually envy. For the first time, a partnership between the dead, the living, and the unborn, was created with the understanding that morality and virtue would be paramount above all else. A revolutionary group known as The Founders, diverse in their professions and yet unified in their goal, pursued the creation of American liberty. No longer would Rights be given to The People by the government, the government would be given limited powers by The People.

“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. — 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 destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

When Thomas Jefferson penned those timeless, eloquent words of freedom in the Declaration of Independence, it sent political shock waves around the world that continue to reverberate in the minds of revolutionaries everywhere.