Tomorrow we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
But here’s the funny part. July 4th is not the whole story. Congress voted for independence on July 2nd, 1776. The Declaration got its first public reading on July 8th. And most of the signatures happened on August 2nd, almost a month later.
So why July 4th?
Turns out, Congress signed off on the final wording on that day. And it stuck once that date got locked onto the page.
We’ve celebrated on that date ever since. The first anniversary was in 1777. Philadelphia threw a party. There were bonfires. Bells rang. Reading the Declaration of Independence out loud on July 4th became a ritual.
Here’s something to think about as we get ready to read these words again.
There’s one sentence in the Declaration that almost everyone knows by heart. Historian Walter Isaacson wrote an entire book about it. He calls it the greatest sentence ever written. Here it is:
“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.”
Which of the 35 famous words matter most?
Most people say it’s the obvious part. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” It’s the line Lincoln basically built the Gettysburg Address around.
But get this. That line almost didn’t say that.
Jefferson’s first draft stated that these truths were “sacred and undeniable.” Most historians believe Benjamin Franklin crossed it out. He wrote “self-evident” instead. Jefferson was leaning on faith. Franklin leaned on reason. It’s amazing what one little edit can do.
There’s a deeper part of that same sentence worth a second look.
English philosopher John Locke once wrote that people had a right to life, liberty, and property. Jefferson borrowed that idea. However, he replaced ‘property’ with ‘the pursuit of happiness.’ These might be the quietest, most radical four words Jefferson ever wrote.
One sentence. Two ideas big enough to start a nation.
But wait. There’s a second sentence worth knowing. Legal historian Peter Berkowitz points to this line: “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
It’s not the flashiest line in the document. But it’s the one that turns a complaint into an actual argument. It’s the line that justifies the whole revolution and breaking away from a king.
Two hundred fifty years later, these words still hold. They’re the words we Americans measure ourselves against through wars, through change, through every argument about what they really mean.
As first read in 1776, the same words still ring true.
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.
Happy Independence Day everyone.
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This Page Two article was reported by Emily Forstner and produced by yours truly, Lee Henrikson. If you have an idea for a Page 2 topic, please email us at page2@radiofreepalmer.org.
That’s it for today and the news on Page Two on Friday, July 3, 2026.