Sarah, my firstborn child, started a blog when she went to Greece recently to serve with missionaries from our church who work with refugees (primarily from Central Asia). Today she has posted a letter from John Adams to his wife, Abigail, written after the vote to declare independence from England, July 2, 1776.
Though he missed the day of celebration by 2 days, his sentiments about the significance of that action were prescient. The day, he said, “ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”
Read the rest of his comments as well as Sarah’s thoughts here.