The Declaration of Independence at 250
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Why was the Declaration of Independence read and released on July 2nd for the 250th anniversary?
250 years ago, leaders from 13 separate colonies gathered in Philadelphia and made a terrifying and bold decision. They announced their collective separation from the British Empire. They did so with a stated willingness to risk their lives, their fortunes, and their honor. They didn't agree on everything, not every delegate signed, and New York's delegates abstained out of a deference to the mix of feelings in the empire colony turning state. Nonetheless, they made a transcendent statement on unalienable rights and took this bold, unified step into the dark. In that spirit of unity, I collaborated with several of my history podcast colleagues to record a reading of the Declaration of Independence.
Whether you've read the entire text before or not, I encourage you to listen and absorb the power of its words and ideas right now. July 4th, of course, is the date that commemorates the adoption of the Declaration itself. But we are releasing this recording today, July 2nd, the date John Adams would regard as America's Independence Day, because it was, in fact, the date of the Continental Congress's actual vote for independence. If you'd like to go deeper over the holiday weekend, I invite you to watch my PBS special, The Unlikely Union, a storytelling symphony of America, which covers the first century of our nation's founding. It's recorded with the full orchestra of my touring live show.
Who participated in this collaborative reading of the Declaration and what are their podcast affiliations?
You can stream it for free throughout the rest of the summer on the PBS app or at pbs.org. Simply search for the title, The Unlikely Union, and click the link in the episode description or visit our website at htdspodcast.com.
What is the opening language and purpose of the Declaration as read in the episode?
And now, I'm pleased to share the Declaration of Independence as read by familiar voices, including Lindsay Cormack, my co-host on the new show Government That Doesn't Suck, Ben Sawyer and Bob Crawford of the Road to Now podcast, Colleen Shogan of In Pursuit podcast, and my dear friend Lindsay, not the Senator Graham, host of History Daily, American Storytellers, and American Scandal.
In Congress, July 4, 1776. The unanimous declaration of the 13 United States of America.
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
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 affect their safety and happiness.
Prudence indeed will dictate the governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes. And accordingly, all experience has shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the form to which they are accustomed.
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty to throw off such government and to provide new guards for their future security.
Which core principles and famous lines ('unalienable rights') are highlighted in the Declaration reading?
Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present king of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
Why was the Declaration of Independence read and released on July 2nd for the 250th anniversary?
0:02–1:29
2
Who participated in this collaborative reading of the Declaration and what are their podcast affiliations?
1:29–1:42
3
What is the opening language and purpose of the Declaration as read in the episode?
1:42–3:59
4
Which core principles and famous lines ('unalienable rights') are highlighted in the Declaration reading?
3:59–6:39
5
What specific grievances against the King are enumerated in the Declaration reading?
6:39–9:07
6
How does the Declaration conclude about independence, powers of the new states, and the pledge of 'lives, fortunes, and sacred honor'?
9:07–10:20
7
What closing remarks, acknowledgements, and patron credits finish the episode?
10:20–13:41
Speakers
6 identifiedMore from History That Doesn't Suck
15 (Second Edition): “We the People:” Constitution Making in Philly
211: Pacific Theater Epilogue with Capt. Mac Caldwell
210: The Pacific War 1944: From the Cairo Conference to the Marianas Turkey Shoot
209: The Pacific War 1943: Operation Cartwheel, Tarawa, & Eleanor Roosevelt's Pacific Tour
208: The Pacific War, 1942–43: Guadalcanal, the Aleutians, and Operation Vengeance
Introducing: Government That Doesn't Suck! with Professors Greg Jackson and Lindsey Cormack