This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. Friday Kick off the Winter Olympics in style with the opening ceremony from Italy, featuring a special performance by Mariah Carey. Celebrate the greatest athletes from around the globe as they come together to go for gold. Let's see our sensational!
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Complete disclosures available at public.com slash. Yeah, yeah. This Sunday, iHeartRadio brings you live to Levi Stadium in Santa Clara for the Super Bowl 60 Tailgate Concert. Presented by NetApp, it's the ultimate pregame party, featuring an exclusive performance from Teddy Swims. Set me free.
Your front row experience will be on iHeartRadio stations across the country and the free iHeartRadio app is Sunday at 3:30 Eastern, 12:30 Pacific. Then, after the concert, tune in to the Super Bowl 60 pregame show on NBC. This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people. Up next, another story from our series about us. The Story of America.
Here to tell it is Hillsdale College professor Bill McClay, author of the terrific book Land of Hope. If you know or have young people in your life, check out his remarkable Young Readers Edition 2. When we last left off war had broken out in the colonies, and independence was about to come. Let's get into the story. Take it away, Bill.
You got it? With the Columbia Government's blessing and urging. The Continental Congress introduced a motion or resolution directed towards independence. The resolution passes on July 2nd. which John Adams declared would be a name A day that would live in the world's memory.
Everything we do on the 4th of July, he thought would be on the 2nd of July. How did that happen?
Well, because the 4th of July was the day that the Declaration of Independence. Penned by Thomas Jefferson with the aid of Adams and Benjamin Franklin. What is promulgated? this document that It is really an explanation to the world. what we are doing and why we were doing it.
Uh The Declaration of Independence. was a document whose Momentous character. was clear to everyone at the time. The gentlemen who signed it, they say, we mutually pledge to each other our lives. our fortunes and our sacred honour.
Very powerful words. You can almost feel in them. Electricity in the room. as the document was being signed. First of all was John Hancock's old signature so the king could read it without his glasses.
They were defiant, but they were well aware of the fact that they were committing treason. This was not going to end well. For one party or another, they were on a collision course with Destiny now. They had to show great courage. They must have felt trepidation.
Maybe we can't really prevail in this. I think an objective observer. would have had to say that the chances were very poor.
So when they say we pledge to one another Our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour, They're really saying that they're willing to die together. this cause. It was a long time. Building towards this. People are surprised that you have Lexington and Concord, and yet the Declaration of Independence isn't, or over a year later, it took that long.
for the momentous decision that had to be made to crystallize.
So to the declaration. A masterpiece, a masterpiece of political writing, manifesto writing, even. It is regarded by most Americans as foundational. The first part of it, which is probably the most famous part, Is Jefferson's effort to justify why a separation of this kind. It's perfectly reasonable.
He says, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands that have connected them with another. It almost is being presented as a child grows up. A child grows up and at some point becomes necessary and good and healthy even. Work. the son to leave the father for the child to leave the home.
and make his or her own way in the world. and assume among the powers of the earth, now back to the nation, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature's God entitle them.
Well, there you have the introduction of God and nature. That's an important element here: that what we're doing is something that accords with both natural law and divine will. And that we're writing this because we want to explain ourselves. A decent respect for the opinions of mankind requires they should declare the causes which impel them. to the separation.
We're doing a press release here. was a press release to the world. And he gets to a part of the declaration that's often neglected, but the actual itemizing the grievances against the mother country. But before we get to that, Jefferson has a long paragraph which is famous. He says, We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, endowed by their Creator.
with certain unalienable rights. Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Just stop there for a second. He's saying that these rights exist independent of governments. They're given to us by God.
They're unalienable rights. That means they're not given to us. They can't be taken away legitimately. We can't even give them away. These rights are part of who and what we are from the very beginning.
That's a bold statement. We have these rights inherent in our being. And then, when a government becomes destructive of the protection of these rights, that's what governments are for. It's the right of the people to alter or abolish it and institute new government. This isn't just a matter of the son growing up and leaving the household.
An injustice. Has been perpetrated. A profound injustice. We have these rights. They're from the Creator, they're from nature.
They are our rights as Englishmen. Taxation without representation is inconsistent with the principles of English law. We don't do this lightly. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations pursuing this same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it's their duty to throw off such government. And that's our situation.
That concludes, and we go on to say we're in union between the crown. vertical connection between The colonies and the state of Great Britain. It's totally dissolved. and as free and independent states The former colonies have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, all such things which independent states do. It's a quite momentous document, and small wonder that the Declaration is famous and admired and revered all over the world.
It has transcended the context of its time. It's one of those. Handful of documents in human history. And you've been listening to Hillsdale College Professor Bill McClay.
So much more to come. Here. on our American stories. Folks, if you love the stories we tell about this great country and especially the stories of America's rich past, know that all of our stories about American history, from war to innovation, culture, and faith, are Are brought to us by the great folks at Hillsdale College. And if you can't get to Hillsdale, Hillsdale will come to you with their free and terrific online courses.
Go to hillsdale.edu to learn more.
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Celebrate the greatest athletes from around the globe as they come together to go for gold. Let's see all sensational! The opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics. to finding the sport at 8 Eastern 7 Central on NBC and Peacock. Are you looking for entertainment that lifts you up?
Then check out Up Faith and Family, the leading streaming service for inspiring hope-filled shows and movies. This season streams soul-stirring favorites like Southern Gospel, plus four full seasons of Jesus Calling, and the uplifting new faith series These Stones. Or settle in with 19 seasons of the beloved family series Heartland, a family favorite ranch drama fans can't get enough of. It's commercial-free, stream anywhere. To get a free trial today, go to upfaithandfamily.com slash iHeart.
Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public, you can build a multi-asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto, and now generated assets, which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high-free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one-of-a-kind index, and lets you backtest it against the SP 500.
Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com/slash podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com/slash podcast. Paid for by Public Investing.
Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc., member FINRA and SIPC. Advisory Services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC Registered Advisor. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com.
Yeah, yeah. And we return to our American stories and the story of us, that is the story of America, our series.
Well, it continues with Professor Bill McClay. When we last left off, America had declared her Let's return to the story here again. is Bill McClay. The Declaration couldn't do everything. It didn't establish a government.
It suggests, and I just read this: that the United Colonies are free and independent states. That's a plural. Does that mean that Massachusetts was going to be a country? Rhode Island was going to be a country? Or if they were going to be unified, how were they going to be unified?
The Declaration has nothing to say. By the way, I don't know whether you ever think about this, but that's a very funny name for a country. the United States of America. There is this notion that the Declaration itself kind of hints at that they're united, but they're also independent states in some way. And how do you get those two things?
both at the same time. This was something the Declaration didn't address, nor did it address Slavery. In one of Jefferson's drafts, It darkness. It blames the king, which was kind of ludicrous, and perhaps for that reason, among others, was deleted. But it's always been a bit of an embarrassment.
to have Thomas Jefferson declare in this document that all men are created equal. And not address himself to this institution that was already pretty firmly established.
So How do we read Jefferson's words now? Was he Pointing towards an ideal that he hoped would be realized. Or was he merely, as some people argue, thinking Americans are equal to Englishmen? And nothing more than that. I don't want to be the one to assert a definitive account of the interpretation of those words.
But I do want to quote from Larry Arne, the president of Hillsdale College. It begins so universally with the Declaration of the Rights that everyone hates.
So universal. And his claim is that in any time, people have certain rights that cannot be violated. And those rights are established in what he calls the laws of nature. and of nature's God. If saying that in your nature is written your rights.
that no one may govern you except by your effective consent. And you own the government piece of it. and that it may not do anything to you. Except what you agree that it may do. Here are some words of President Calvin Coolidge speaking in 1926 on the 150th anniversary.
There is something beyond the establishment of a new nation, great as that event would be in the Declaration of Independence. which has ever since caused it to be regarded. as one of the great charters. that not only was to liberate America. but everywhere to ennoble humanity.
It was not because it proposed to establish a new nation, but because it was proposed to establish a nation on new principles. burst upon the world. unannounced. They're 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: the doctrine that all men are created equal, that they're endowed with their certain unalienable rights. and that therefore the source of the just power of government must be derived from the consent of the governed. He says about the Declaration. There is a finality.
It is often asserted 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 we may therefore very well discard their conclusions for something more modern. But that reasoning cannot be applied to this great charter. If all men are created equal, That's fine.
If they're endowed with unalienable rights, That is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the government, that is fine. 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. Backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people.
Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient than those of the revolutionary. Magnificent. Um And then here's what President John Kennedy said about the Declaration on July 4th at Independence Hall. You and I are the executors of the Testament handed down by those who gathered in this historic hall 186 years ago. For they gathered to affix their names to a document, which was above all else a document not of rhetoric.
But of bold decision. It was, it is true, a document of protest. But protests had been made before. it set forth their grievances with eloquence. But such eloquence had been heard before.
What distinguished this paper from all others was a final irrevocable decision. that it took. to assert the independence of free states in place of colonies. Hermit? To that goal, their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.
Today, 186 years later, that declaration in whose yellowing parchment and fading, almost illegible lines, I saw in the past week in the National Archives in Washington. is still a revolutionary document. To read it today is to hear a trumpet call. Sure. Its authors were highly conscious of its worldwide implications.
And George Washington declared that liberty and self-government everywhere were, in his words, vitally staked. On the experiment. entrusted to the hands of the American people. The theory of independence is as old as man himself, and it was not invented in this hall, Independence Hall in Philadelphia. But it was in this hall that the theory became a practice.
that the word went out to all. that the God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time. But there's no better way to understand what the Declaration of Independence meant to the people of the time than an interview in 1843. Captain Levi Preston, who was 91 at the time, fought the British in Concord in 1775. Question Captain Preston.
Why did you go to the conquered fight the 19th of April 1775? The old man, bowed beneath the weight of years, raised himself upright, and turning towards me, the interviewer, saying, Why did I go? Yes. My histories tell me that you men of the Revolution took up arms against intolerable oppressions. Where are they?
Pressures? I didn't feel them. What? Were you not impressed by the Stamp Act? I never saw one of those stamps.
Oh, what about the t-text? Keep sex. I never drank a drop of that stuff. The boys threw it all overboard. And I suppose you've been reading Harrington or Sidney or Locke about the eternal principles of liberty.
I never heard of them. We read only the Bible, the Catechism, Watson, Psalms, and Hymns, and the Almanac.
Well then What was the matter? What did you mean in going to fight? Young man, what we meant going for those red coats was this. We always had governed ourselves. And we always meant to.
They didn't mean we should. It was a revolution, as I like to say, a revolution of self-rule. grounded in high principles. but appealing to the weight of experience. And a terrific job on the production, editing, and storytelling by Aaron Monty Montgomery himself, a Hillsdale College graduate.
And a special thanks to Bill McClay. He's a Hillsdale College professor. and his book.
Well, it's land of hope. It's terrific. Pick it up at Amazon or the usual suspects. My goodness, that last interview said it all. We were governing ourselves and we meant to continue to do so.
That's why the war was fought. And in the end, that's why the Declaration was signed. The story of us, the story of America. Here on Our American Stories. Are you looking for entertainment that lifts you up?
Then check out Upt Faith and Family, the leading streaming service for inspiring, hope-filled shows and movies. This season streams soul-stirring favorites like Southern Gospel, plus four full seasons of Jesus Calling, and the uplifting new faith series These Stones. Or settle in with 19 seasons of the beloved family series Heartland, a family favorite ranch drama fans can't get enough of. It's commercial free. Stream anywhere.
To get a free trial today, go to upfaithandfamily.com slash iHeart. This Sunday, iHeartRadio brings you live to Levi Stadium in Santa Clara for the Super Bowl 60 Tailgate Concert. Presented by NetApp, it's the ultimate pregame party, featuring an exclusive performance from Teddy Swims. 103. Your front row experience will be on iHeartRadio stations across the country.
And the free iHeartRadio app is Sunday at 3:30 Eastern, 12:30 Pacific. Then, after the concert, tune in to the Super Bowl 60 pregame show on NBC. This is Angela Yee from Way Up with Angela Yi. Y'all, Black Girl Vitamins is completely changing the wellness game for us. You know, our bodies don't move the same as we get older, and health becomes even more important.
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This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. Mm-hmm.
