By William Holston
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-910270.mp3
Dallas, TX –
Many will mark the Fourth of July with a parade, fireworks - maybe some barbecue. There is cause to celebrate Sunday, but commentator William Holston was recently reminded of the real reason.
On a recent trip to Virginia, I toured the homes of Thomas Jefferson James Madison and James Monroe. At Monroe's home, I learned that Monroe, Jefferson and John Adams all died on the Fourth of July. How fitting. These men risked their lives to create a country with the freedoms that we celebrate on that day.
James Monroe was the last American President to actually fight in the revolutionary war. He took a British musket ball to his arm at the Battle of Trenton. He carried that bullet for the rest of his life, a testament of the sacrifices of blood that gave birth to our nation.
Thomas Jefferson at 33 penned the words that would be the highest achievement of his life, the Declaration of Independence. He wrote "(A)nd for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor," These words expressed the commitment of men, who risked everything for our republican form of government.
I was particularly moved at James Madison's home, Montpelier. I stood in his library, where this brilliant man poured over books, preparing to help write the United States Constitution. After the document was completed and approved, Madison knew more work needed to be done. He promised Jefferson that they would amend the Constitution to set out a specific guarantee of individual freedoms. Those first ten amendments to the Constitution created our Bill of Rights.
I'm afraid most of us take our rights for granted. We are far removed from the founding fathers, who had lived in a world without those rights. One of the advantages of my pro bono work with local non profit Human Rights Initiative is that I often hear what it is like to live in countries without a Bill of Rights. I've known men and women who were subjected to the most inhumane treatment imaginable because they bravely spoke up in opposition to their government. Others lost everything for writing as journalists. Soldiers barged into their homes unannounced. Many were imprisoned with no trial, no jury, and no lawyer. Recently a young woman I assisted to obtain asylum here brought her new baby to meet me. My client had been imprisoned for simply reading a Bible. She's able to attend church here, because the First Amendment provides: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." The drafters recalled the religious wars that tore Europe apart and had the wisdom to prohibit both government sponsorship and government persecution of religion. These refugees know first hand the price that must be paid for liberty. I once asked an Ethiopian pro democracy activist why he continued to protest, despite going to prison for his actions. He replied with tears in his eyes, because there is a cost for freedom.'
On that same trip, I looked at original manuscripts of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights at the National Archives. I reflected on the sacrifices of our founders which resulted in the rights described in those documents It takes sacrifice to continue to fight to defend those rights. Benjamin Franklin was asked what sort of government we had. He replied, "A Republic, if you can keep it."
William Holston is an attorney from Dallas.
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