A Nation's True Happiness

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen 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, & to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate & equal station to which the Laws of Nature & 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 & 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, & to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles & organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety & Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light & transient causes; & accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses & 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, & to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; & 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 & usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.....

.....27 specific grievances listed.....

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration & settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice & magnanimity, & we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections & correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice & of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, & hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, & by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish & declare, That these United Colonies are, & of Right ought to be Free & Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, & that all political connection between them & the State of Great Britain, is & ought to be totally dissolved; & that as Free & Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, & to do all other Acts & Things which Independent States may of right do. And 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 & our sacred Honor.

A NATION’S TRUE HAPPINESS—Psalm 33:10-22

Attention:

Declaration of Independence

Need:

Without seeking God as a nation, there will always be a distance & dissidence among its constituency & its governance.

The psalmist encouraged his readers toward a focused attention upon the inherent happiness found in their having been chosen of God.

Any nation whose God is YaHWeH is happy/blessed because of that relationship.

When is national happiness experienced?

1—National Happiness will result when we seek...

God’s COUNSEL(:10-11)

Explanation:(:10-11) Prudence/Recommendation

:10—“The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect.

YaHWeH—the covenant God of Israel, the One who is self-existent & the Creator of time, matter & purpose, & the One who has revealed Himself to Israel(& thus to the world)—crushes even the best laid & funded “counsel” of any nation &/or all nations of mankind. Though man’s devices for attaining various lifestyles may be trusted by the one’s who produce them, they are utterly frustrated by the God of Scripture.