Editorial: July Fourth symbolic of our common cause

Wednesday, July 3, 2002 | 9:01 a.m.

It was a different world when Thomas Jefferson repaired to the home of Jacob Graff outside of Philadelphia on June 11, 1776, to begin writing the Declaration of Independence. Or was it? His assignment from a committee of the Second Continental Congress wasn't to lose himself for three weeks and emerge with a whole new governing philosophy. The ideas Jefferson expressed in the Declaration were drawn from the writings of philosophers, from the resolutions and oratory of other Founding Fathers, from newspaper editorials and from the lament of the citizenry. It was Jefferson's job, as a leader, to coalesce those ideas into a few well-chosen words that could circulate throughout the 13 colonies and unify Americans around a common cause.

That Jefferson succeeded spectacularly is a matter of history. With a few revisions, the Second Continental Congress approved his Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. It is written that news of the event was followed by church bells ringing throughout Philadelphia.

On Thursday, we will celebrate the 226th anniversary of that momentous day in our country's history. The landscape and technology has changed greatly, but we still have our unifying common cause -- freedom -- and we still have events that bring us together. We mourn Sept. 11 and support our nation's response while drawing inspiration from rescuers and our servicemen and servicewomen. We do these things as a nation. We're free to criticize our government, but we also remember Jefferson's words, that to secure our rights "governments are instituted among men..." This July Fourth, let's hear more than firecrackers and the sizzle of barbecues. Let's hear those church bells again.