This is Governor Janet Mills, and thank you for listening and Happy Holidays to all.
The Declaration of Independence, President John F. Kennedy once reflected, was, "Above all else, a document not of rhetoric, but of bold decision." An "irrevocable" decision, he said, that every signer made to "assert the independence of free states in place of colonies, and to commit to that goal, their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor."
President Kennedy delivered those remarks from the steps of Independence Hall in Philadelphia on July 4th, 1962, to a gathering of the nation's governors, echoing the trumpet call for freedom, which had reverberated from that hall throughout American history.
The men who declared our self-governance by signing the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia nearly 250 years ago were not infallible. As Benjamin Franklin later remarked with his typical frankness at the close of the Constitutional Convention in In 1787, "When you assemble a number of men to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their self-views. From such an assembly, can a perfect production be expected?" he asked.
But he was astonished to find, as he put it, "this system approaching so near to perfection as it does."
Well, our democracy, designed to balance the power of a mighty government with the rights of individuals and the people, has never been, and will never be perfect. But since the Declaration of Independence was passed down to us on July 4th, 1776, generations of Americans have committed "their lives, their fortunes, their sacred honor," so that our country may live up to its ideals. The unshakable belief that such a country is possible to create for ourselves sets America apart.
That hope, that "sweetest bird" that "never stops at all," as the poet Emily Dickinson called it, can be hard to hear over the gale of national events these days. Democracy is not always easy to fight for, and it's not always easy to see the end of that fight, but our democracy is not lost to us. Let us remember on this holiday, let us remember those diverse assemblies of men and women who voted, and organized, and marched to make real the dream of a country where peaceful dissent is patriotic, and where expressing love for our nation means always striving to make it better.
Let us remember the dream of a country where people from Machias, Maine, to Detroit, Michigan to Memphis, Tennessee have the same chance to build a life for their children that is better than the life they had for themselves. The dream of a country that believes who you are in your heart and soul matters much more than where you came from.
When President Kennedy stood on the steps of Independence Hall, he noted that then-President-elect Lincoln had spoken from the same "birthplace of America" 101 years before. And when Lincoln said, "I've often inquired of myself what great principle or idea it was that kept this Confederacy so long together. It was not the mere matter of the separation of the colonies from the motherland," he said, "but that sentiment in the Declaration of Independence, which gave liberty, not alone to the people of this country, but I hope," Lincoln said, "to the world for all future time. It was that which gave promise that in due time the weight would be lifted from the shoulders of all men."
This July Fourth, as we reflect on the birth of our nation, we remember the spirit that keeps us together, the sentiment sustained by the hope that we can create a better future. And we recommit to protecting the freedom of all who call America home.
So I wish you and your loved ones, your friends and neighbors and family, a safe and Happy Fourth of July.
This is Governor Janet Mills, and thank you for listening.