To the editor:

“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 and our sacred Honor.”

So reads the last sentence in the Declaration of Independence.

Two hundred and forty-nine years have elapsed since that amazing document was penned, so how have we fared as a Republic? What problems from 1776, are still with us, or have come full circle? How do we better appreciate what dangers, including death, those fifty-six men possibly faced by affixing their signature to that piece of paper? Is it possible, in the midst of prolonged prosperity, to remember the sacrifices that they made, with the object in mind, that they could be free from King George? The concerns and concepts in that document still apply in the 21st century, since human nature never changes.

Thomas Jefferson, in 1798, from the Kentucky Resolutions, wrote, “It would be a dangerous delusion were a confidence in the men of our choice to silence our fears for the safety of our rights; that confidence is every where the parent of despotism; free government is founded in jealousy, and not in confidence; . . . ”

You can read the Declaration of Independence at https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs. Also consider reading the U. S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, which can be found at the same site.

Leo R. Lindquist

Balaton