Independence Day - A Day To Celebrate
Jun 17, 2026
July 3rd Should Be The Day!
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BY JOHN GALER
Publisher, The Journal-News of Hillsboro, Illinois
It is a custom to celebrate Independence Day on July 4th with cookouts, family get togethers, boating and fireworks. The national holiday holds such great significance because of what it represents: the hard work, dedication and sacrifice it took gain our freedom in the United States from a tyrannical king, King George III of Britain.
But we need to understand that there were great contradictions in the establishment of our American democracy and Jefferson’s words that “All men are created equal” had a different presence in 1776 than it does today. Jefferson, a Virginian, owned slaves; they weren’t included as equals in his words in the writing of the Declaration. There were other contradictions too, and because of them I feel we should be celebrating our independence day on July 3rd.
On that day July 3rd, 1863, the promises of our declaration started to become possible. Pickett’s charge failed at three in the afternoon that day at Gettysburg, and at that moment a change would start in America, leading to black voting rights, women’s voting rights, Native American voters and a new inclusion into our understanding of what individual rights entail and the work it takes to insure that they last.
The Continental Congress approved the Declaration on July 2nd, 1776, and it went to the printers on July 4th, which has been the traditional day of celebration. Honestly, though one has to look at July 3rd in 1863 as the point when the promises of the Declaration that all men possess unalienable rights including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, started to become a possibility in this country.
We need to look back through our history to understand how the promises took shape and became realities.
