Time Experience Thoughts

About eight years prior to the start of the Civil War (and about eight years after Joseph Smith ran for President of the United States with an anti-slavery plank included in his platform), Frederick Douglass, gave an important, prescient, insightful and – in the face of the horrors of slavery – hope-filled Fourth of July speech in Rochester, NY. Please see below excerpts from the speech having to do with the meaning of the Founders and the Fourth of July, and the fact that the principles in the Founding Documents were antithetical to slavery. Enjoy your Fourth of July celebration.  [Emphasis and subheadings added my me.] HOPE AND CONSOLATION THAT AMERICA IS YOUNG [This] is the 4th of July. It is the birthday of your National Independence, and of your political freedom. . . . I am glad, fellow-citizens, that your nation is so young . Seventy-six years, though a good old age for a man, is but a mere speck in the life of a nation. . . . According to this fact, you are, even no...

Ryan chose the following images to draw on this Sunday afternoon. First, he drew a picture of the actual sword that George Washington used in the Revolutionary War. We visited Mt. Vernon again a few days ago, and Ryan saw the sword in a glass case. His picture below shows the sword resting in the display case. The second picture is of the Declaration of Independence. The initial R and D stand for Ryan and Declaration. He chose all by himself, the yellow background to look like the actual paper, and he chose the caligraphy pen to represent the words of the Declaration. The third picture is of a Revolutionary War pistol. The fourth picture he called Heart Lightsaber and sent to his Dad for Father's Day.