IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

    He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
    He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their     operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
    He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people        
        would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to
        tyrants only.
    He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of
        their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
    He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the
        rights of the people.
    He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative
        powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining
        in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
    He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for        
        Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the
        conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
    He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary
        powers.
    He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of
        their salaries.
    He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat
        out their substance.
    He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
    He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
    He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by
        our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
    For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
    For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the
        Inhabitants of these States:
    For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
    For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
    For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
    For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
    For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary
        government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for
        introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
    For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our
        Governments:
    For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all
        cases whatsoever.
    He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
    He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
    He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation
        and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous
        ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
     He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to
        become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
    He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our
        frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all
        ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. 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.

These are some of the Buddhas that are displayed in the Museum of World Treasures in Wichita, Kansas.  Some of these are life-sized.

There are many more pictures from my June trip to Wichita, Kansas, but for now, I'll just put three of them here. The last in the row is a shot of the section that is on display at the Museum of World Treasures.  The picture on the left is of some 1918 sheet music for the song K-K-K-Katy.  Since my mom's name is Katy and her birthday was the next day, I made a point to video the recording of the song that was being played in this location and send it to her.

There are so many developments in that time, that it will be a whirlwind of history in one fast-paced, 40-minute presentation.  My challenge is to present the information in such a way as to maintain the attention of attendees. The church, of course, invites everyone to attend, but I extend an inviting hand to my session in particular on July 23rd.  You'll probably learn something you didn't know before, and some of your curiosities might be satisfied.

The dinosaur skeletons reconstructed for Wichita's Museum of World Treasures are interesting, but the fish skeleton's are more so - at least for me.  These aren't skeletons from the current oceans; they were located in the American prairies!  There is, of course, a religious explanation for giant fish being discovered in the middle of the continent, and that explanation should be considered by anyone visiting these displays.

During the upcoming national celebration, we fire up the grill, we light the fuses on fireworks, and we display the American flag.  It has been almost 250 years since the Declaration of Independence.  It wasn’t an easy road to reclaim the Creator-endowed freedoms of ”life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” and it hasn’t been a simple, straight path to get from then to now.  Some, unfortunately, took longer paths to gain their “unalienable rights”.
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In the Preamble to the Constitution, mention is made of the desire to “form a more perfect union”.  The lawmakers of the 18th Century must have recognized that what they had was not perfect yet, nor would it ever be - but they knew that, with dedication and courage, we could continually work towards perfection, that we could always make things better for the citizens of our nation.

In Matthew 5:48, our Savior spoke a line in His sermon that resonates with us today:  He preached, “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  You and I know that perfection is impossible when we consider our pasts:  we have already failed and could never reach perfection.  However, we can always strive for that goal starting now and moving forward.

We are especially thankful for the freedoms we enjoy in this nation.  Politically, religiously, and personally, we may not always agree, and we will make mistakes, but may we always look forward to a day when the Savior returns and carries the faithful to real perfection in the presence of the Father in eternal peace.

Now you're talking!  Finally, here are some authentic documents.  The Museum of World Treasures in Wichita, Kansas, has a pretty good collection of real paper documents, but they do not display them for fear of the lights degrading them.  However, for three months at a time, some primary documents are put onto display under low, LED lighting.

These two papers are from Queen Elizabeth I and King Phillip II, and were a thrill to see.

The Bible pictured (second from the right) is from AD 1484.  Written in Latin and being from Spain, this is an example of one of the first produced on a printing press.

There are other animals - monkeys, lions, and the like - but I don't like to take pictures of animals in a zoo when manmade items are in the frame.  With these four shots, I tried to minimize the distraction.  The ring-tailed lemur in that third picture has a bit of an attitude.  What do you think it is thinking?

Korea.  Viet Nam.  World War I.  World War II.

There were many relics from wars that involved the U.S. in the Museum of World Treasures in Wichita, Kansas. Some are chilling to see.

Weaponry.  Uniforms.  Flags.  All kinds of military paraphernalia.