Happy Fourth of July!

I thought it best to let the immortal words of those who have come before me (and I humbly bow to them and their great wisdom) to say the things I would say. Enjoy!

Gentlemen may cry, peace, peace-but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death! - Patrick Henry

My God! How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy! - Thomas Jefferson

Then join hand in hand, brave Americans all! By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall. - John Dickinson

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. - Abraham Lincoln, the Gettysburg Address, 1863

America is much more than a geographical fact. It is a political and moral fact - the first community in which men set out in principle to institutionalize freedom, responsible government, and human equality. - Adlai Stevenson

For what avail the plough or sail, or land or life, if freedom fail? - Ralph Waldo Emerson