The recent HBO miniseries on John Adams reminded viewers of the incredible sacrifices that the Founding Fathers -- and Mothers -- went through to get this country started. John and Abigail Adams endured years of separation, long periods of economic and political uncertainty and family hardships that tested their commitment to the American cause.

That cause and the ideals of the American Revolution can get lost in all the bunting and fireworks that we associate with the 4th of July. The phrases most people know by heart from the Declaration of Independence are the stirring pronouncements that "all men are created equal" and that we have a right to "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Yet the Declaration is more than even those profound words. It is a full fledged bill of indictment against a callous government that didn't want to listen to the concerns of its citizens.

Thomas Jefferson's Declaration lays out a complete case for why the American colonies had to separate from an unfeeling government that was no longer concerned with the rule of law or the rights of a whole citizenry under that law. King George III, through his Ministers had broken faith with his American subjects. Jefferson laid out a whole series of actions he felt demanded a break for America from political union with Great Britain. Among these affronts to freedom were:

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 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 affected to render the military independent of and superior to civil power.

These are just a few of the charges that Jefferson included in his argument for American Independence. Great Britain had lost the moral and ethical right to any claim of governance over America and the free people of the colonies because of these abuses of power. Governments exist to secure the rights of the people, Jefferson wrote, and when basic rights are ignored and purposefully disregarded, then a change in governments is mandated. As the Declaration states in the preamble:

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 to 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.

These are the founding sentiments of the American experiment in democracy. This is the document that John Hancock signed that long ago hot July day in Philadelphia with an extra large signature so that, in his words, "fat George can read it without his spectacles." (Okay some things, like Massachusetts wit and bluntness never change.)

John Adams, the "Colossus of Independence" knew the significance of these actions. America was a small nation of under 3 million people. Great Britain was the most powerful nation on earth at that time and it was by no means certain that the colonies would prevail in their fight. Adams himself, along with all his co-signers of this impertinent document, could have been signing their own death warrants. They risked hanging for the offense of treason if the War for Independence had gone the other way. Yet Adams called for celebrations of what had happened in July in Philadelphia when he wrote to his wife Abigail about the adoption of Independence:

The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America.

I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.

You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. -- I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. -- Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.

--  Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams, 3 July 1776, "Had a Declaration..." [electronic edition]. Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive. Massachusetts Historical Society. http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/

Happy 4th of July. This is indeed a glorious celebration of "We the People" and the reverence we hold for the rule of law. This last paragraph of the Declaration is what Mr. Adams found so transporting and transformative. I think most Americans would agree with him; this is what we are about as a people.

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 the 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.