In Honor and Observance of the Semiquincentennial

Tomorrow is Independence Day here in the United States. It's a day when we celebrate the Declaration of Independence and the formation of our nation. Where we, as a people, assumed our sovereign political destiny from the tyrant King George III, and his sycophants, and forged our future in search of a more perfect union. It was on July 4th, 1776 that Congress issued what's now commonly known as The Declaration of Independence. A poetic, fiery assertion of that self-same destiny. Many people know the highlights; "we hold these truths to be self-evident" is a common refrain quoted by most Americans.But I thought it might be informative, on the eve of our semiquincentennial, to take a look at the text of one of my nation's foundational documents and suss out the truths it still contains. For the rest of this post, you'll find the full Declaration, annotated with entirely irrelevant hyperlinks which you should derive absolutely no inference from.⚠️Do note that the Declaration of…