Friend,
Today we proudly celebrate America's 245th birthday.
So many gave everything they had to give us this special day, and so many more made the ultimate sacrifice to make sure America would be celebrating it year after every year.
I think back to remarks delivered by President Ronald Reagan 35 years ago:
"Fifty-six men came forward to sign the parchment. It was noted at the time that they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honors. And that was more than rhetoric; each of those men knew the penalty for high treason to the Crown. ``We must all hang together,'' Benjamin Franklin said, ``or, assuredly, we will all hang separately.'' And John Hancock, it is said, wrote his signature in large script so King George could see it without his spectacles. They were brave. They stayed brave through all the bloodshed of the coming years. Their courage created a nation built on a universal claim to human dignity, on the proposition that every man, woman, and child had a right to a future of freedom."
