This year marks the 233rd anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and the birth of the United States of America.

Back then, freedom rang because individual colonists were willing to risk, literally, everything to be free from the yoke of heavy-handed government. Their lives and property would be at stake.

Still, during those fateful summer days in 1776 at Philadelphia, first, on July 2nd, as delegates to the Second Continental Congress, they bravely asserted their intentions by passing a “resolution of independence.”

And, on July 4th, they voted in session to approve the document we know as the formal Declaration of Independence. The document was intended to explain, in detail to the world, the reasons for separating from the British crown.

Then, through early August, each individual, in turn, dared to pick up pen, dip it in their personal well of courage and imprint their signature on the Declaration of Independence document.

Interestingly, while Americans traditionally celebrate July 4th as “Independence Day,” the seed of independence began to sprout in June, when Richard Henry Lee, delegate from Virginia, proposed the resolution that would bloom on the 2nd of July. (For more, visit HYPERLINK http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Henry_Lee.

John Adams understood the significance of July 2nd, when he wrote to his beloved wife, Abigail: “The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America … . It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty … solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.” And it has, but on July 4th, the day the Declaration of Independence “document of explanation to the world” was formally approved.

Eleven years later, American patriots would have to fight the British to retain the freedom declared in Philadelphia in 1776. Then, again in the War of 1812, “ a war that once and for all confirmed American Independence” from Great Britain.

One wonders how present-day Americans would respond to the events 233 years ago. Would all, or most, step-up and affix their signatures to the Declaration of Independence document?

Let Freedom Ring — Again: Beginning July 4, you too can sign the Declaration of Independence. Go online to: www.CFC.us.

Richard Olivastro is president of Olivastro Communications. He can be contacted at Rich@Olivastro.NET or 877.RichSpeaks.