Independence Day thoughts

Posted By on July 2, 2009

I know you’re hoping I’ll talk about the recent deaths of the pill popper freak or the toilet bowl cleaner salesman but I can’t really add anything more to these fucked up stories than the so-called news anchors have already spit out.  Actually I’d like to tie most of them to an anchor, pitch them overboard on an episode of Worlds Deadliest Catch and let those stupid bastards join Wacko Jacko and the bearded Pitchman.  Instead I want to remind you guys why you get an extra day off from work to eat hot dogs and blow shit up over the upcoming weekend.  So bear with me a minute while I try to recall a tid-bit of what my elementary school teachers tried to pound into my thick skull in between recess and lunch when I wasn’t sleeping at my desk or going gaga over Kristine Jacobson (I’m sure she’s not reading this but she was the cutest girl in elementary school and I had the biggest crush on her).  For any of you that weren’t alive or just can’t remember what this whole 4th of July, Independence Day thing stands for I’ll help you out. 

I’m sure you can at least remember that the original 13 colonies were at war with the British Empire during the American Revolution to gain Independence from the Parliament of Great Britain.  They eventually rejected British Monarchy so the could govern themselves and become the sovereign United States and form a new governing body representing the states.  The colonists support for independence grew with the publishing of Thomas Paine’s booklet “Common Sense” which presented a very strong argument to not be governed by British rule.  Because the colonies were not directly represented in Parliament, colonists argued that Parliament had no right to levy taxes upon them.  With no representation, interpretation of the British Constitution created divideds over the actions of Parliament since any action they took was deemed constitutional which conflicted with the colonists ideas that recognized certain fundamental rights could not be violated.  Not even by Parliament.  The colonies created the Second Continental Congress  and these leaders managed the war effort and adopted the United States Declaration of Independence.  On May 15, 1776, the revolutionary Virginia Convention, then meeting in Williamsburg, passed a resolution instructing Virginia’s delegates in the Continental Congress “to propose to that respectable body to declare the United Colonies free and independent States, absolved from all allegiance to, or dependence upon, the Crown or Parliament of Great Britain”. In accordance with those instructions, on June 7, Richard Henry Lee presented the resolution to Congress.

After voting for independence on July 2, Congress turned its attention to the declaration. Over several days of debate, Congress made a number of alterations to the text, including adding the wording of Lee’s resolution of independence to the conclusion. The text of the declaration was approved by Congress on July 4 and sent off to be printed.

Yeah, I know there is A LOT more to the story than that but I’m short on time and even shorter on memory so that will have to be your history lesson for now.  The original colonists cut their way through the wilderness of America to create a better living for their families and even gave their lives for freedom from an oppressive governing body that they felt was no longer in touch with them.  British Parliament was all powerful and had the authority to do and tax everything they wanted to gain more power over their people.  Some choose to stand up and make their voices be heard and we honor and celebrate their actions and voices this weekend.   Can you sit there and say you would or are doing the same thing as we face a growing governing body that is taxing you you to death and is more concerned with achieving more power over the people it governs than your actual concerns?  As you kick back smoking a cigar around the campfire with your loved ones this weekend, don’t forget our brothers and sisters in harms way fighting for those who have no voice and are not able to speak out against tyranny.  Remember those who sacrificed it all so we can have our hot dogs and day off, our cigars and more importantly our votes.  Think about the thousands who have laid it all on the line for love, for God and for country.  I will raise my cigar to all of them, past present and future that have given me the opportunity and possibilities to live my life to the fullest.   A special Thank you to my Brothers of the Leaf for allowing me time to share.

 July Cigar Night Update:

Slight change of plans for next week, we will be at The Vault since there was a last minute scheduling conflict at Jimmy Sea’s.  Fear not though because we will be back there in August.  So please make note that we’re at the Vault on the 7th July.  I haven’t heard much feedback on the planned “Cigars and Cycles Ride” so let me know if you are interested or we will reschedule for a later date.  Don’t forget about the events calendar on cigarnightonline.com, if you have an event or outing you would like to share with the group just email me the details and I’ll put it out there for all the world to see.  Ya gotta love shameless self promotion.

Have a safe and happy 4th of July my friends and I’ll see you next week,

The Cigar Soldier

About the author

The Cigar Soldier is the founding father and President of The Brotherhood of the Leaf, an internet community of cigar enthusiasts and Northeast Wisconsin’s only true membership based cigar club. As the main writer for Cigar Night Online.com, his rants can sting, stir or inspire your emotions, as he leaves no topic of enjoying the cigar lifestyle off his hit list.

Comments

Leave a Reply