Two hundred and forty-four years ago, fifty six men signed a paper mutually pledging to each other "our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor," putting everything on the line to establish a new Republic. Abraham Lincoln called it “a rebuke and a stumbling-block to tyranny and oppression.”

There is nothing that anyone can say that will ever cast doubt on its importance for the new/ongoing nation, and history of the world. The day itself will continue to be celebrated, as John Adams said, "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.”

Despite the wistful, transient ideas and non-concentric thinking of this and future generations, the genius of that time and those signers will outlive the cleptocracy, autocracy, and stupidity of our days.