“Of liberty I would say that, in the whole plenitude of its extent, it is unobstructed action according to our will.  But rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others.”

Or, as my great-aunt Essie would tell us when we were kids, “Your liberty ends where my nose begins.”  Since I am traveling for the July 4th weekend, I’m already feeling the spirit of tomorrow’s holiday.  The man who spoke the above words reminds us that freedom means we have the right to choose “according to our will.”  He also reminds us that freedom comes with an inherent responsibility to recognize that right in all people and to be concerned and aware for “the equal rights of others.”

Who was the speaker of those words?  Abraham Lincoln?  John F. Kennedy?

The same speaker goes on to say:

“The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.”

We also were taught, as we learned about democracy, that one of our most valuable freedoms is the freedom to speak out against the actions of our own government without fear of punishment for expressing our views.  In the context of the first statement, it would be important to remember that this right is given to all others as well; and while we have the right to choose our words, we do not always have control over the consequences we suffer for speaking them.

Who was it that valued freedom so highly as to encourage a spirit of resistance?  Martin Luther King?

We all have heard the stories of Americans who have taken a stand, within the liberty we claim, to speak out against the practices we see as unjust.  I suppose any of those people whose quest for freedom has put them in the public eye might have spoken these words.

“Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.”

I will tell you that these words belong to Thomas Jefferson, the man credited with drafting the Declaration of Independence.  It is hard for us to imagine, in our time of big government and the snarl of committees and interest groups, what it would have been like to be a part of the small group of men who stood together against the established government of England and claimed their right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”  We tend to think of the end of the Revolutionary War as inaugurating a time of tranquility, a time of peace that grew out of our declaration of freedom.

I live in a very old house — built in 1792 — in a small town about sixty miles north of Philadelphia.  The liberty bell was housed for a time in the city of Allentown, only five miles from here.  This proximity to the cradle of liberty offers some stories that carry a more personal sense of history for those of us who walk the same streets and the same hallways where the earliest settlers lived.  One of those stories is of the Hot Water Rebellion of 1798.  I suppose you might say that this was one of the first tests of our freedom to dissent, and it took place right here in the place I now sit to type this post.  I have heard it said that my own house was one where hot water was poured from the window onto the tax collector when he came to demand money from property owners.

During the history of our country, since those early days of our founding fathers, there have been many times when people have stood up for their own rights and the rights of others and corrected our government in ways that have guaranteed freedom.  I’m thinking that the men who brought democracy to America were wise enough to know that the government they created would not be perfect — that as soon as the government is declared to be flawless, tyrants will rule.  Let us continue to value our liberty and to exercise it in ways that protect, defend, and sometimes correct so that we might defend the rights of all.

As the fireworks boom and the sparklers sparkle, let us hold in our hearts the blessing of liberty.  Let Freedom Ring.