The American Democracy Minute Radio News Report & Podcast for July 3, 2026
We can’t read the entire Declaration of Independence in 90 seconds, but here’s a portion as we celebrate Independence Day:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
Read the Declaration in full at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. Happy Independence Day. I’m Brian Beihl.
Listen to the full original text as transcribed by the National Archives, recorded July 2nd, 2026. 9 minutes.
Today’s Links
Articles & Resources:
National Archives – Declaration of Independence: A Transcription
National Archives – The Declaration of Independence: A History
American Constitution Center – Constitutional Voices: African Americans’ early responses to the Declaration of Independence
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History – The Declaration of Independence and Women’s Rights
Related ADM Reports:
American Democracy Minute – Thomas Jefferson Gets the Credit for the Declaration, but the ‘Independence’ Part Came from Richard Henry Lee on June 7, 1776
Register or Check Your Voter Registration:
U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State
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