Boy Scout Troop 325
Scoutmaster Minute
The Birth Of Liberty
February 15, 2005
George Denise, Scoutmaster

Since we just finished elections two weeks ago, and as my Scoutmaster minute was on free elections, I thought I would continue on that theme.

Two hundred and thirty years ago, something important happened in the world. The thirteen American Colonies, declared their freedom, essentially declaring war with England. They did so thoughtfully and formally in the form of the Declaration of Independence.

The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen American Colonies includes the following words, which you have probably all heard before:

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.

All people are created equal; that they are born with certain basic rights, including the right to live, to live freely, and to be left alone to pursue life the way they see fit. That governments are created by those people themselves for the purpose of protecting those rights, not taking them away.

These were not new concepts, but the idea of creating a government based on those concepts, where the people themselves determine the government through free elections was. In 1775, there were no nations in the world with free elections. In 1776 thirteen American colonies declared their intent to become the first nation with free elections. It took them until 1783 to win the war, and until 1789 to write the United States Constitution and have all of the states agree to it. But the United States of America was the first government with free elections, and it paved the way for all the others.

A generation ago, in 1975, out of a total of 192 countries, 44 were now free. Today, thirty years later, fully 89 of the world's 192 countries are considered free and another 32 countries are considered partly free. That is not good enough; it won't be good enough until fully 100% of the world's countries, 100% of the world's citizens, are free; but we've come a long way. The United States of America paved the way, and fought with most of those countries to help them achieve their freedom, just as France, Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands fought with us to help secure our freedom.