Welcome to the American Story.

Stories about all the things that make America the country we know and love.

Some of our listeners may recognize this story.

It was one of our first episodes. As we are about to mark

another blessed year of American independence, it seemed fitting to return to the idea of

independence itself, the idea of political freedom that inspired the heroes of the revolution, as it

inspires all free peoples everywhere and always.

This is Chris Flannery with the Claremont Institute, wishing you and yours a very happy 4th of July.

I call this one Independence Forever.

The last letter in Thomas Jefferson's handwriting, of which we have any record, is an RSVP,

dated June 24, 1826.

It's a response to an invitation from the mayor of Washington DC to attend a celebration of the 50th anniversary of American independence.

Jefferson was too ill to attend. In fact, he would die as if American destiny had decreed

on the day for which the celebration was scheduled, July 4, 1826, 50 years to the day after the adoption of the Declaration of Independence

by the Continental Congress, officially commencing the Independence of the United States

of America.

In his letter sent from Monticello, Jefferson reflected on the meaning of the Declaration of Independence,

of which he was the famous author, and he showed that his revolutionary spirit had not dimmed.

He called the Declaration an instrument pregnant with our own and the fate of the world.

May it be to the world, he wrote, what I believe it will be, to some parts sooner,

to others later, but finally to all.

The signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance

...