The following is an episode of The American Miracle podcast hosted by Michael Medved.

Be sure to search for The American Miracle on Apple and Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts.

We release new episodes weekly.

Hope you enjoy this sample.

And happy Thursday, everyone.

The title for this episode in the series of Michael Medved podcasts on the American Miracle,

The Glorious Fourth, Dedication, Death, and Fifty Years of Miracles.

Coincidence alone could never explain it.

That much seemed obvious to Americans of 1826, just as it does to citizens of today.

The eerie events of that epical Independence Day suggested the intervention of supernatural forces, mixing death and dedication

in such powerful ways that observers of all faiths and of no faith saw evidence of destiny's

direction in American affairs. Even now, after nearly 200 years of turbulent history,

recollections of that glorious fourth can compel the most skeptical scholars to acknowledge weird, wonderful aspects in the rise of the

Republic and to reconsider the disconcerting old idea that God shows special tenderness

toward the American experiment.

On the occasion of the 50th, 4th of July, such confidence in providential protection

seemed not only logical but unavoidable. After all, the citizens of the Federal Union

had already witnessed a half century of miracles, highlighted by the new

nation's prodigious growth and unprecedented prosperity.

Americans viewed themselves as a chosen people, selected for special responsibilities to

accompany their special blessings, and so looked to biblical references to establish the proper context for

major public celebrations.

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