Let Freedom Ring

The students in a fifth-grade class in American History were given an examination. Among the questions to be answered was the following: The Declaration of Independence was written chiefly by_______(fill in the blank). On one of the papers, a student had neatly penciled in, “Candlelight.” The Declaration of Independence was written not chiefly by “candlelight” but chiefly by Thomas Jefferson, as we all know. It was Jefferson who gathered up in beautiful language the feelings and thoughts of his countrymen during that critical time in American History. It was Jefferson who expressed to the world the frustration the people were feeling over matters like “taxation without representation,” and their firm resolve to be free and independent. Now, two hundred years later, that great document is being specially celebrated by a grateful people. For example, on July 4, 1976 thousands of persons lined up for hours at the National Archives Building in Washington just to catch a glimpse of the original. The document is America’s basic…