The Fiftieth Anniversary
by Thomas Jefferson
Respected Sir: The kind invitation I received
from you on the part of the citizens of the
city of Washington, to be present with them
at thcir celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of American Independence, as one of
the surviving signers of an instrument, pregnant with our own and the fate of the world,
is most flattering to myself, and heightened
by the honorable accompaniment proposed
for the comfort of such a journey. It adds
sensibly to the sufferings of sickness, to be
deprived by it of a personal participation in
the rejoicings of that day; but acquiescence is
a duty under circumstances not placed
among those we are permitted to control.
I should, indeed, with peculiar delight,
have met and exchanged there congratulations, personally, with the small band, the
remnant of that host of worthies who joined
with us on that day, in the bold and doubtful
election we were to make, for our country,
between submission and the sword; and to
have enjoyed with them the consolatory fact
that our fellow citizens, after half a century of
experience and prosperity, continue to approve the choice we made.
May it be to the world, 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 and superstition had persuaded them
to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government. The
form which we have substituted restores the
free right to the unbounded exercise of
reason and freedom of opinion. All eyes are
opened or opening to the rights of man. The
general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable
truth, that the mass of mankind has not been
born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few, booted and spurred, ready to ride
them legitimately, by the grace of God.
These are grounds of hope for others; for
ourselves, let the annual return of this day
forever refresh our recollections of these
rights, and an undiminished devotion to
them.
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