John Adams, who helped Thomas Jefferson draft the Declaration of Independence in 1776, recognized immediately that the courageous decision of the colonies to declare independence from the English monarchy would be an event long celebrated, if it succeeded. Yet less than a half-century later, his son, John Quincy Adams, had to remind his fellow Americans that though those who fought for independence may lay “cold under the clod of the valley,” continuing to recall their achievement had a “just and useful purpose.”

Through the decades, national leaders would continue to recall the momentous occasion, but with reminders of where its promise fell short for millions, and how a misguided attempt at domestic insurrection distorted its ideals.

We offer, on this 239th anniversary, a few voices from history referencing the significance of this historic date.

 “I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding generations, as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shows, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”

Future President John Adams, writing in a letter to his wife soon after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

 “The conflict for independence is now itself but a record of history. The resentments of that age may be buried in oblivion. The stoutest hearts, which then supported the tug of war, are cold under the clod of the valley. My purpose is to rekindle no angry passion from its embers: but this annual solemn perusal of the instrument, which proclaimed to the world the causes of your existence as a nation, is not without its just and useful purpose.”

Then Secretary of State and later President John Quincy Adams, circa July 4, 1821, addressing the U.S. House of Representatives.

“Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. For revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.”

Frederick Douglass, African-American social reformer and abolitionist, speaking July 4, 1852 in Rochester, N.Y.

 “Our adversaries have adopted some Declarations of Independence; in which, unlike the good old one, penned by Jefferson, they omit the words ; ‘all men are created equal.’ Why?

They have adopted a temporary national constitution, in the preamble of which, unlike our good old one … they omit ‘We, the People,’ and substitute ‘We, the deputies of the sovereign and independent States.’ Why?

Why this deliberate pressing out of view the rights of men and the authority of the people?”

President Abraham Lincoln, July 4, 1861, mocking the independence proclamations of the Confederate states.

 “Believe me … the things that unite us — America’s past of which we’re so proud, our hopes and aspirations for the future of the world and this much-loved country — these things far outweigh what little divides us. And so tonight we reaffirm that Jew and gentile, we are one nation under God; that black and white, we are one nation indivisible; that Republican and Democrat, we are all Americans. Tonight, with heart and hand, through whatever trial and travail, we pledge ourselves to each other and to the cause of human freedom, the cause that has given light to this land and hope to the world.”

President Ronald Reagan, July 4, 1986, speaking aboard the U.S.S. “John F. Kennedy” in New York Harbor.