Mike Pence: “as we depart for the Independence Day recess on Capitol Hill, families and communities across America will prepare for…”

“as we depart for the Independence Day recess on Capitol Hill, families and communities across America will prepare for celebrations and remembrances of the 4th of July; and as I and my family and my heartland district in eastern Indiana prepare to do likewise, I could not help but feel that, in fact, in coming days we will celebrate not one, but two Independence Days: one for an 18th century colonial power born in violent conflict, aided by an ally in liberty to throw off the shackles of a despotic tyrant who beset its people for decades, and of that struggle, those people would write some 228 years ago that they held truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and that governments are instituted among men deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, that it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it and institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.”