 Fifty years after the Declaration of Independence was written, a gravely ill Thomas Jefferson wrote the last letter of his life. Very appropriately, he used the letter to give his thoughts on the Declaration of Independence in which he wrote, May it be to the world what I believe it will be, the signal of arousing men to burst the chains, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government. That 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. For ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights and an undiminished devotion to them. Living in a nation more than 200 years after the establishment of its independence, it can be hard to appreciate the freedom we've inherited as much as we should. As the beneficiaries of American freedom, we should never forget how our forefathers fought so passionately to make our country what it is today.