On July 2nd, two hundred forty-seven years ago, 15 months after hostilities commenced on Patriots Day, April 19th of 1775, the Second Continental Congress declared independence from Great Britain. Two days later, on July 4, 1776, Congress approved our Declaration of Independence, and 56 delegates began signing it — a process that wasn’t complete until August.

Thus officially commenced our nation’s Revolutionary War to secure American Liberty. The last major land battle of the war was five years later concluding with the British surrender of Yorktown in 1781, and hostilities officially ceased after the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783. But July 4 has marked our Independence Day since 1776.

On July 3rd of that year, John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, of the necessity of celebration our Declaration of Independence:

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 Shews, Games, Sports, guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more. You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Day’s Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.

Adams and his chief political rival, Thomas Jefferson (also the lead author of the Declaration), both died on the 50th Independence Day in 1826. James Monroe, the fifth president, also died on the Fourth five years later.

In honor of America’s birthday, here are a few more numbers that we find intriguing for various reasons.

In 1776, the new nation consisted of 13 former colonies populated by roughly 2.5 million people. Today, more than 330 million people live in 50 states and 14 territories. What may be most striking about that growth is the shift from rural areas to urban ones. At the turn of the 19th century, 95% of Americans lived in rural homes, while today that number is just 17%. The buildup of and migration to urban areas brings immense convenience and wealth, but also a political bent decidedly further to the left.

On that note, perhaps the most important thing we can all do this Independence Day is to pass on to the next generation what it means to be an American.

In 1825, Jefferson called the Declaration “an expression of the American mind.” That mind sees and cherishes the truth of our God-given rights to “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” That mind throws off the shackles of oppressive government; it does not vote for more of it. Read the grievances laid out in the Declaration and marvel at the number that once again apply to our own national government.

As for love of our nation, George Washington, our first and greatest president, put it this way in his Farewell Address: “The name of American, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discriminations.”

In other words, we are Americans first. The divisive identity groups that today abound and dictate much government and corporate policy fundamentally contradict that vision for our nation.

Thanks to the sorry state of American public schools, civic knowledge has deteriorated over the decades. Ever fewer Americans seem to comprehend anything remotely approaching Jefferson’s “American mind” or Washington’s “pride of patriotism.”

Nevertheless, we join the Declaration’s signatories in pledging “our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor” to the cause of American Liberty.