Exactly twelve score years ago, “our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” More precisely: On July 2, 1776, the members of the Continental Congress agreed to declare independence. On July 4, they officially adopted the Declaration of Independence. On the morning of July 5, the Continental Congress dispatched printed copies of the Declaration to state assemblies and to the commanders of the Continental troops.

Two hundred and forty years later, on the morning of July 5, 2016, in the powerful, prosperous, and free nation that has grown up partly as a result of loyalty to the principles of that Declaration, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to quote the Washington Post, issued a “searing rebuke” of what he called Secretary of State Hil-lary Clinton’s “extremely careless” email practices. He “laid bare a litany of facts that amounted to a stern admonishment of her judgment, management and stewardship of state secrets.” Furthermore, the Post continued, FBI director James Comey “systematically obliterated many of the key defenses Clinton and her advisers have offered to reassure the public in the 15 months since the discovery that she used a private email system.”