By Andy Brack, editor and publisher  | Americans shouldn’t have to be reminded about core values.  But with all that’s roiling in Washington, let’s go back to the beginning.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident:  that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Those were Thomas Jefferson’s words in the Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776.  They’re filled with a courage found just days earlier on June 28 as South Carolina patriots defended a fort on Sullivan’s Island at the mouth of Charleston harbor from a massive land and sea attack by the British.  It was the first major patriot victory of the Revolutionary War. Word spread quickly and gave colonists the courage to declare independence.