As Benjamin Franklin emerged from a session of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, someone passing by Philadelphia's Independence Hall queried, "Well, Doctor, what have we got? A republic or a monarchy?"

Franklin's famous response: "A republic, if you can keep it."

Franklin, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence a decade earlier, knew more than most the sacrifice required to win the former colonies' freedom and the effort that would have to be put forward to preserve the unique form of government embodied in the Constitution.

Today, 233 years after Franklin, John Adams and others signed their names to the Declaration, we continue to enjoy the fruits of their courage and hard labor.

That's why we celebrate this weekend with fireworks, parades and other activities. Every four years since George Washington's re-election in 1792 we have had a peaceful transition of executive power. We have the right to worship as we please, or not at all; we have the freedom to speak our minds, even if such expression stretches the bounds of good taste as can often happen in those "horribles parades" that are a Fourth of July fixture in some communities; and we are protected against unreasonable searches of our homes or persons.

Many lives have been lost preserving our democratic traditions. Even today in Iraq and Afghanistan, American servicemen and women continue to put their lives at risk fighting Islamic fanatics for whom our freedom of religion is anathema and whose ultimate goal is to impose their rule first on the people of their own countries, and then the world.

The celebrations that marked the departure of American troops from Iraqi cities earlier this week may have seemed tasteless to some here. But the start of the withdrawal is as much a victory for our country, which rid Iraq of its murderous dictator, Saddam Hussein, and has put it on the road to establishing a democracy of their own — if they can keep it.