By the time Thomas Jefferson, joined by Ben Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman and Robert Livingston – all of them successful producers of cattle – worked together to draft the Declaration of Independence in July 1776, Americans were ready to throw off the shackles of a monarch state and build a place hundreds of millions would call home.

I glanced at the clock on the dash of my pickup as I rolled through the four-way stop sign. The gentle green 7:08 a.m. glow painfully reminded me that I was once again several minutes late.