As we gather today to enjoy picnics and parades, to wave flags and watch fireworks, take a minute to remember the real history that was made 241 years ago.
Popular imagination has captured a singular moment in time when the delegates of the Continental Congress, gathered in Philadelphia, bravely stepped forward to sign the Declaration of Independence, with the cocky John Hancock writing his name on center and large, “So that King George III could see it without his spectacles.”
But that, as John Adams himself pointed out years later, is a myth.
While Congress declared independence on the 4th, and copies of the document were printed locally and sent out by rider to the cities, the actual signing of the Declaration of Independence occurred over a period of weeks. The majority of delegates signed by August 2, but outliers – delegates that had been away from Philadelphia, or new members of Congress – signed as late as November 1776.
The actual list of 56 signers was not known to the American public until January, 1777. This under-appreciated fact is of great importance, as it was during this six-month period, after the Declaration, that the American Revolution came closest to outright collapse.
As the delegates declared political independence, the fate of that vote rested on the failing military fortunes of the ill-equipped Continental Army, that was in New York preparing for the largest invasion force to attack the American homeland in US history.
There were 120 British ships in New York Harbor on July 4th. Those vessels were the precursor of a fleet that would eventually number more than 400 ships; a giant fleet by 18th century standards, and one that is particularly large when you consider that today’s entire US Navy consists of less than 300 combat vessels. The fleet carried 32,000 British and German (Hessian) troops, considered to be among the finest field soldiers in the world. The British-Hessian army was larger than the entire populations of New York or Philadelphia at that time.
The juxtaposition of a brazen political statement for independence and the precarious military situation outside of New York could not be more of a contrast.
Beginning with the British landings on Long Island, the British-Hessian forces drove the Continental Army out of New York, and eventually forced a mad dash retreat through the entire state of New Jersey. By December, the remnants of Washington’s beaten forces crossed the Delaware River into Pennsylvania, south of Philadelphia.
Now consider that despite the forces arrayed against them and the horrendous military setbacks that were an existential threat to the cause of liberty itself, the members of Congress continued to come to Philadelphia and sign their names to the Declaration. They did so even though the act effectively made them traitors to the Crown. If the British prevailed, they would likely be executed for treason.
As David McCullough wrote in his book “1776,” “From the last week of August to the last week of December, the year 1776 had been as dark a time as those devoted to the American cause had ever known – indeed, as dark a time as any in the history of the country.”
Yet the signers put everything they had – including their lives – on the line, not because it was easy, fashionable or advantageous, but because it was right and just.
The Declaration of Independence ends in a pledge:
“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.” More than two centuries later, the words remain among the finest examples of faith, integrity, character, determination and courage in American history.
On Christmas night, 1776, General Washington gathered his remaining troops – men who answered Washington’s plea to stay, even though their enlistments had expired – crossed the Delaware River back into New Jersey and made a daring attack, which defeated a Hessian garrison at Trenton. In January, Washington again attacked, this time in a daring raid in the British rear in Princeton. Washington’s successful offensive quite literally saved the American Revolution and the eventual American experiment.
It was that close.
Writing a history of the American Revolution a century later, Sir George Otto Trevelyan would say, “It may be doubted whether so small a number of men ever employed so short a space of time with greater more lasting effects upon the history of the world.”
Indeed.
Remember with pride what our forefathers did on this anniversary. As a citizen, live your days worthy of their example and sacrifice.
Happy Independence Day.