The Act of Rebellion — it’s Independence Day

In three short days, many of us in the US will be celebrating the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America. Many simply refer to the day as the Fourth of July, but I opt for Independence Day. Every month in every year has a fourth, but there was only one July 4, 1776, and what happened on and near that date changed the world. For me, it’s vital to offer tribute to those who believed in what was then a seemingly impossible dream and risked it all in the pursuit of the dream.

While July Fourth is the officially recognized birth of the nation and Independence Day, the seeds of revolution had long been planted. The British Crown openly provoked the colonists with the Sugar Act, Stamp Act, and Tea Act, among others, which were nothing more than heavy taxes designed to finance Britain’s costly wars in Europe. To further antagonize colonial leaders, Britain used its sea power to block trade with all other nations, requiring the colonies to buy only taxed British goods. To enforce the new taxes and regulations, the British were obliged to increase the presence of the British militia, further raising tensions. The inevitable result came to fruition on March 5, 1770, when angry colonists took to the streets in protest, to be met by British soldiers. Shots were fired, and in the end, five colonists lost their lives that day.

The Road to Independence Day

In the years leading up to July 4, 1776, many skirmishes occurred, including the Boston Tea Party in 1773 and the Battle of Lexington and Concord in 1775. The Battle of Lexington and Concord began as an attempt to arrest colonial rebels, including John Hancock and Samuel Adams, and to seize and destroy colonial ammunition. The most intense fighting took place at the North Bridge in Concord where Minutemen, spurred on by the burning of Concord (fires intended to destroy ammunition raged beyond control) defeated three companies of British soldiers resulting in nearly 300 dead and wounded British, as well as 100 rebel casualties.

These events, among many others, forged the mettle in the astonishing collection of souls who were to become the founding fathers of this great country. It’s important to note that not all colonists desired revolution or even a split from the British Crown. Nearly a third of the colonial population was considered to be loyalists. Most loyalists simply wanted to maintain peace and their profit centers. The risk of revolution was too heavy a price for the loyalists to pay. Many aided the British by providing intelligence on the whereabouts of troops and members of the Continental Congress. Some even took up arms against the Minutemen.

In 1774, Joseph Galloway of Pennsylvania authored a proposal that would essentially be a compromise of positions held by the loyalists – those who wanted to preserve the status quo of British rule – and those who sought independence. At the heart of Galloway’s proposal was the creation of a Grand Council that would act as another arm of the British parliament. After a serious debate, the measure lost by a vote of six to five. By the margin of one vote, the dream of liberty and independence would survive. Independence Day was preserved by a singe vote.

On the second day of July, 1776, a British fleet and army arrived at New York. The Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, declares independence from Great Britain. Two days later, on July 4, they adopted the Declaration of Independence.

Just one month earlier, a commission headed by Thomas Jefferson of Virginia was tasked with putting into words the deeply held thoughts and convictions of this body of Congress. This was no small task. Jefferson, by consensus the best writer of the group, was charged with offering a cogent and powerful summary of the new American principle. How does one express the ideals of liberty, freedom, and self-determination in a world that has largely been governed by tyrants and the brutal use of force? Fortunately, Jefferson simply tapped into the well of the human spirit and the “laws of nature” as described in the Declaration. “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.”

In the days leading up to July 4, 1776, the document was read aloud on numerous occasions, followed by spirited debate and a series of alterations; 86 in all. The result was a lean pronouncement of just 1,337 words. In this instance, and with all due respect to Shakespeare, brevity was truly the soul of wit. No fireworks were launched, not even a clinking of glasses, as the men of the Second Continental Congress were armed with the solemn realization that the real work lay ahead and that they had just committed an act of treason to risk their lives and fortunes.

The Signers Who Ushered in Independence Day

The Declaration would later be signed on August 2.

The signing was a very sober occasion indeed. Ben Franklin properly noted, “Indeed, we must all hang together, otherwise we shall most assuredly hang separately.” Patrick Henry proclaimed, “I am no longer a Virginian, Sir, but an American.”

The 56 signers of the Declaration of American Independence had much to lose. Most were men of means, and much of their means was put to work to fund the revolution. Further, before the ink was dry, many of the signers were forced to flee their homes and leave their belongings behind. Nine of the 56 lost their lives before independence was secured through war. Five were captured and given brutal treatment. Others saw their wives and children taken prisoner.

Abraham Clark of New Jersey was the father of two officers in the Continental Army. They both fell prisoners to the British. When it was learned that their father was one of the 56, they were relocated to the Jersey, a brutal prison ship that witnessed the death of more than 11,000 American captives during the war. One of Clark’s sons was placed in solitary confinement and offered no food. He survived on rations stuffed through the keyhole by fellow prisoners. As the war drew to a conclusion, Clark was offered his sons if he would only recant his signature and pledge loyalty to the British Crown. Clark simply answered, “No.”

In the final days of the war, at the fateful battle of Yorktown, British General Cornwallis and his staff took shelter in the captured home of Thomas Nelson, a signer from Virginia. As the Americans tightened their grip on Yorktown, Nelson’s home remained. When Nelson asked why they were sparing his home, the canon gunners replied, “Out of respect to you, Sir.” Nelson insisted, “Give me a cannon!” and proceeded to offer the first of many blasts to his home that would soon lie in ruin. At the conclusion of the war, the nearly two million dollars that Nelson had borrowed to support the revolution had come due. The infant nation was unable to pay the debt, and Nelson was stripped of almost everything he had once owned. He died a year later.

Of the signers, two would later be elected President of the United States. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson would become the second and third Presidents of the new nation, respectively.

Adams and Jefferson were colleagues in the revolution and the birth of a nation. At times they were friends, and at times they were adversaries. In the end, their love of country superseded all, and the two men died on the very same day, July 4, 1826. They had both suffered a prolonged illness, and both fought with all of their strength to see the 50th anniversary of their greatest service to their countrymen and, indeed, the world. On that day, it is said that Jefferson awoke briefly and asked simply, “What day is it?” When he learned that it was July 4, he smiled, replied, “Thank you,” and then quietly passed. A few hours later, Adams’ final words are said to have been, “Thomas Jefferson lives.” Being blissfully unaware that Jefferson had passed a scant few hours earlier. It is rumored that a messenger dispatched from Jefferson’s home of Monticello to Adams passed a similar messenger bound for Monticello. In Jefferson’s will, he offered a simple epitaph with the insistence of, “not a word more.”

Here was Buried, Thomas Jefferson

Author of the Declaration of American Independence

Of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom

And Father of The University of Virginia

Read the Declaration of Independence

See what is on tap for the day at America 250.