The Second Continental Congress gathered in Philadelphia shortly after New Years, 1776. They faced a tough decision. A low-grade insurgency against British occupation had begun the previous year in Massachusetts. In response, King George III had appealed to the Parliament in faraway London to come down hard on the unruly Colonists and Parliament agreed.
A showdown with George Washington’s green troops had led to the British evacuating Boston – a good start. Now, a much stronger British invasionary force threatened New York, and the signs were ominous.
Through the spring of 1776, the fledgling Congress debated the issue of separation from the rule of Great Britain – it was not an easy decision. The colonies of about 2.5 million people (not including enslaved Americans) were divided into thirds: one-third supported independence; one third was loyal to Britain; and the final one-third was undecided. John Adams, the brilliant lawyer from Braintree, Mass., led the most effective debate in favor of independence.
By early June, the majority of the 56 delegates leaned toward independence from the mother country. They selected the Committee of Five to draft a resolution declaring independence – Benjamin Franklin (Pa.), Roger Sherman (Conn.), Robert Livingston (N.Y.), Thomas Jefferson (Va.), and John Adams (Mass.). The committee quickly settled on Jefferson to complete the first draft.
At 33, Thomas Jefferson was one of youngest delegates to the Congress, but his brilliance was obvious. While he engaged in very little of the debate, his mind was churning. He was much more comfortable with the written word than political speeches. He quickly drew up a “declaration of independence” that had no precedence. Instead, he used the thoughts from his classical education of Greek philosophers and great thinkers like Hume, Locke, and Bolingbroke. His design began with a preamble, then enumerated 27 offenses committed by the Crown against the American Colonies and finalized with a pledge of solidarity. The Committee of Five made some superficial corrections and by July 1, submitted the draft declaration to the Congress.
A full debate then occurred, where Adams once again led the argument in favor of the resolution. His principal opponent was John Dickinson, of Pa., who passionately argued for restraint. By this time, Dickinson was badly outnumbered, and he knew it. He would choose to abstain from the voting. A preliminary vote after a full day of debate indicated that the majority of delegates from nine of 13 states were in favor of the resolution.
They adjourned overnight during which Caesar Romney of R.I. arrived on horseback, breaking his states’ tie vote in favor of independence. On July 2, 12 of the 13 states voted in favor of independence with New York abstaining – it was as close to unanimous as they would get.
The next day, the delegates got down to the hard work of wordsmithing the draft resolution itself. Much of Jefferson’s text was changed to his chagrin, but the essential idea and format remained intact. Finally, on July 4, the Continental Congress voted on the final text of the resolution, hereafter to be known as the Declaration of Independence.
As a side note, John Adams declared that July 2, the day of the original acceptance vote, would be a day celebrated with “pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illumination from one end of the continent to the other.” Not so, the day we recall as Independence Day is also known as the Fourth of July. Growing up in Florida, where fireworks were illegal in the 1950s, I so looked forward to annual summer visits to my maternal grandparents in Kansas because I could shoot fireworks to my heart’s content on July 4. It was so exciting.
The eloquence of the second paragraph is from the hand of Jefferson himself: “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 -- that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” It was both simple and powerful at the same time.
It is important to note that “all men” did not include enslaved people or women. Later in life, Jefferson would have a change of heart about slavery, explaining it as an abomination against God and mankind. The right to vote for women would not come until the early 20th Century by Constitutional amendment.
With these hallowed words, a new nation was born, along with a revolutionary idea that the government serves the people rather than the other way around. After more than two centuries, we take these words and the liberty they imply for granted. We shouldn’t. In most other countries around the world in places like Africa, South America, Asia and the Middle East, the concept of government “of the people, by the people, and for the people” is a lofty and far off goal – maybe too far.
We are a blessed nation. Let’s not take it for granted. Happy birthday, America!