I Was Thinking... An unlikely revolt

This week we will be celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. While most people know what the 4th of July represents, there are also probably some general myths about our storied history.
Although we generally consider the 4th as Independence Day, the Continental Congress voted in favor of Richard Henry Lee’s resolution for independence on July 2. It wasn’t until the 4th that the actual document called the “Declaration of Independence” was adopted by the Congress. But even that vote wasn’t unanimous. Votes were cast by colony and not by delegates.
Ceasar Rodney, a Delaware delegate, had to ride all night through a rainstorm to get to Philadelphia to break his colony’s deadlock and have Delaware vote for independence.
Even after it was passed, only one signature was placed at the bottom of the document, that of John Hancock, the president of the Congress. Other delegates didn’t sign the document until years later.
While history remembers Thomas Jefferson as the author of the Declaration of Independence, it was actually a committee of five that were given the task of doing the writing. Jefferson wrote the document alongside Ben Franklin, John Adams, Robert Livingston and Roger Sherman. While Jefferson did draft much of the document, the committee edited it before presenting the declaration to Congress where further debate took place.
Many people believe the colonies were a united group all eager for independence from Great Britain. That is another misconception.
At the time of the revolution, only about one third of the colonies favored the break with the mother country. Another third was loyal to the British and the last third were somewhere in between. Even families were torn over the issue.
While founding father Ben Franklin was an outspoken advocate of independence, his son William, governor of New Jersey, was loyal to the king and was involved in loyalist groups that attacked patriot towns.
The year 1776 is celebrated as our independence year, but 1776 was almost the year that ended our effort for independence.
George Washington took command of an undisciplined group of amateurs with little military experience. Washington’s own experience was only in the service of the British during the French and Indian War.
In 1776 he sought to defend New York from the British. On July 2, 1776, General Howe, with naval support, had 32,000 troops to oppose the Americans. In a series of battles across New York and New Jersey, Washington was only able to retreat. He had started the year with a force of 23,000 men but by December of 1776, he only had 8,000 men left.
Many of Washington’s soldiers’ enlistments would be up after 1776. He believed that few wanted to stay after suffering defeat after defeat. They needed a win.
He moved his forces across the Delaware River on Christmas night and scored a surprising victory the next day at Trenton, N.J. While he didn’t capture any British, he captured a British mercenary force of Hessians hired to fight in the colonies.
The victory buoyed morale and Washington was able to convince his soldiers to stay. The war would drag on until the American victory at Yorktown in 1781 and the peace treaty that guaranteed colonial independence. It was a revolution that didn’t seem to have a chance but succeeded anyway.
We proudly look to the Declaration of Independence as a principle of our government and way of life.
The following words should be a bedrock of our democracy. “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.”
Yet it took almost another hundred years for it to apply to all Americans. As we celebrate our 250th anniversary of this document, we need to continue to work to make sure its truths still apply to everyone.

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