That Day In 1776

On this July 4th eve, Steve Rondinaro has given over his Rondo Words blog to an old friend with a long memory: You can watch here.

I always get sentimental this time of year, thinking back to 1776.
It was quite a time in these colonies.
Things had been brewing for years when we convened that second Continental Congress in May.
We met, we debated, and we fretted as the fighting spread.
John Adams kept pressing for independence; oh he was a persistent sort.
Others wanted to take one last try at patching things up with the King.
Meantime George Washington was trying to build an army out of a rag tag group with no resources.
His dispatches from the field were downright depressing at times.
Stop and consider what a bodacious act it was for this upstart group to consider taking on the mighty British empire.
Those of us sitting in that Congress were putting everything on the line; our fates, our fortunes, our very lives.
The Virginians joined forces with Adams and his group and really started to turn up the heat for independency.
Richard Henry Lee put forth a motion urging us to declare independence.
We named a committee to draft a declaration; Adams and Ben Franklin were a part of it but young Tom Jefferson did most of the work.
Poor Jefferson.
We ran our quill pens through so many phrases in his declaration draft… revision after revision, but it ultimately held true to the fundamental principles.
This phrase resounds around the world even today.
"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."
What magnificent words; and yes, we wrestled with them fiercely when it came to slavery.
It would take a few decades to get that worked out as we set about addressing the immediate problem with the British.
On July 4th we adopted the Declaration of Independence; just after the British fleet sailed into New York.
We were committed.
On August 2nd we gathered again to sign that declaration.
John Hancock didn't want the king to miss his name.
North Carolinians William Hooper, John Penn, and Joseph Hewes affixed their signatures.
It was remarkable what we set in motion.
I still get chill bumps when I think about it today.
I hope you do too.