Summer of 1776

My summer reading has included the history 1776 by David McCullough, which I think I’ll be finishing today, with the battle of Trenton. Last week I was reading about the Declaration of Independence. And the history is worth remembering.

The intentions originally did not include becoming independent from Great Britain; the rebels were, rather, trying to regain their rights as British citizens. They had been taxed unfairly and denied representation.

Among the Americans was a fairly strong showing of loyalists—people who wanted nothing to do with the rebels, who were content to be subjects of the king, whatever inconveniences or insults that might include. But all through 1775 there was essentially no talk among the Continental army (the Americans) of breaking away.

That began to change by the spring of 1776:

Writing to General Thomas, Washington had said the object was “neither glory nor extent of territory, but a defense of all that is dear and valuable in life.”

            Independence was not mentioned. Nor had independence been on the minds of those who fought at Bunker Hill or in Washington’s thoughts when he took command of the army. En route to Cambridge from Philadelphia, he had been quite specific in assuring the New York Provincial Congress that “every exertion of my worthy colleagues and myself will be equally extended to the reestablishment of peace and harmony between the mother country and the colonies.”

            But more and more of late there was talk of independence. The Reverend Belknap, from his visits to the camps, concluded that independence had “become a favorite point in the army.” A “declaration of independence” was heartily wished for, wrote Nathanael Greene, who was one of the first to say it in writing. “We had as good to begin in earnest first as last” (p. 55). 

Nathanael Greene later wrote to Samuel Ward:

Heaven had decreed that tottering empire Britain to irretrievable ruin and thanks to God, since Providence hath so determined, America must raise an empire of permanent duration, supported upon the grand pillars of Truth, Freedom, and Religion, encouraged by the smiles of Justice and defended by her own patriotic sons…. Permit me then to recommend from the sincerity of my heart, ready at all times to bleed in my country’s cause, a Declaration of Independence, and call upon the world and the great God who governs it to witness the necessity, propriety and rectitude thereof ( p. 68).

In early 1776 Thomas Paine wrote, in Common Sense, “The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. Everything that is right or reasonable pleads for separation” (p. 112). And Washington commented that Paine’s tract was having an effect.

Once the Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, penned and signed that declaration, there was no turning back:

By renouncing their allegiance to the King, the delegates at Philadelphia had committed treason and embarked on a course from which there could be no turning back.

            “We are in the very midst of a revolution,” wrote John Adams, “the most complete, unexpected and remarkable of any in the history of nations” (p. 136). 

I don’t think we can say enough of how momentous Thomas Jefferson’s words were, declaring what most of the peoples of the world had never realized, that it was “self-evident” that “all men are created equal,” and were endowed with “unalienable” rights: “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” It may be that more beautiful words were never written to establish the beginning of a nation.

The Declaration of Independence was formally read to the troops, with both solemn ceremony and raucous cheering (and a demonstration that looked similar to what happened in Iraq a couple of centuries later):

The formal readings [of the Declaration of Independence] concluded, a great mob of cheering, shouting soldiers and townspeople stormed down Broadway to Bowling Green, where, with ropes and bars, they pulled down the gilded lead statue of George III on his colossal horse. In their fury the crowd hacked off the sovereign’s head, severed the nose, clipped the laurels that wreathed the head, and mounted what remained of the head on a spike outside of tavern (p. 137).

It would be nice to say that the Declaration struck the British as right and proper, and the contention ended there, but that was not so. Within days, the British showed their force in New York. Additional British victories followed. There were moments in the coming months that, if the British had decided to assert their full force, the nascent nation could have been wiped out.

A media of the day would have declared nothing but discouragement in those next few months. All seemed to be lost and hopeless; Washington knew this more than anyone.

But we know the eventual outcome. Against all odds, with the stakes extremely high, only extraordinary perseverance combined with Providential approval of the cause (God’s will and assistance) could have led to the eventual victory.

The Fourth of July is worth celebrating, to honor the immortal words of the Declaration of Independence. But it is the eventual outcome in favor of freedom that allows us to celebrate. We should remember how much we owe to those stalwart, strong rebels, and how much we owe to God, who allowed them to win.