The Philipsburg mail. [volume] (Philipsburg, Mont.) 1887-current, 1897-07-02
Freedom Proclaimed on the Second
Day of July.
HOW THE NEWS WAS SPREAD
On That Da- Final Action Was Taken
on the declaration by the Contin-
entail Congress-Signed on the
Fourth Boston Celebrates.

dence Day, writes Edward Everett
Hale. In the well remembered speech
which he puts into the mouth of
Adams, the speech which million
school boys have repeated, he makes
Adams use these words
"We make this glorious, an immor-
tai day. When we are in our graves.
our children will honor it. They will
celebrate it with thanksgiving, with
festivities, with bonires aud illumina-
tions On its annual return they will
shed tears. copious, gushing tears, not
of subsection and slavery, not Of agony
and distress, but of exultation, of graf
itude and Of joy. Sir, before God,
believe the hour is come -
Aud at the end of the Adams speech,
as MI Webster reproduces it, after the
words, independence now aud inde-
pendenco forever,' Mr Webster says:
And so that day shall be houored,
illustrious prophet and patriot So
that day shall be honored, and as often
as it returns thy renown shall come
along with it, and the glory of thy life,
like the day OF death. shall not fail
from the remembrance OF men. =
The reader will remember that by
one of those extraordinary coinci-
dences which staggcr men who try
to resolve history into myths Jefferson
aud Adams both died on the tiftieth
anniversary of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence.
In truth there was formal discus
sion in the continental congress, be-
ginning on the 1st Of July, on the
question of the Declaration. John
Dickinson wanted to place hinselr on
record. The delegates Just arrived
from New Jersey wanted to hear the
reasoning Oh both sides. There is no
record left Of that great days debate.
OF the friends of the resolution for
Independence
Lee, who had moved it, had been
called home; Mr.. jefferson was no
speaker George Wythe was sensible,
but not eloquent; Witberspoon was
clear, bnt trife heavy The debat-
ing talent must be admitted to have
preponderated On the opposite side.
1t claimed John Dickinson, James
Wilson. Robert r. Livingston of New
York and Edward RUtledge of South
Carolina.
These are Charles Francis Adams
words. Dickinson took part in the dis
cussion and spoke against immediate
Independence. and the duty of defend
ing the proposal fell naturally upon
John Adams. OF this speech, as really
made, not one word has been trans
initted to posterity. But the accounts
OF it agree in representing 1t as having
beenssin the highest class OF OratOcy.
Adams himself wrote to his wife on
the Sd Of July, after the final vote had
been taken Oh Lees resolution. 1t is
from this remarkable letter that Mr..
Webster has caught a few passages
which he has interviewer into his
sketch of the speech of Adams. In
this letter Adams says:
but the die is cast. The second
day OF July will be the most memor
able epocha in the history of America.
| am apt to believe that it will be cele
brated by succeeding generations as
the great an niversary festival. 1t
ought to be cOmmemOrated as the day
Of deliverance by solemn acts of devo-
tion to God Almighty. 1t ought to be
sOlemnized with pomp and parade,
with games. sports, guns, bells, bon
fires and Examinations, from one end
OF this continent to the other. from
this time forward forevermore. -
AS is we'll known, the celebration of
the 4th of July instead of the I'd comes
from the fact that on that day the
Declaration was signed by all the mem
bers present.
So soon as this was done a brOadside
WAS issued which was sent to the
Indifferent states The newspapers cop
led it Immediately. and it was read il
public assemblies, sometimes from the
original brOadside and sometimes from
the newspaper. The Declaration ar
rived in Boston with such speed that
it could be proclaimed on the 18th of
July. fortnight after it was signed.
An English officer, a prisoner in the
town at that time, describes the cele-
bratiOn:
''As we passed through the town,
we found it thronged. All were in
their holiday suits, every eye beamed
with delight and every tongue was III
rapid motion. The streets adjoining
the council chamber were lined with
detachments of infantry. toierably
equipped, while in front of the jail
(Court street, artillery was drawn up,
the gunners with lighted matches
The crowd opened lane for us, and
/ the troops gave us, as we mounted the
steps, the salute due to officers of our
rank. -
This unfortunate gentleman had been
invited, with other English officers in
Boston on parole. to be present at the
town-ho to witness the ceremonies
Exactly as the clock struck l, Colo
mel Thomas Crafts, who occupied the
chair, rose and read aloud the Declara
tion. This being finished, the gentle
men stood up and, each repeating the
words as they were spoken by az
] n6;oor ,,ro,o 70 ,pbo1I tho ri yhtc ~