The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-07-04

New York, July B. This is the day
of patriotism and the fire-cracker. Every
one-old citizen or new arrival-cele-
brates. One and all know there is just
cause for the celebration, but few realize
the great and glorious facts. They are
facts that make every one who really
can say he is a citizen of the United
States feel as proud as it is possible for
a human being to feel the stimulus of
pride.
Just one hundred and twenty-one years
ago the bell rang in Independence Hall
in Philadelphia. To the uninitiated it
>nealed its sonorous notes for seme .un-
known purpose To those, who, breath
less. were waiting for the sound, it told
the news that liberty had shaken off her
shackles in the New World, that she had
taken her rightful place and that here
after the people would acknowledge the
power Of no ruler except such as might be
chosen by themselves. 1t was curious
scene in that staid old Quaker town, the
lat place in the colonies where one would
b Pc suspected spark would be given
birth to light freedoms torch throughout
the western hemispRHe.
It was on the III day of June, 1776,
that the delegates from the colonies, sit
tkg in Congress in Philadelphia, con-
ST he'd the following resolution intro
ducLd by Virginia's statesman, Richard
Henry Lee:
aResolyed. That the United Colonies
are and ought to be free and independent
States and their political connection with
Great Britain is and ought to be dis
solved"
There had been murmurings and
threats and calm expressions OF deter
mination. But here was united action.
The people, by their representatives., duly
chosen, formally absolved themselves
from allegiance from the mother country,
and said to the world that they had cast
off their swaddling clothes, they were
now wholly able to walk alone. 10
speak with absolute truth, all the dele
gates did not favor this progressive step.
Some opposed it on the ground that 1t
was premature. Others, and among
them some of the brightest spirits OF the
assemblage, both spoke and voted against
the resolution.
Nevertheless the resolution overcane
opposition and was endorsed, as stated,
by the majority of one. Thirteen colonies
were represented. Because seven OF them
voted and stood for independence, the
United Stats is to-day what she is. Sub
sequent developments prove that had the
action taken been delayed, the question
of independence might have slept in peace
until the herald Of the people, no one
knows how many years after, sounded
the tocsin Of revolution. The delegates
thought it wise to defer the question OF
final consideration to July j, 1776, by
which lime they believed there might be
a more united feeling among the people.
Thus it was that on June II, that IA
NOUS committee was appointed to frame
the Declaration of Independence. Note
the names, and if you are a student Of
the history OF the United States, conceive
il you can of better quintette to have
represented the American people: Benja-
min Franklin, John Adams, Thomas
Jefferson, Roger Sherman, Robert r.
Livingston. The first was the man whose
fame is licked into our ears every time
whenever we enjoy the illumination Of
electricity The second rose to be Presi-
dent of the nation he helped to form.
The third is the father of what the world
knows as Jeffersonian Democracy. The
fourth, puritan, patriot, leader, gave
more III moral force and determination,
in knowledge of the law and its common
sense principles than almost any man
who assisted at the birth Of the nation
The fifth was the man Of whom the ma "a
tie, gid yet there was none who bette tie.
.desavad a place of honor in the public
nin3 Eminent as financier, shrewd
udgA Of human nature, his touch on the
nelm l9f state was exactly what was
need 10 keep the young craft on her
81 rse. ,. -
Jefferson had spoken but little IN Con
;as which then prevailed. In a plain
brick house, corner of Market and
seventh streets, Philadelphia. he drafted
the Declaration Of Independence. The
work was almost wholly Jefferson's, only
a few verbal alterations being suggested
by Adams and Franklin. 1t then was