The Saint Paul globe., 1897-07-04


NEW YORK, July 3-We are on the
eve of the day of patriotism and the
firecracker. Every 5one+old citizen or
new arriVal-celebratesa One and all
know there is just cause for the cele-
bration, but few realize, the great and
glorious facts. There 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
beng to feel the stimulus of pride.
Just 121 years ago the bell rang in
independence hall in Philadelphia. To
the uninitiated it pealed it's sonorous
notes for some unknown purpose. To
those who, breathless, were waiting
for the sound, it told the news that
liberty had shaken foff her shackles
in the New World, that she had taken
her rightful place, and that hereafter
the people would acknowledge the DOW
er of no ruler except such as might be
chosen by themselves. 1t was a curl
GUS scene in that staid old Quaker
town, the last place in the colonies
where one would have suspected g.
spark would be given birth to light
freedoms torch throughout the West
ern hemisphere.
1t was on the 7th day of June, 1776,
that the delegates from the colonies
sitting in congress in Philadelphia con-
sidered the following resolution in
troduced by Virginia's statesman,
Richard Henry Lee:
Resolved, That the United Colonies are and
ought to be free and independent states and
Dit -,
is and ought to be dissolved.
There had been murmurings and
threats and calm expressions of de-
termina ton. But here was united ac-
ton. The people, by their representa-
tlves duly chosen, formally absolved
themselves from allegiance to the
mother country and said to the world
that they had cast off their swad-
ding clothes, they were now wholly
able to walk alone. To speak with
absolute truth, all the delegates did
not favor this progressive step. Some
opposed it on the ground that it was
premature. Others, and among them
some of the brightest spirits of the as
semblage, both spoke and voted against
the resolution. !i-:.4s
Nevertheless the resolution overcame
opposition and was endorsed, as stated
by the majority of one. Thirteen
colonies were represented. Because
seven of them voted and stood for in
dependence, the United States is to-
day what she is. Subsequent develop
ments prove that had the action taken
been. delayed, the question of inde-
pendence might have slept in peace un-
til 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 1, 1776, by
which time they believed there might
be more united feeling among the
people.
Thus. it was that on June IL, that
famous committee was appointed to
frame the Declaration of independence.
Note the names, and If you are stu
dent of the history Of the United
States, conceiiYe. if y9p can Of "a better
quintette to have represented the
American people: Benjamin Franklin,
John Adams. Thomas Jefferson, Roger
Sherman, Robert r.. Livingston. The
first was the man whose fame is tick
ed into our. ears every time we hear
a telegraph instrument, whose genius.
is placed in broad light whenever we
enjoy the Illumination of electricity.
The second rose to be president of the
nation he helped to form. The third
Is the father of what the world knows
as Jeffersonian democracy. The fourth,
moral force, and determination, in
knowledge of the law and it's common
sense principles than almost any man
who assisted at the birth of the ma
ton. The fifth was the man of whom
the majority of people know compara-
lively little, and yet there was none
who better deserved a place of honor
in the public mind. Eminent as a
fnancier, a shrewd judge of human
nature, his touch on the helm of state
was exactly what was needed to keep
the young craft on her course.
jefferson had spoken hut little III
congress and he had no part in the
acrmonies which then prevailed. III
plain brick house, corner of Market
and Seventh streets, Philadelphia, he
drafted the Declaration of Independ-
ence. The work was almost wholly
Jefferson's, only a few verbal altera-
tons being suggested by Adams and
Franklin. 1t then was approved by
the committee. A few passages were
struck out by congress.
Caesar Rodney. one of Delaware's
delegates, in order to have his vote
recorded, rode in the saddle from a