The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1899-06-28
FOURTH OF JULY, ITS.

If we could look back to the I'd OF
July, 1776, sweeping aside the years
that lie between. 97d see in the sultry
streets of Philadelphia the procession
of patriots who founded our republic
moving thoughtfully toward the old
State house. we would see a band of
men the equal in intellect and appear
ance of any in the worlds history
forefathers of whom we have right
10 be proud. One was Franklin, 1.-THE
venerable father of science in the
new world" simple, with excessive
cultivation. philosophic and modest,
she looked with composure. at least
without regret, upon the act of indie
pendence."
And there was Thomas Jefferson,
the thin, dark, gray eyed Nirginian.
still young nj SO, a Democrat of the
severest culture, yet the most radical
of republicans, n friend of the people.
who was yet to give fifty years more
of the work OF his swift. incisive intel
lect to his country. Human equality
was the theory that engrossed him.
Here he abhorred the selfishness of
caste, and in Europe he saw only the
sorrows and degradation of the many
under the heel Of the favored and idle
few. In France, which to some of his
eminent countrymen, even Franklin
and John Adams, seemed the land of
pleasure, he saw only the helpless peo-
nj of VI
then that he wrote TO friend in
America. above all things educate
the people" He saw clearly that no
free institutions could exist without
knowledge: that the schoolmaster
must rule in his new nation or 1t must
perish. Like Franklin, jefferson was
no speaker. He sat silent In the seS-
sions of congress. On that memorable
I'd of July he took no part in the de-
bate. but he wrote with wonderful fire
and grace, and to his burning pen was
committed the task Of preparing that
immortal document, Declaration of In
dependence. which enforced for all
ages the doctrine OF universal freedom.
Another equally ardent republican
from Virginia, Richard Henry Lee,was
absent from the congress. Born to
wealth and ease. he longed for a re-
public in which were no cruel distinc-
tions separating man from man. But
Patrick Henry was there.
And tire. too, was John Adams, Of
Massachusetts. he who in early life
had pinned for an ideal elevation above
his fellows. He had spent twenty
years in Philadelphia, Paris, London
and the Hague. and was yet unsatis-
fed. He was now 40 years old, and as
a speaker he helped forward the new
republic.
A greater orator from Massachusetts
was absent. James Otis. to whom
might well be applied the name of the
creator of the theory Of independence.
He was at home a hopeless maniac,
made so by a blow from n Tory OppOn-
scarcely saw the revolution of which
ent. His brilliant mind clouded. he
he had been with Lee and Samuel
Adams. the chief promoter.
But of all of the advocates of indie
pendence. Samuel Adams was, per-
haps, the most powerful. The most
ardent of republicans was he. He was
poor and knew many privations. and
vet condemned money. Honors. emol-
uments, and even power he never
sought. But TO the cause of independ-
ence he gave his time and ability.
Long before his contemporaries spoke
% hn hn 81 nf
that was destined to shine over Amer
lea.
Robert Treat Paine and Elbridge
Gerry were there; Francis Lightfoot
Lee, Richard Henry Lees younger
brother the gay and good-humored,
was there; Benjamin Harrison father
of future president, was there, chair
man of the committee Of the whole,
which has just reported on the Decla-
ration. The mild and phllanthropc
Carter Braxton was there in place of
the late lamented Peyton Randolph
the first president Of the continental
congress, who had died six or seven
months before. And there, too, was
the noble hearted Thomas Nelson, Of
Virginia. He was the mover of these
instructions in the convention of Vir-
ginia, passed on May 10, under which
Richard Henry Lee offered the original
resolution Of independence, on June
z. And there could be seen the stur-
dy front of Roger Sherman, native Of
Massachusetts, but then a delegate
from Connecticut, "that old Puritan,
as honest as an angel, and as firm in
the cause of American independence
as Mount Atlas" said John Adams.
And who can overlook the stalwart fig
ure of Samuel Chase, of Maryland?
His gentle colleague, Charles Carroll,
was absent, but signed the declaration
on August .. Caesar Rodney was
there, and Arthur Middleton, Of South
Carolina, and the eloquent Edward
Rutledge.
And Richard Stockton, OF New Jer-
sey, who had doubted the propriety Of