The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-07-04
THE FOURTH OF JULY AND WHAT II MEANS Story of Signing of DecIara-
 ton of Independence NATIONS CEREAL HOLIDAY Last Year More Than 2ooo Were h. jured Celebrating, and Today's
 Casualty List Remains to
 Computed.
NATIONS CEREAL HOLIDAY
BY FREDERIC ]. HAskIN.

1 One hundred and thirty-one years ago
 today half hundred earnest men repre- senting thirteen oppressed and restless
 colonies declared those colonies free and
 independent states. It was a grave step
 to take, but Englands King had forced it l on them by continued enactment of op- l pressive measures, and by disregarding
 the rights that the Magma Charta guaran-
 teed all subjects of his realm. On June ' Richard Henry Lee, representing the 1 people of Virginia, the leading colony of
 the new world, rose in the old state house
 in Philadelphia where Congress was sit
 ting and moved, as instructed by the gen
 eral assembly of his colony. that these 1 united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states; that 1 they are absolved from all allegiance to | the British crown; and that all connec- l ton between them and the state of Great 1 Britain Is, and ought to be, totally dis
 solved; that measures should be immedi-
 ately taken for procuring the assistance
 of foreign powers, and a confederation be formed to bind the colonies more closely 1 together"
 l Hardly had he finished reading before
 John Adams of Massachusetts, for many years an advocate of American independ.
 ence. rose to second the motion. Next day the motion was taken into consid-
 eration and referred to committee of the whole. On June 10 it was voted that the consideration of Lees resolution be set
 for Monday, July l, and a committee be
 appointed to draft a declaration to the effect of this resolution. On June Il the committee was named. It consisted of Thomas Jefferson. chairman; John Adams, | Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert Livingston. Since Richard Henry Lee had made the resolution he should 1 have been named as chairman of this committee but his wife growing suddenly i'll, he was called home the evening be-
 fore. Some hint that there was politics back of it. too.
 Jefferson was appointed by the other
 members of the committee to write the
 important document, which would set forth to the world the specific reasons why the colonies should throw off the yoke Of England. He repaired to the home of MT. Gratz, on the corner of High and Seventh streets, Philadelphia
 and after a small wooden desk was made
 for him, began the task of voicing the
 sentiments of the people of the colonies
 in as brief paper as possible. MT. Jef- ferson worked in front room on the sec
 ond floor of the Gratz residence, and was from June Il to June 2S in writing and revising this memorable document When completed the Declaration contained lO42 words
 It is a simple, powerful document. "We
 hold these truths to be self-evident' he wrote, that all men are created equal; that they are all endowed by their Creator
 with inherent and inalienable rights; that
 among these are life, liberty and the pur- suit of happiness"
 Enemies of Jefferson have contended
 that it lacks originality but he claimed
 no originality for it. He merely embodied In it the crystalized thoughts and sent-
 ments of the masses in the colonies, Yoic- ing the spirit of revolt and resentment against the unjust taxes. the writs of as sistance, the sending of mercenaries to be quartered the colonists and other like wrongs. Followers of Tom Paine have arisen to say that the instrument
 so revered by Americans is nothing more
 nor less than a digest of Paine,s aCom- | nonsense" and that Jefferson was merc- l ly copyist. When the instrument had l been finished by JeffersGn he submitted l it first to Adams and Franklin who re- l vised it to some extent, changing or strik- ] ing out about 100 words. It was. then or
 fered the rest of the committee, who took 1 it as the three had framed it.
 ! On June 2S the Declaration of Independ- ence was presented to Congress. read and | ordered to lie on the table. On July 1 i Congress resolved itself into a committee 1 of the whole and resumed its considera- | ton. There was some dissension. Through | the motion of Rutledge of South Caro- | lima further voting was postponed. on
 July Richard Henry Lees motion was | adopted, making that day really the lnde- | pendence Day of the nation, for in that | formally 1 clared. July and 4, as well as much Of | the night of the Sd, were spent in dis 1 cussing the paper that the committee had
 framed. At ? o'clock on the afternoon of l the 4th the declaration, with sundry | amendments, was adopted.
 i There are many pretty traditions con
 nected with this that have to be shat 1 tered Thomas Jefferson declares that as soon a 1t was passed all the delegates | gathered around and signed it, except l MT Dickinson" while the Journal clearly 1 shows that it was signed only by John l Hancock as president and attested by l Charles Thomson clerk, the signatures 1 being affixed July 3. This contradiction l may be explained by the fact that MT. Jefferson made his notes many years after | when he was an old man. and his state | ment is doubtless a mistake, due to lapse l of memory. There no gathering of 1 over-joyed citizens to hear the news, nor l did a small boy run to an aged grand | father waiting at the Liberty Bell and cry, Ring, grandfather. ring!" There was l a rumor abroad that Lees resolution had | been carried, but the sessions had been l in secret and the Philadelphia papers of l the 5th made no mention of the great | fact
 1 The bell rang on July 8, 1716. when the | first celebration of Independence Day was held. On that day the great docu- | ment was first publicly read by John | Nixon of the council of safety of Penn l sylvania, the reader standing in the ob- | servatory in the state house yard. On l July the document was read to Wash l ingtons army in New York by an aide, | and enthusiastic citizens overthrow the l statue of George III and ordered the lead
 made into bullets to fight the British. On 1 July r 1t was read in Boston, on July 20 l In Williamsburg, Va, on Aug. in Charleston, and Aug. 10 in Savannah. The | programme of the first celebrations con l sisted of reading the great paper, build l ing bonfres and ringing bells In 1i6 , the population of the embryo republic was approximately 2,7O0oo0.
 | On July congress ordered that copy of the Declarati ton of Independence be en- crossed and presented to every member of the, congress for signature. This was done. and on Aug. ?, 1776, the signatures ! as they are known to all patriotic Amer | jeans were affixed. Congress then had | ffty-four members, some of whom had