The Washington times., 1911-07-04
THAT FIRST INDEPENDENCE
DAY RECALLED.

At distance of one hundred and
thirty years it is difficult to re,
alize the gloom and uncertainty which
hung over the country when the Dec.
laratien of Independence was adopted
by the delegates from the thirteen col
onies to the Second Continental Con.
gress, assembled in Philadelphia. Less
than a year before that time the Con-
gress had specifically denied any pur-
pose to break away from the mother
country. When Richard Henry Lee
acting upon instructions from Virginia
finally brought in his resolution declar-
ing that these united colonies are, and
of right ought to be, free and indie
pendent" the resolution was debated in
committee for two days, and on the
third day was adopted by the commit,
tee by a bare majority of one. 1t was
in order to obtain greater unanimity
among the members that the question
was postponed until July l, as the rep,
resentatives from Pennsylvania and
Maryland were instructed to oppose
the measure and others had received nc
instructions at all. The resolution was
finally adopted without the assent OF
Pennsylvania and Delaware.
But little more than two years had
elapsed, at that time, since the "em.
battled farmers" fired the shot at Lex,
ington heard round the world" and
among the harsh measures of repres.
sion adopted by King George was the
employment of Hessian mercenaries
This step not only aroused the Amer
leans, but enraged the more decent gov,
ernments of Europe. Frederick the
Great expressed his feelings by impos'
ing cattle-tax upon such of the Hes
slams as passed through his dominions
and long years afterward Napoleon
used the sale of these Hessians as a
preteXt for annexing the duchy to the
Kingdom of Westphalis. The incident
could not fail to stir the American
colonists, and this Indignation had
much to do with the adoption of the
resolution introduced by Lee.
Immediately upon its introduction a
committee was appointed to draw up a
formal declaration of independence
Upon the committee were placed
Thomas jefferson, John Adams, Benja.
min Franklin, Roger Sherman, and
Robert R. Livingston. While the i'm,
mortal instrument was before the
house, during the debate on the reso.
luton, several amendments to the text
were made. One of these was to strike
out the severe censure on 1.-THE people
of England" lest it might offend some
of our friends there"-and that we had
friends there" was evidenced by the
fact that when the news of Lexington
came, the recorder of London went into
mourning. The other amendment was
to strike out a reprobation of slavery
in Difference to South Carolina and
Georgia.
1t was the beginning of long strug
gle for liberty, in which, to a degre,
unsurpassed in the history of the
world, a scattered and ill-equippec
people fought for an ideal against
all conceivable odds, and finally brought
forth form of representative govern
ment until then untried on anything
like so large a scale. The date of tn,
signing of this Declaration, flung int
the face of a naughty and obstinat,
king, is the day we celebrate The les
sons it inspires of courage, patieno'
and self-reliance, of abiding faith il
the sanity and judgment of the people
are as forceful today as they were /.
century and third ago. 1t is entirel,
fitting that the bunting and flag
should stream from every cornice, an,
that in something more than a per
functory spirit we should greet thil
Independence Day.
THE RIGHT TO PRAY IN COM