4th of July 2024: “Home of the free because of the brave”
The 4th of July is certainly a time to celebrate with friends and family America’s independence. You may want to catch the fireworks and parades in your local area, or watch the always great 4th of July concert broadcast on PBS at 8 p.m. Everyone can enjoy the day!
You may also want to spend a few minutes thinking about the history of Declaration. From our 21st century vantage, it is easy to forget how dangerous it was to confront what was then the greatest military power in the world.
The risk the signers took
In signing the Declaration, the delegates said: “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.” But how much risk were they really taking? A lot. As journalist Kay Johnson explains:
By signing the document, the 56 men risked high treason against the King of England. In essence, they signed their death warrants because that was the penalty. However, death was not simple or quick. It was a process. First, the guilty party was to be hanged until unconscious. Then cut down and revived. Then disembowled and beheaded. Then cut in quarters. Each quarter was to be boiled in oil. The remnants were scattered abroad so the last resting place of the offender would remain forever unnamed, unhonored and unknown.
In addition to death, all of the offender’s earthly goods were confiscated by the state. The family could own no property and this dictate extended to future heirs. In the words of Shakespeare, “For the sins of your fathers, you, though guiltless, must suffer.”
Are today’s Americans still willing to make the sacrifices to defend the country? Last October, the Daily Mail reported that “J.L. Partners asked 1000 likely voters: ‘Assume there is an invasion of America by another country and they were on the brink of victory.’ You can either almost certainly die fighting for your country, or surrender and survive. What would you do?'” While overall 64% of the respondents said they would die fighting, only 51% of those 18-29 agreed.
Obviously, there is work to be done in educating young Americans about the sacrifices living in free society can require. May I suggest that Rick Atkinson’s magnificent book, The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777, can help us all understand the enormous risks and sacrifices America’s founding required.
A footnote on the history of the Declaration: the “Dunlap Broadside”
Today, there are many ways people can learn about the Declaration and the history that goes with it. But in 1776 how did many if not most people learn about the Declaration? In an era when communication was difficult, news was often spread by the use of “broadsides.”
They were, as the Library of Congress describes, them, “single sheets of paper, printed on one side only” that were “[o]ften quickly and crudely produced in large numbers and distributed free in town squares, taverns, and churches.” Broadsides were “intended to have an immediate popular impact and then to be thrown away” and “[h]istorically, broadsides have been used to inform the public about current news events, publicize official proclamations.”
News of the Declaration was spread by the “Dunlap Broadside.” As the Library of Congress: says:
“John Dunlap, official printer to the Continental Congress, produced the first printed versions of the American Declaration of Independence in his Philadelphia shop on the night of July 4, 1776. After the Declaration had been adopted by the Congress earlier that day, a committee took the manuscript document, possibly Thomas Jefferson’s “fair copy” of his rough draft, to Dunlap for printing. On the morning of July 5, copies were dispatched by members of Congress to various assemblies, conventions, and committees of safety as well as to the commanders of Continental troops. Also on July 5, a copy of the printed version of the approved Declaration was inserted into the “rough journal” of the Continental Congress for July 4. The text was followed by the words “Signed by Order and in Behalf of the Congress, John Hancock, President. Attest. Charles Thomson, Secretary.” It is not known how many copies of what came to be called “the Dunlap broadside” were printed on the night of the fourth. Twenty-five copies are known to exist: 20 owned by American institutions, two by British institutions, and three by private individuals.”
Photo credit: Joy Dunlap
In case you were wondering: as far as I am aware, I’m no relation to John Dunlap. BTW, for more fun facts and other interesting info, you may want to check out my wife Joy’s 2021 4th of July post: 13 Fourth of July Facts, Fun and Freedom Offerings. (Sample: of the 56 signers, 25 were lawyers!)
Concluding thoughts
Though I’ve mentioned it in previous posts, allow me to say again that in my view, one of the finest 4th of July speeches was given by President Ronald Reagan in 1986. Here’s part of it that I think resonates especially these days:
My fellow Americans, it falls to us to keep faith with them and all the great Americans of our past. Believe me, if there’s one impression I carry with me after the privilege of holding for 5 1/2 years the office held by Adams and Jefferson and Lincoln, it is this: that the things that unite us — America’s past of which we’re so proud, our hopes and aspirations for the future of the world and this much-loved country — these things far outweigh what little divides us. And so tonight we reaffirm that Jew and [G]entile, we are one nation under God; that [B]lack and [W]hite, we are one nation indivisible; that Republican and Democrat, we are all Americans. Tonight, with heart and hand, through whatever trial and travail, we pledge ourselves to each other and to the cause of human freedom, the cause that has given light to this land and hope to the world.
Have a wonderful day, and God Bless the U.S.A.!
