Fifty-six men humbly paused. The stale summer’s heat in Independence Hall on July 4, 1776 was outmatched by the heaviness of a nearly unanimous vote. A declaration of independence lay before them, carrying with it the weight and price of liberty. The rumblings of the anxious crowd just outside the congress doors and the fate of their lives was now recorded— 12 “yes” and one “abstain.” Twelve votes to fight to the death. To fight a war with no supplies, no organized coalition, no time. To stand at the edges of towns with trembling knees, feeling the rumble of a massive militia pounding forward with daunting precision- step by step, tap by tap, pounding on the doors of hell.
John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Patrick Henry, George Washington and the other great men of the second Continental Congress sat in their frail chairs bearing the weight of their decision. They thrust their wives, children and fellow statesmen into a battle against the very country which gave them food to eat and tools to till their soil. These first Americans would be severed from the hand that fed them; left to defend themselves in the callous cold of the deep northeastern winters and the feral frontier craving demise upon their innocence.
The room was silent. Their silence indicated a perceptive and judicious grasp of the cost of liberty. The Declaration of Independence represented a unanimous voice of treason against the King and his country. Each signature meant an acceptance of the struggle that was inevitable- the blood to be shed, the families which will be torn apart, and a battle greater than David and Goliath. These men did not have stones; they only had the hope of stones that could be found.
But with hope came passion. A passion greater than the threat of death. England instilled mounting oppression like a thumb crushing an ant in the sand, and the cry of the first Americans became united. It was now worth it. The time to declare separation from the unjust tyranny had come. It was time to create their own path to prosperity.
It is ironic that the Declaration of Independence was met with paradoxical stillness in its first moments of birth. The Declaration represented a clear act of defiance. I imagine the silence was not because of its insignificance or its mystical purposes, but because of the very power of its existence- a country of free men, taking its providential place in the world, bearing the burden of instituting and defending liberty and happiness, establishing their immutable rights as humans— which is, in truth, the declaration of God-given life itself.
“We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. 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.”
(Concluding paragraph of the Declaration Of Independence)
To visually witness the sincerity of the Declaration's creation, watch these two short clips from the "John Adams" series by HBO:
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