38-year-old King George III ruled the largest empire that planet earth had ever seen.
The
Declaration of Independence, approved JULY 4, 1776, listed the reasons
why Americans declared their independence from the King:
"He has made judges dependent on his will alone...
He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies...
To subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution...
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us...
For imposing taxes on us without our consent...
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of trial by jury...
For...establishing...an arbitrary government...
For...altering fundamentally the forms of our governments...
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny...
He
has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to
bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages
whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all
ages, sexes and conditions..."
33-year-old Thomas Jefferson's original rough draft of the Declaration contained a line condemning slavery:
"He
has waged cruel war against human nature itself...in the persons of a
distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them
into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their
transportation thither...
suppressing
every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable
commerce determining to keep open a market where MEN should be bought
and sold."
A few delegates objected, and since the Declaration
needed to pass unanimously and time was running short with the British
invading New York, the line condemning slavery was unfortunately
omitted.
John
Hancock, the 39-year-old President of the Continental Congress, signed
the Declaration first, reportedly saying "the price on my head has just
doubled."
Next to sign was Secretary, Charles Thomson, age 47.
70-year-old Benjamin Franklin said:
"We must hang together or most assuredly we shall hang separately.
The Declaration referred to God:
"Laws of Nature and of NATURE'S GOD...
All Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their CREATOR with certain unalienable Rights...
Appealing to the SUPREME JUDGE OF THE WORLD for the rectitude of our intentions..."
"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."
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Many of the 56 signers sacrificed their prosperity for their posterity.
Of the Signers:
11 had their homes destroyed;
5 were hunted and captured;
17 served in the military; and
9 died during the war.
27-year-old George Walton signed, and at the Battle of Savannah was wounded and captured.
Signers
Edward Rutledge, age 27, Thomas Heyward, Jr., age 30, and Arthur
Middleton, age 34, were made prisoners at the Siege of Charleston.
38-year-old
signer Thomas Nelson had his home used as British headquarters during
the siege of Yorktown. Nelson reportedly offered five guineas to the
first man to hit his house.
Signer Carter Braxton, age 40, lost his fortune during the war.
42-year-old
signer Thomas McKean wrote that he was "hunted like a fox by the enemy,
compelled to remove my family five times in three month."
46-year-old Richard Stockton signed and was dragged from his bed at night and jailed.
50-year-old signer Lewis Morris had his home taken and used as a barracks.
50-year-old signer Abraham Clark had two sons tortured and imprisoned on the British starving ship Jersey.
More Americans died on British starving ships than died in battle during the Revolution.
53-year-old signer John Witherspoon's son, James, was killed in the Battle of Germantown.
60-year-old signer Philip Livingston lost several properties to British occupation and died before the war ended.
63-year-old signer Francis Lewis had his wife imprisoned and treated so harshly, she died shortly after her release.
65-year-old signer John Hart had his home looted and had to remain in hiding, dying before the war ended.
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41-year-old John Adams wrote of the Declaration:
"I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding generations, as the great anniversary Festival.
It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.
It
ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shews, games,
sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one End of this
Continent to the other from this time forward forever more."
John Adams continued:
"You will think me transported with enthusiasm but I am not.
I
am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure, that it will cost us
to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States.
Yet
through all the gloom I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory.
I can see that the end is more than worth all the means.
And that Posterity will triumph in that Days Transaction, even although we should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not."
When 54-year-old Samuel Adams signed the Declaration, he said:
"We
have this day restored the SOVEREIGN to whom all men ought to be
obedient. He reigns in heaven and from the rising to the setting of the
sun, let His kingdom come."
34-year-old
James Wilson signed the Declaration. He later signed the Constitution
and was appointed to Supreme Court by George Washington. James Wilson
stated in 1787:
"After a period of 6,000 years since creation,
the United States exhibit to the world THE FIRST INSTANCE of a
nation...assembling voluntarily...and deciding...that system of
government under which they and their posterity should live."
John
Jay was President of the Continental Congress, 1778-1779, and later
nominated by George Washington to be the First Chief Justice of Supreme
Court. John Jay wrote in 1777:
"The Americans are the FIRST
PEOPLE whom Heaven has favored with an opportunity of...choosing the
forms of government under which they should live. All other
constitutions have derived their existence from violence or accidental
circumstances."
Daniel Webster stated in 1802:
"Miracles
do not cluster, and what has HAPPENED ONCE IN 6,000 YEARS, may not
happen again. Hold on to the Constitution, for if the American
Constitution should fail, there will be anarchy throughout the world."
PRAYERS AND PRESIDENTS-Inspiring Faith from Leaders of the Past
President Calvin Coolidge stated in 1924:
"The
history of government on this earth has been almost entirely...rule of
force held in the HANDS OF A FEW. Under our Constitution, America
committed itself to power in the HANDS OF THE PEOPLE."
Calvin Coolidge stated July 5, 1926:
"The
principles...which went into the Declaration of Independence...are
found in...the sermons...of the early colonial clergy... They preached
equality because they believed in the fatherhood of God and the
brotherhood of man.
They justified freedom by the text that we are all created in the Divine image."
Ronald Reagan stated 1961:
"In
this country of ours took place the GREATEST REVOLUTION that has ever
taken place IN THE WORLD'S HISTORY - Every other revolution simply
exchanged one set of rulers for another...
Here for the first
time in all the THOUSANDS OF YEARS of man's relation to man...the
founding fathers established the idea that you and I had within
ourselves the God-given right and ability to determine our own destiny."
British Edwardian writer G.K. Chesterton stated in "What is America":
"
America
is the ONLY NATION IN THE WORLD that is founded on creed. That creed
is set forth...in the Declaration of Independence..
that all men are equal in their claim to justice, that governments exist to give them that justice...
It
certainly does condemn...atheism, since it clearly names the CREATOR
as the ultimate authority from whom these equal rights are derived."
America's God and Country Encyclopedia of Quotations
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