Of the sixty American gentlemen in frosted wigs and silk stockings,
who sat in what is now Independence Hall in Philadelphia and composed
the Continental Congress, there was none more aristocratic by birth,
more democratic by nature, than Thomas Jefferson. Perhaps that was one
reason why they selected him to pen the Declaration of Independence,
adopted on July 4, 1776, which remains today America’s most sacred
historical document. He was sufficiently modest, however, to insist
that in writing the Declaration he simply put down the ideas prevalent
at the time.
This Continental Congress was the first body of men at that time
sitting in any of the parliaments of the world. These statesmen had the
courage to break an old order, the valor to maintain a new one, and the
wisdom to fortify it with laws and a constitution. The first and second
Congress of our nation comprised the flower of the character of that
age. As a whole body they ruled higher for talents, firmness, and good
judgment than any national assembly known to history.
So when it came to a division between allegiance to England and a
complete separation from the mother country, these men chose wisely,
bravely, and confidently. It was a big step to take, and a dangerous
one also. Hitherto the colonies had been merely fighting for “no
taxation without representation”; but now they would be fighting for
liberty. And, if conquered, the leaders could hope for no better fate
than execution as traitors.
It is related that when Benjamin Franklin lifted his pen, after signing
the Declaration of Independence, he turned to the assembly and said
with a grim smile:
“Now, gentlemen, we must all hang together, or we shall hang
separately.”
The Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776; but not
all the members of the Continental Congress signed it on that day. A
great many signed at later dates.
The old bell that rang out this message of liberty is now kept as an
almost sacred relic in Independence Hall. When the Pennsylvanians were
building their State edifice they ordered a bell from England. But
when it arrived they found that it had lost its voice and had to be
recast. A quotation was inscribed on the new bell, which, though chosen
a quarter of a century in advance of the Declaration of Independence,
showed the direction in which the thoughts of all the people of America
were even then turning--“Proclaim Liberty throughout the land unto all
the inhabitants thereof.” This quotation was taken from the tenth verse
of the twenty-fifth chapter of Leviticus.
The bell was afterward used on various occasions of national
importance; but was cracked in 1835 in tolling for the funeral of Chief
Justice Marshall, and since 1843 has never been sounded.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 1, No. 32, SERIAL No. 32
COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
[Illustration: THE ALAMO]
_HISTORIC SPOTS OF AMERICA_
_The Alamo_