It’s only March and I’m already looking forward to the Fourth of July with great anticipation. Yes, July 4th is my favorite “patriotic” holiday because it celebrates — it commemorates — the courage of our Patriot ancestors in breaking ties with the strongest empire at this time, Great Britain. And while I’ve documented the accumulated grievances the colonists had endured at the hands of an absentee government, taking the formal step to sever the relationship was certainly bold.

What were the possible consequences of a failed rebellion? We can enumerate several significant consequences based on the historical record. The colonists certainly would have faced even more strict regulation by Parliament and King George III and the British military presence would have increased. The leaders of the rebellion would have faced martial law and, as Ben Franklin had famously quipped, certainly been hanged together in public ceremonies. Benedict Arnold, the most notorious of all Revolutionary War traitors, would have become an English hero, and our national heroes would instead have been labeled as traitors.

Perhaps the most far-reaching effect would have been the stifling of revolutionary movements across the world, many inspired by Thomas Jefferson’s pen and those stirring words.

So, after months of strenuous debate and indecision, how did the summer of 1776 evolve into the summer of revolution?

Jefferson and the committee (strategically chosen for personal influence and geographic diversity) presented the final draft to the Second Continental Congress, and the tone of the debate grew even more heated. Jefferson had dared to include a controversial grievance clause castigating George III for allowing slave trade between the African lands, the Caribbean colonies, and the English colonies in North America. South Carolina’s delegates were enraged that Jefferson, a Virginian and a slave owner, would criticize the slave trade. They found some support among the New England delegates who knew their shipping merchants often profited from the slave trade. After John Adams’ counsel, the clause was removed. (Interestingly, Adams was a devote abolitionist who chose to delay the issue of slavery until the new country could be formed. And, of course, it would be pushed forward at the Constitutional Convention.)

On July 2, 1776, the delegates voted to affirm Richard Henry Lee’s resolution for independence. The debate over the wording of the Declaration of Independence continued until July 4, when the Congress voted once again and approved the final document with its numerous changes.

We were almost there!

The final draft was sent to Timothy Matlack to be “engrossed,” which simply means to be copied onto parchment in a beautifully stylized calligraphy. On August 2, John Hancock famously signed the document with that daring dash of his name that spoke confidence into the hearts of the delegates. Fifty of the 56 men signed that same day. Those who were absent from the session eventually signed, including Elbridge Gerry, Lewis Morris, and Thomas McKean. Poor Matthew Thornton, a New Hampshire delegate who had attended the Congress, was unable to sign because the New Hampshire section did not provide enough room for all the delegates to sign. If you look closely at the document, you’ll notice that the delegates signed in the order of the colonies, from north to south, with Georgia’s delegates signing last.

When the announcement came that the Declaration had been adopted, horsemen raced across the colonies with the news, while church bells sounded the news along with cannon fire. (I’m encouraging all churches to ring those bells at noon on July 4 — make a note on your calendar!) George Washington, afield with his troops, had the Declaration read to his men and later recalled that the stirring words strengthened his troops’ resolve to fight for independence.

Thomas Jefferson, almost 50 years later in a letter to Henry Lee, recalled those historic moments, identifying the goal of the Declaration of Independence as “Not to find out new principles, or new arguments, never before thought of, not merely to say tings which had never been said before; but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent, and to justify ourselves in the independent start we are compelled to take. … All its authority rests then on the harmonizing sentiments of the day, whether expressed in conversation, in letters, printed essays, or in the elementary books of public right, as Aristotle, Cicero, Locke, Sidney.”

John Adams agreed. In an 1818 letter to H. Niles, Adams recalled: “What do we mean by the American Revolution? Do we mean the American war? The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people.”

Would that we, as citizens of this nation, join in that stirring of emotion and action evidenced during the summer of ‘76 — that we will stand strong and continue the fight for liberty, equality, and justice!