On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia presented a resolution to Congress asserting “these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states ...” Sound familiar?

Congress — the Second Continental Congress, not the same thing as the United States Congress created by the Constitution — finally accepted this simple but forceful resolution on July 2, making this the actual date of American independency.

In his enthusiasm for this momentous event, John Adams said the day “must be the most memorable epocha, in the history of America.” He thought that date “will be celebrated ... as the Day of Deliverance [to be] solemnized with Pomp and Parade ... and illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other … forever more.”

But Congress had foreseen that it would need much more than a simple “We’re outta here” bravado if America were to succeed as a brand new idea wrapped up in a brand new republic. So it was that on June 11 Congress appointed a Committee of Five to prepare a more elaborate statement of principles — both philosophical and juridical — to justify their brash movement to separate from the mother country.

Thus it came to pass that Thomas Jefferson, drawing on already familiar material, would write the Declaration of Independence that the committee, with a few slight editorial changes, would present to Congress on June 28. Congress, busy with waging war and debating Lee’s earlier resolution, simply set this committee report aside.

Upon deliberation Congress recognized Jefferson’s liberalities with historical reality and cut about one-fourth of his original manuscript. This final editing, approved on July 4, created the document that explains the creation of our new nation.

So it is this document crafted mostly by Jefferson, edited briefly by the Committee of Five and then more critically by the whole Congress, that we celebrate with pomp, parades and illuminations on the Fourth of July.

Paul M. Craig

Northampton 

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