INDEPENDENCE HALL
HISTORIC SPOTS OF AMERICA
Independence Hall
FOUR
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selected him to pen the Declaration of Independence, adopted on July 4, 1776, which remains today America’s most sacred historical document.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: