If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom – go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!
—Samuel Adams, in a speech delivered at the State House in Pennsylvania on August 1, 1776—
Key point: In 2020, America needs a renewed understanding of authentic liberty—what it means and what it requires. Americans also need a renewed appreciation for it—and how rare it is in the world. Liberty, you see, isn’t the norm, but the exception. Why? Because without the underpinnings of an understanding of right and wrong, absolute truth, and morality, liberty quickly deteriorates into chaos. The signers of the Declaration of Independence give us a model for securing and maintaining liberty, not just in the principles they upheld, but also in how they upheld them. We need to recapture the Spirit of ’76!
This article is adapted from a previous post titled “Recapture the Spirit of ’76.” In it, my readers and I explore 12 qualities that characterized the Founders.
Let’s look at #10.
The Founders Were Unashamed of What They Believed
The Founding Fathers were unashamed. This truth is evident in this clip from an episode of the radio series “Makers of History.” The program, which spotlights the drafting and signing of the Declaration of Independence, can be downloaded from this page.
Narrator:
On July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress adopted Richard Henry Lee’s Resolution of Independence. Two days later, on July 4, Jefferson’s Declaration was adopted. It was not until August 2, 1776, however, that the Great Document was signed. We go now to the hall where the Congress is meeting on August 2.
John Hancock
Gentlemen of the Second Continental Congress, the Declaration of Independence is ready for your signatures. You have all read it. It has been adopted by your unanimous vote. The quill and the ink await your hands. Let there be no further delay.
applause
Here. I shall write my own name, John Hancock, in letters so large the King of England can read it across the ocean without his spectacles.
laughter
sound of quill against parchment
Benjamin Franklin, your signature. And let me remind you, sir, that you are committing an act of treason against His Majesty, George III.
Benjamin Franklin
Well my friend, we must hang together or we shall hang separately!
laughter
sound of quill against parchment
John Hancock
Charles Carroll of Maryland, your signature, sir.
Charles Carroll
And I am proud to affix it, John Hancock.
John Hancock
You’re safe enough in signing. There are so many Carrolls the British will not know which one of them is Charles Carroll.
Charles Carroll
Then look! I write the words Charles Carroll of Carrollton, so there can be no mistake about my identity.
sound of quill against parchment
applause
We do not know if the details of Charles Carroll’s signing the Declaration were as this radio program portrays them, but “we do know that Charles Carroll did in fact add ‘of Carrollton’ to his name and that for this tremendously wealthy signer – who with his signature pledged his life, fortune and sacred honor – there would be no hiding.”
Now, do not misunderstand. I do not believe in being foolish with regard to declaring what one believes. I know of a gentleman who uses a pseudonym for a Twitter handle because he knows he might be fired from his job if his employer knew of his convictions. Even so, this fact is not keeping him from telling the world what he thinks. We must be shrewd and wise, but we also must make sure we do not allow ourselves to be browbeaten into silence or rendered mute because we are afraid of the cost of expressing ourselves freely.
Today, in 2020, it’s more important than every that we speak out and defend the truth. Liberty is at stake!
In 2020, let’s recapture the Sprit of ’76!
top image credit: The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Armand-Dumaresq / 1873
This post copyright © 2020 by B. Nathaniel Sullivan. All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations cited in this article are from the King James Version.