July 4th, 1776

Sometimes we forget that by the time the Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia, the War of Indedepence had been underway for nearly a year. And, by the way, it had not been going well. Washington struggled to assemble something more than than a rag-tag collection of state militias; his goal of a Continental Army was still a ways off. On top of that, public opinion was split: one-third wanted independence, one-third wanted peace with the Empire, and one-third was ambivalent.

So when the Founding Fathers put their signatures to that document, they knew that they were putting not just their reputations on the line -- they knew their lives hung in the balance. As fractious as the debate was (and the whole issue of slavery was, in the end, deferred for another generation to resolve), as disappointing as it was for Jefferson to endure his document being edited by a committee, as badly as it might all have turned out, it was Franklin (as usual) who focused the attention of his colleagues, distilled the importance of the moment and blended it with his characteristic wit and his unique perspective of hope and irony:

John Hancock, President of the Second Continental Congress: "There must be no pulling different ways: we must all hang together."

Benjamin Franklin: "We must indeed all hang together, or most assuredly we will all hang separately."

God Bless America.

July 3, 2005