Comments on: Independence Day

By: Bryan

Bryan — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 00:27:13 +0000

Thirty months in Allenwood is a vacation compared to 30 days at Valley Forge or Iraq.

By: Steve Bates

Steve Bates — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 23:24:47 +0000

Hanging, torture, you-name-it, one or more of our founders experienced just about any kind of cruelty you could think of. Many finished their lives in poverty. One, whose name escapes me at the moment, is said to have authorized Washington to fire cannon at his own house, which the British had commandeered as a headquarters. Lives and fortunes were lost, as surely as sacred honor was kept.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 16:39:03 +0000

Hanging was a very real threat, as was the seizure of all assets, which would leave any children fatherless and destitute. It was a very dangerous position to take.

By: Jim Bales

Jim Bales — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 02:02:31 +0000

I recall some years ago explaining to a friend (when we were still in grad school) that Franklin was not engaging in hyperbole when he said, "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."

By: Bryan

Bryan — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 19:59:59 +0000

The thing that people miss is that this was, in many ways, a suicide pact if the Revolution had failed. Everyone who signed the Declaration had marked themselves for a charge of treason, which would have ended with a noose.

They were willing to risk everything to maintain their rights, and we can’t even convince people to vote.

This was not a good holiday to despoil with the Libby clemency.

By: Jack K

Jack K — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 14:47:05 +0000

…I still get a bit goose-bumpy every year when I listen to the ensemble reading on NPR’s Morning Edition. This morning in particular, I couldn’t help reflecting for a moment on that part about “any form of government becoming destructive of these ends”, given the brutal swirl of events that have enveloped us. The courage of those men who signed their names to that document could stand as an object lesson to some of today’s national leaders…

By: Alice

Alice — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 13:49:56 +0000

When you consider when it was written and what it accomplished, it truly is an amazing document.