"I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him.” President Abraham Lincoln
July 3, 2013
By: Linda Case Gibbons
I was there when militia officer Col. John Nixon read the Declaration of Independence aloud in public for the first time. It was in front of the State House (now Independence Hall) and what a glorious day it was!
The day was July Eighth, the Year of Our Lord 1776 in the City of Philadelphia, a proud city founded with a strong belief in democracy and religious freedom.As I looked down at the assembled crowd, I could see the joy on their faces, the tears, and yes, the fear in their eyes.
"The Declaration of Independence has been adopted on July 4, 1776,” was the news and by next morning copies were on their way to all thirteen colonies by horseback.
Those were times when a man spoke his mind and I was proud of them all for never hesitating to do so.
It mattered not what was at stake or what a man stood to lose. They never hesitated. Conviction, belief and love of country and freedom, these were stronger than any of these men’s fears.
I was there in Philadelphia on June 7, 1776 when Continental Congressman Richard Henry Lee bravely declared "these United Colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent States,” and I was there until the day when the Declaration of Independence was complete.
Ah, you should have seen the city and the comings and goings of the men who travelled to the City of Brotherly Love. They were breaking ties with England and their task was a sober one. They were deciding the future of these colonies forever more.
They came to debate and ultimately to sign a document that would not only seal their fates, but that of all thirteen colonies which they represented.
I saw them when they arrived and I saw them when they committed to the solemn act of affixing their names to the document they had helped fashion, an act they knew was a treasonous one punishable by death.
I remember hearing Benjamin Franklin aptly say to his colleagues, "We must indeed all hang together or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.”
For it was well known that the British had offered an award for the capture of any of the Sons of Liberty.
John Hancock, one of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence was a member of the Sons of Liberty.
His response to British threats? His was the largest of the signatures, which he placed prominently in the center of the document. As he raised his pen to sign, he commented, "The British ministry can read that name without spectacles; let them double their reward.”
Preachers, farmers and lawyers. Merchants, doctors and educators. These men knew they could not and would not do less than defend this newly created union, even to the death.
They were willing to die for Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, rights they proudly acknowledged to be endowed by their Creator.
I saw them firsthand and they were a remarkable gathering of intelligent, religious and ethically minded men. But most of all they were patriots.
These men were not new to the fight for Liberty. They had opposed King George III and the tyrannical laws and taxes levied upon the colonies by England for many years.
I watched with interest the man called Samuel Adams, leader of the Sons of Liberty and a patriot who opposed the Stamp Act of 1765. He impressed me with the persuasiveness of his rhetoric, rhetoric that stands the test of time so that it applies today as much as it did then.
"If our trade be taxed, why not our lands, or produce…in short, everything we possess? They tax us without having legal representation.”
Samuel Adams stood tall and the British noticed. They promised that they would not punish Colonists who would stop fighting against them, all except Samuel Adams and John Hancock.
But these remarkable men did not hesitate.
I myself raised my voice on July 8, 1776 from the tower of the State House, and that, too, I remember well. In my "strike note of e-flat,” and all 2000 pounds of molten metal, I rang out the good news, my joyful chimes joining many others across Philadelphia.
I was proud of the quotation emblazoned on me for all to see. From the Bible, it read "Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.” Leviticus 15:10.
Thereafter I was called "The Liberty Bell.” I liked the name because of what the word means: the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one’s way of life.”
Good, because from this country’s very beginnings, we have always fought for Liberty.
I was there through it all. Silent at times, it is true, during the British occupation of Philadelphia, for instance, when I was carried out of the State House to protect me from being melted down and made into bullets!
I was there in 1765 to ring a warning of the approach of an English ship delivering stamped paper to implement the hated Stamp Act, in 1768 to attract thousands to protest the Townshend duties, in 1773 to protest the Tea Act and in 1774 to protest the Coercive Acts.
I was adopted by the Anti-Slavery Movement in 1837 and became a symbol of unity after the tragic pitting of brother against brother in our Civil War.
I travelled far and wide across this great nation to foster the unity that has always been needed in our country to lift men’s spirits and to fan the fires of Liberty. I am told Americans adopted me along with our great flag as the symbol of justice, the rule of law and the guardian of sovereign rights.
I approve of that message.
Millions travel to see me in Philadelphia each year and I see the respect and love they have for what I represent and for the country of which I am a symbol.
This nation, this newly formed country has always championed freedom.
Its leaders have always been proud of their country, they have loved that for which it stands and have always fought by both word and deed to keep freedom alive, not only in this country, but around the world.
It is what has made our nation great.
We and our leaders have always believed in and protected the freedoms written on the parchment of that great document many years ago and the Constitution that soon followed.
Both declare this country’s independence from England, independence from tyranny, and from any tyrannical leaders forever. Both are as alive and pertinent as they were the day they were created.
As Thomas Jefferson, father of the Declaration of Independence, explained, the people have a right to change governments if that government becomes oppressive, unfair and controlling.
Governments fail, he said, when they no longer have the consent of those they govern. When they do not have this consent, this government, or any government is no longer legitimate.
I remember those times and those men well. I fear at times that we may never see their like again.
But on this Fourth of July, 2013, let those who would dare to speak against this nation in other countries, let those who would dismantle that for which we stand, let those who tax us without our consent, let those men know that we are a country of patriots, now and forever, and we will, if needed, protect the rights stated in that valiant document, the Declaration of Independence in 1776 at all and any cost.
Hold the line, America.