Too many Americans underappreciate the meaning of holidays such as July Fourth, also known as Independence Day. While some connect fireworks with the firing of cannons in the Revolutionary War, most forget that when the 56 members of the Continental Congress agreed to put pen to parchment and affirm the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, all knew that being a signatory put a death threat on their heads as traitors to Britain.
The War of Independence was in its second year by July 1776, and George Washington’s rag-tag colonial army was about half the size of the highly trained professional British army and the German mercenary troops fighting for the English. Additionally, Washington’s army was undertrained, underequipped, and underfunded.
The naval mismatch was even greater at the outset of the war. In the first year of the war, the Continental Navy had fewer than 10 converted merchant ships while the British amassed 250 dedicated warships, concentrated along the coastline and in ports between the Delaware Bay and Boston. Things appeared grim indeed for the patriot cause.
The last sentence of the Declaration of Independence before the space allotted for signatures reads, “…for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protections of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.” Indeed, July Fourth for the founders was a serious and somber occasion.
As we think about July Fourth, we should remember that America was first in
