Independence, Gettysburg, and Theodore Roosevelt

This Monday, millions of Americans will go out to barbecues, concerts, family reunions, and other events that have come to symbolize the Fourth of July. But what exactly happened on July 4? Many Americans will probably tell you that is when the Declaration of Independence was signed, or it's the day when the Declaration of Independence was passed, but that’s not true. In fact, a lot more happened on the overcast afternoon of July 2, 1776, than the mere finalization of a document.

The reason I think that we should be celebrating July 2, is because when Richard Henry Lee, a delegate from Virginia at the Second Congressional Congress, presented a resolution calling for a formal separation from Britain. However, representatives from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and South Carolina expressed grave reservation about such a radical measure. Eventually the Congress agreed to put off a vote on the resolution until July 1 and asked that a committee be formed to write the declaration. This last action was largely because of John Dickinson, a delegate from Pennsylvania who opposed Lee's resolution. To make up the committee on the declaration, Congress selected  John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson,  Roger Sherman and Robert Livingston. Jefferson was tasked with the actual writing, while Adams and Franklin helped with editing. Sherman and Livingston had little interest in the document and played on real role in its creation. David McCullough, who spent years researching John Adams, meticulously put the events together in his book simply entitled John Adams. McCullough explained that the delegates all knew that July 1 when the resolution was to be again presented, was going to be the big day and that there were going to be heated discussions on both sides.

The congressional session began on with Dickinson giving an impassioned speech for an hour in which he asked that the Congress not take such a radical step, but instead, petition England one more time to see if the differences that had driven the two countries to this point could be amended. It should be noted here that it was not hot, as many traditional storytellers like to say, during the time that the Declaration moved through Congress. It had indeed been a hot summer, but on July 1 the weather was overcast and threatened a storm. According to McCullough, the storm grew louder as Dickinson spoke. When he finished, John Adams rose from his seat and gave what many have called the speech of his long career in support of the break with England. Indeed, his speech was just as long as Dickinson’s, and he was even asked to give it twice, due to several delegates arriving late. After the speeches, Congress took a preliminary vote and found that Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and New York were not in favor of the resolution and Delaware's two representatives were deadlocked.

The session for July 1 closed, and many delegates retired to their hotel rooms or taverns to discuss Lee's resolution and Declaration among themselves. There is no written record as to what exactly was said, but, the next morning, South Carolina suddenly voted for independence when called upon. Pennsylvania, which had been divided four to three against, had its two leading members, Dickinson and one other man, not show up for the vote. This made a final tally of three in favor and two against. New York simply abstained. The Delaware delegation had still been deadlocked before the vote, but then Caesar Rodney the third and final delegate burst into the room as the vote was called. He had traveled eighty miles the night before, and announced his support for separation from England.

In my opinion, it was this vote that was the crucial moment of the entire second Congressional session. Here, on July 2, was where the issue of American independence was ultimately decided. As McCullough says, the delegates in favor of independence thought they had won a stunning victory and even pointed to an often quoted passage from John Adams’ diary in which Adams says words to the effect that he expected the second of July to be greeted with fireworks, dancing, and all other manner of celebration.

Over the next two days, Congress worked on rephrasing and retracting many elements of the original Declaration of Independence. In fact, most delegates saw the Fourth of July when the Declaration was approved, as just another work day when the final wording was approved.

The Declaration was finally signed on August 2, 1776. Unlike the famous painting by John Trumbull, which shows nearly all the delegates standing around preparing to sign it, many people, including Lee, were absent on August 2, and it took until January, 1777, to get all of the signatures that can now be seen on it. (Several of the men who signed it were new to Congress and had not even been members in 1176.)

Two other major things happened this week in history. On July 2, 1863, in a small town a few miles away from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, a former college professor, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, and his regiment the 20th Maine, held out against repeated attacks by the Confederate Army. When Chamberlain’s men ran out of ammunition he ordered them to charge the oncoming Confederates. Chamberlain’s maneuver broke the last enemy lines and helped Union forces maintain their key positions on the heights for the second day of what became known as the Battle of Gettysburg.

On July 2, 1898, 39-year-old Theodore Roosevelt, who had resigned his position as Assistant Secretary to the Navy in order to join American forces for the Spanish-American War and raised his own regiment which became known as the Rough Riders, found himself peacefully looking out from the summit of San Juan Hill. The previous day, Roosevelt and his men had been ordered to take a neighboring position called Kettle Hill. When this was done, Roosevelt saw that American forces were still struggling to take San Juan Heights and he and his men charged down in support and ultimately broke the Spanish lines. For his actions on the afternoon of July 1, Roosevelt would posthumously receive the Medal of Honor from President Bill Clinton in 1998. Roosevelt's son, Theodore Roosevelt Jr. would also receive the Medal of Honor for his actions on Utah Beach in 1944. This makes them only the second father-son team behind Arthur and Douglas MacArthur to win dual Medals of Honor.

I just thought some of you would find this stuff kind of interesting.