December 13, 2020 • 29 mins
July 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Newt looks back at the process the committee of five went through to write the Declaration and the significance of the document both then and now. A 2026 year-long celebration is being planned to honor our country’s independence. Read Newt’s essay at https://www.heritage.org/article/the-1776-opportunity-2026-year-long-celebration
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi. This is due to the virus. I'm recording from home,
so you may notice a difference in audio quality. On
this episode of News World, I want to talk about
the seventeen seventy six opportunity and the idea that in
twenty twenty six, on the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary,
(00:23):
we really ought to spend the year celebrating the extraordinary
breakthroughs that made America an exceptional country, and that is
still at the heart of our freedom, our sense of liberty,
and our identity as Americans. No matter where we come from,
you can come from anywhere on the planet and become
an American. It's a remarkable system, and in many ways
(00:47):
it's worth really studying what happened. How did our ancestors
somehow put together this amazing, continuously evolving but continuously free system.
So I want to start first by talking about the
history of the decoration independence, of why it's so important,
and why I think that it's well worth while to
think of us spending an entire year driving at home,
(01:10):
celebrating it, exploring it. In twenty twenty six, gradually the
(01:32):
British colonists found themselves going through a conversation it really
began probably in the seventeen sixties. They had been very
loyal and they had frankly been in the shadow of
Great Britain because as long as the French owned Canada,
they had a great power right next to them, which,
in alliance with various Native American tribes, was a mortal threat.
(01:56):
Up until the Seven Years War, which we called French
and Indian War, they really were very, very supportive of
Britain because they needed the British Navy, and they needed
the British Army, and they needed financial support at times
of war. All of a sudden in seventeen sixty three,
the French are gone, They've lost the war, they've given
(02:17):
up candidate, and now the Americans don't have a major
threat to force them into the arms of Great Britain,
and so now finding themselves relatively safe and not needing
a defender, they begin to pay more attention to how
the British government and they begin to decide, you know,
I'm not sure I'm very happy with this. London has
(02:40):
all the power. I have a voice in my local
colony where I vote and I elect somebody. For example,
in Virginia, they elected people to go to the House
of Burgesses, but all the real powers in London and
I don't have much ability to do much about it.
And so you see in the seventeen sixties and early
seventeen seventies a gradual psychological migration, by which at least
(03:05):
a third of the American columnists decided, we really need
to break our ties with England because they're not listening
to us, they're exploiting us, they're trying to raise our
taxes and so forth. By May fifteenth of seventeen seventy six,
this had all developed enough, and every time the British
would react with force, the Americans would get mannered. Once
(03:28):
in seventeen seventy five you had the British send out
armed forces to Lexington and Conquered in Massachusetts to try
to seize the armory of the guns and the ammunition.
That was a disaster because there was a trained, an
independent militia, and they actually defeated the British forced them
(03:48):
back into Boston. Then they fought the Battle of Bunker Hill,
and by that point all of the other colonies began
to decide, Hey, there's going to be a fight between
Massachusetts and London. I'm on the side of Massachusetts. And
so that expressed itself in a Continental Congress, which met
first in seventeen seventy five, bringing the other people from
(04:11):
all thirteen colonies and really being to talk to us.
So what are we going to do? Well? By May
fifteenth of seventeen seventy six, the Virginia Convention instructed its
deputies to offer the following motion quote that these United
Colonies are and of right ought to be free and
(04:32):
independent states. For what a revolutionary moment this is. They're
sending their delegation, which will include people like Thomas Jefferson
and George Washington, and they're supposed to go to Philadelphia
to the Continental Congress. By June seventh, Richard Henry Leo
Virginia is reading the resolution to Congress at the Pennsylvania
(04:54):
State House, and you have being seconded by one of
the leading advocates in Massachusetts, John Adams, and the resolution,
Richard Henry Lee Red said, resolved that these United Colonies
are and of right ought to be free in independent states,
that they're absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown,
(05:16):
and that all political connections between them and the State
of Great Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved.
Now the Congress is going to recess for three weeks,
and they postponed voting on it because New York in
particular wanted to go home and find out from their
assembly back home what do you think. But before they
(05:39):
left for three weeks, they appointed a committee of five
John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson
of Virginia, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, and Robert Livingston of
New York. This committee of five was appointed to compose
the Declaration of Independence. About seventeen days later, on June
(06:01):
twenty eight, Jefferson submits his rough draft the declaration. Over
the next two days, Congress debated and made extensive changes
despite Jefferson's objection. Jefferson he was unhappy that people wanted
to change his language. He was actually much tougher about
the slave trade, and the Southerners were not prepared to
(06:23):
go that far. Ben Franklin, who was the oldest person there,
and I think in many ways the wisest, tried to
reassure Jefferson by telling him a story about a merchant
whose storefront sign said John Thompson, hatter makeson seals hats
for ready money. After his friends offered criticism, the sign
(06:44):
instead read John Thompson above the picture of had and
he was trying to tell us, okay, for it to
be shorter. On July the First, John Adams from Massachusetts
addresses the Congress in a moving speech supporting the decoration Independence.
This is Adam, so in many ways I think is
undervalued as an extraordinary leader who did so much to
(07:08):
shape American quote. Whatever may be our fate, be assured
that this declaration shall stand. It may cost treasure, and
it may cost blood, but it will stand, and it
will richly compensate for both. Through the thick gloom of
the President, I see the brightness of the future as
(07:28):
the sun in heaven. We shall make this a glorious,
an immortal day. When we are in our graves, our
children will honor it. They will celebrate it with thanksgiving,
with festivity, with bonfires, with illuminations. On its annual return,
they will shed tears, copious and gushing tears, not of
subjection and slavery, but of exultation, of gratitude and of joy. Sir,
(07:53):
before God, I believe the hour has come. My judgment
approves this measure, and my whole artis in it all
that I have, and all that I am, and all
that I hope in this life. I am now ready
here to take upon it, and I leave off as
I be gon that live or die, survive or parish.
(08:13):
I am for the declaration. It is my living sentiment,
and by the blessing of God, it shall be my
dying sentiment. Independence now and independence forever. That gives you
some sense of the depth these people understood what they
were doing. They were taking on the most powerful empire
(08:35):
in the world. The British had just defeated the French.
They were unrivaled in their capacity to raise money. Their
navy was the most powerful on the planet. They could
hire plenty of mercenary soldiers from Germany. And here are
these guys sitting in Philadelphia. You know, I just got
to do it. I have no choice. So on the
second of July, the Lee resolutionary independence was adopted by
(08:56):
twelve or thirteen colonies, New York a get him stained.
Immediately after, the Congress began to consider the declaration of
the Pendance. On July third, Adams wrote to his wife Abigail,
whose I think one of the most interesting women of
the era, very intelligent, very well informed. Her letters to
John and his answers are remarkable. So John writes his
(09:20):
wife quote, the second day of July seventeen seventy six
will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America.
I am apt to believe it will be celebrated by
succeeding generations as the Great Anniversary Festival. It ought to
be commemorated as the day of Deliverance, by solemn acts
of devotion to God onlady. It ought to be solemnized
(09:42):
with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells,
bonfires and illuminations. From one end of this comment to
the other, from this time forward forevermore, And on the
fourth of July, the Declaration of Pendance was officially adopted.
(10:08):
This is Gianno Caldwell. This week on Outlie with Giano Caldwell,
I talk to the youngest member of the incoming Congress,
and that as Congressman elect Madison Cawthorne Congressman Elect Canthorn,
and I discussed a tragedy that shaped his life. How
he expects to get along with his new colleagues, including AOC.
His starts on legalizing cannabis and what he expects the
future that GOP to look like. You don't want to
(10:29):
miss this episode of Outlined with Giano Caldwall. Listen to
Outline with Gianno Cauldwell every Monday on an iHeartRadio, app,
Apple podcast or wherever you did your podcast now. On
(10:50):
the fifth, although Congressman adopted the declaration, the Committee of
five Stats scoresn't complete. Congress now directed them to oversee
the printing of the document. Remember, these guys are sitting
in Philadelphia. They have an entire country plus. They have
written this doctor and in part to appeal to the
French and the Dutch in the Spanish, to try to
draw them into helping against Great Britain. The first printed
(11:12):
copies of the Declaration of Independence were turned out from
the shop of John Dunlap, official printer to the Congress.
Dunlop delivers two hundred copies of declaration, which are now
called Dunlap broadsides. One copy is officially entered into the
Congressional Journal and the other copies are distributed throughout the colonies.
On July sixth, the Pennsylvania Evening Post becomes the first
(11:35):
newspaper to reprint the whole declaration. The news of the
July second decision to declare independence has already been widely reported,
and various celebrations and discussions are already taken place throughout
the colonies. On that same day, July six, John Hancock
or a letter to George Washington with an enclosed copy
of the Declaration Independence to be read to his troops. Remembered.
(11:57):
By this stage, Washington is the command and generally left
the Continental Congress in seventy five, goes to Massachusetts so
they can have a Virginia General leading an essentially new
England army to begin to buying people together. It's a
remarkable moment in Washington understands morale matters that have Having
your troops understand what they're fighting for and why it
(12:19):
matters is really important. And the declaration is written in
part is propaganda. It's written to arouse, to excite, to
win the argument, to have people say yes, obviously, that's
what we should do. On the eighth of July, the
declarations read publicly to the people of Philadelphia, and around
this time Congress gets arounder sending a copy to a
(12:40):
Seminster in Europe to be distributed to all the European governments. Sadly,
the original letters lost and the declaration is informally delivered
degree in Britain and the rest of Europe until November,
when news the declarations had already reached Europe, but the
exact language had not. So finally, on ju ninth, New
York climbly got around to saying, okay, yes, we've been
(13:02):
told we should approve it, So they now had all
thirteen colonies approving, with New York's Home Assembly finally authorizing
them to vote yes. On July nineteenth, Congress orders the
declaration be a gross to a parchment with the title
the Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America
and notice they've moved from the colonies to the United
(13:26):
States of America, and be signed by every member of Congress. Hancock,
who was the President of Congress, signs the gross copy,
followed by most of the other delegates. So now we
have the background. Why did it really matter so much?
Why do I think the July two, twenty six, on
(13:48):
the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary should be a central
moment in reigniting American patriotism and an American understanding of
what this country's all well, So I think that it's
very important to understand how the people who wrote this
understood that this was a central moment in history. It's
(14:12):
a central moment because they've written the Declation Independence, which
is a moral document. It says we are endowed by
our creator with certain unalienable rights, among which our life,
liberty in the pursuit of happiness. It outlines and makes
the case that when the king acts against the subjects,
(14:33):
the subjects have the right to change the king. This
is extraordinary revolutionary concepts of breaking down the entire structure
of power which had defined Europe for most of the
last several thousand years. And they knew that it was
that important. John Adams writes to his wife Abigail and
the third of July and says, you will think me
(14:54):
transported with enthusiasm, But I am not. I am well
aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it
will cost us to maintain this declaration and support and
defend these states. Yet through all the gloom, I can
see the ray of ravishing light and glory. I can
see that the end is more than worth all the means.
(15:16):
Almost a generation later, Jefferson and Adams among the last
survivors of that great Congress. In September of first, eighteen
twenty one, Jefferson writes, Adams, who, by the way, have
been real competitors, and in some ways real opponents of
each other. Jefferson writes, the flames kindled on the fourth
of July seventeen seventy six have spread over too much
(15:40):
of the globe to be extinguished by the feeble engines
of Despotus. On the contrary, they will consume these engines
and all who work. A few days before his death
in eighteen twenty six, Jefferson wrote a letter to Roger
Whitman on the fiftieth anniversary of declaring independence, and Jefferson writes, quote,
(16:03):
may it be to the world what I believe it
will be to some part sooner, to others later, but
finally to all, the signal of arousing men to burst
the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them,
to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security
of self government. That form which we have substituted restores
(16:27):
the free right to the unbounded exercise of reason and
freedom of opinion. All eyes are opened or opening to
the rights of man. Jefferson's hope was captured by Frederick Douglas,
the great African American orator who is probably the leading
spokesperson in the black community of the nineteenth century, who
(16:49):
advocated the end of slavery, and who was widely received
both in the North and Europe as a visionary. Frederick Douglas,
in the Fourth of July speech in eighteen fifty two, says, quote,
the signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men.
They were great men, too great enough to give frame
to a great age. Does not often happen to a
(17:11):
nation to raise at one time such a number of
truly great men. The point from which I'm compelled to
view them is not certainly the most favorable. And yet
I cannot contemplate their great deeds with less than admiration.
They were statesmen, patriots, and heroes. And for the good
they did and the principles they contended for, I will
(17:32):
unite with you to honor their memory. So he's saying this,
by the way, in the context of saying, look, slaveries
still exist. They failed to eliminate slavery. I can't be
one hundred percent in favor of them, but they've set
the stage for the argument to eliminate slavery, and I
have to respect how much courage they did show in
moving as far as they did. Abraham Lincoln, in a
(17:54):
letter to Henry Pierce written in April sixth, eighteen fifty nine,
called the Declation Independence quote a rebuke and a stumbling
block to the very harbinders of reappearing tyranny and oppression.
Remember this is a beginning taste of where Lincoln's going is.
Lincoln was very anti slavery, and Lincoln ultimately wraps the
(18:14):
entire explanation of America back to the Declation in Dependence.
For most of the period after seventeen eighty nine, it
was not the Declation Independence but the Constitution, which had
been sort of the central document. But with Lincoln showing up,
Lincoln decides that the explanation for why the North is
in favor of freedom has to be built around the
(18:35):
Declation Independence, and so he in a sense, brings it
back and makes it the centerpiece of explaining America. In
the I Have a Dream speech, Reverend Martin Luther King
Junior said, quote, when the architects of our Republic wrote
the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declation Independence,
they were signing a promissory note to which every American
(18:58):
was to fall there. This note was a promise that
all men would be guaranteed the inaliable rights of life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness. Otherwise, even the critics who
understood that it hadn't solved everything, that it wasn't perfect,
understood there was such a gigantic leap in the right direction,
and it was so clearly establishing the moral framework which
(19:22):
would allow us to have the other arguments to continue
to expand freedom, that they continually come back to what
remarkable people these were, and what a remarkable document the
decoration was. Hi, this is Rob Smith, and I'm problematic
(19:48):
as a black, gay Republican. I don't fit into any
neat boxes. And because of that, I'm problematic to the
political left, which wants me to stay quiet and do
what I'm told. But I'm not about that because no
one owns me, so let's can't divide us with identity politics.
But I'm also problematic it's the right because being problematic
is about thinking for yourself in being your own person,
(20:10):
can be problematic with me. Listen to Rob Smith is
Problematic every Tuesday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or
wherever you get your podcasts. When you start thinking about
(20:30):
the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary and twenty twenty six,
there are really, I think three big reasons to have
a two hundred and fiftieth anniversary celebration. First, this is
an opportunity to drive home the core principles of American exceptionalism.
The Declaration Independence is at the heart of the American
sense of individual authority and responsibility. Remember, the Declaration says
(20:54):
that you personally are endowed by your Creator with certain
on alienable rights, among which your life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness. So it creates a central framework in
which every American is exceptional and every American has their
rights come from God. Second, at the national level, this
(21:17):
celebration can become a significant enough of them that it
can be developed into an immersive experience for the American
people to reconnect with American history. This gives us an
opportunity by building it around the two hundred and fiftieth
anniversary to get every American to look at the extraordinary
importance of the declation Independence and the extraordinary importance of
(21:39):
the American commitment to freedom and to the rule of law. Third,
in addition to educating Americans and focusing Americans, the two
hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Declation Independence is a
tremendous opportunity to communicate to the entire world the extraordinary
difference in moral authority and human freedom between the American
(22:01):
system and the Chinese communist totalitary and efforts to control
everyone and everything. There could be no greater contrast between
the tyranny of Fijian ping and the Chinese communist dictatorship,
and the grant of freedom, the assertion of your rights.
The government doesn't give you freedom, God does. The government
(22:21):
doesn't give you rights. God doesn't. Not, by the way,
is why we need to have a very big national
dialogue about redefining freedom. Given the mess that governors and
mayors and others have made of infringing on our constitutional
liberties using the excuse of COVID to oppose the most
petty and stupid rules, it's pretty useful for us to
(22:43):
take the deculation Independence and from it the Bill of
Rights and remind people this is a country built around
protecting citizens from government. It's not a country built in
which citizens are supposed to be subordinate to government. And
I think that this two hundred and fifty anniversary could
be a great opportunity to recenter the system now. I
(23:06):
also think, frankly, it's a great way to contrast the
real history of America with the project. The New York
Times launched what they call the sixteen nineteen Project. They're
pretty open about their admissions. They said, the sixteen nineteen
projects goal is quote to reframe American history by considering
(23:29):
what it would mean to regard sixteen nineteen as our
nation's birth year. Doing so requires us to place the
consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at
the very center of the story we tell ourselves about
who we are as a country now. I do think
that it's very important to understand the unique experiences of
(23:51):
the African American community. I think it's very important understand
the degree to which slavery was totally wrong and the
degreader which it created aence for African Americans totally different
from that for other Americans. But I think that that
is a piece of the American fabric. It's not the
American fabric. And I think that a sixteen nineteen project
(24:13):
which attempted to get us to integrate the experiences of
African Americans with the larger story of America would make
perfect sense. But a sixteen nineteen project which wants to
eliminate the largest story in favor of a very narrowly
defined story, I think is a huge mistake, in one
which the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Declation
(24:36):
Dependence could truly help us explain. I'm not by myself
in this. Brett Stevens, who's a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist,
wrote about the sixteen nineteen project quote, as fresh concerns
make clear on these points, and for all its virtues,
buzz spin offs and a Pulitzer Prize, the sixteen nineteen
project has failed. That doesn't mean that the project seeks
(24:59):
to erase the declation opening some history, but it does
mean that it seeks to dethrone the Fourth of July
by treating American history as a story of blacks struggle
against white supremacy, on which the Declaration is for all
of its high flow americ supposed to be merely a part.
Holland Welso, a great Civil War historian, in a city
(25:20):
journal I say about the naw Times project, said, quote,
the sixteen nineteen project aspires, through essays, poems, and short fiction,
to rewrite entirely the narrative American slavery not as an
unwilling inheritance of British colonialism, but as the love object
of American capitalism from its very origins. It reviews slavery
(25:41):
not as a blemish that the founders grudgingly tolerated, with
the understanding of them as soon will operate, but as
the prize that the Constitution went out of its way
to secure and protect. The Times presents slavery not as
a regrettable chapter in the distant past, but as the living,
breathing pattern upon which all American social life is based.
(26:01):
World without him well So I went on to say
that the New York Times sixteen nineteen project is essentially
projecting a conspiracy theory. He says, quote again, the sixteen
nineteen project is not history, It is conspiracy theory, and
like all conspiracy theories, the sixteen nineteen project announces with
the eureka that it has acquired the explanation to everything,
(26:25):
and thus gives an aggrieved audience a sense that finally
it is in control through its understanding of the real
cause of its unhappiness. As a way of reconnecting every American,
I'm suggesting that we think about a year long project
for twenty twenty six to really study, celebrate, understand, and
(26:49):
rediscuss the centrality of the Declaration Dependence. We ought to
start now developing month by month a year long plan
so that we could truly communicate an experience and talk
about and come to understand the great lessons of how
the Declature in Dependence was conceived, how it was written,
(27:12):
what they meant by, and what it means to us today.
And I think a year in two twenty six doing
that would just be remarkably impactful, and it would set
the stage because in two thousand and thirty two, we're
going to be celebrating the three hundredth anniversary of George
Washington's birth. The two hundredth anniversary, by the way, which
(27:34):
took place in nineteen thirty two, was a major nationwide
celebration because he was truly the father of our country
and the great, absolutely irreplaceable statesman on whose shoulders we
still stand. Then in two thirty seven, we're going to
have the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the drafting
the Constitution, and in twenty forty one, we're going to
(27:57):
celebrate the two hundred and fiftyth anniversary of the action
of the Bill of Rights, which is vital both for
Americans and for people throughout the world. And it's important
to recognize that the Bill of Rights was designed to
limit government's ability to interfere with the individual's freedom. It's
a key to understand the American system. You can read
(28:18):
more about the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the
declarature Independence and read my President's essay for the Heritage
Foundation on our show page at newtsworld dot com. Newtsworld
is produced by Gingwich three sixty and iHeartMedia. Our executive
producer is Debbie Myers, our producer is Barnsey Slow, and
our researcher is Rachel Peterson. The artwork for the show
(28:42):
was created by Steve Penley. Special thanks the team at
Gingwich three sixty. Please email me with your questions at
Gingwish three sixty dot com slash questions. I'll answer a
selection of questions in future episodes. If you've been enjoying Newtsworld,
I hope you'll go to Apple Podcasts and both rate
us with five stars and give us a review so
(29:04):
others can learn what it's all about. I'm ned gangwish
this is new tool.
Hi. This is due to the virus. I'm recording from home,
so you may notice a difference in audio quality. On
this episode of News World, I want to talk about
the seventeen seventy six opportunity and the idea that in
twenty twenty six, on the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary,
(00:23):
we really ought to spend the year celebrating the extraordinary
breakthroughs that made America an exceptional country, and that is
still at the heart of our freedom, our sense of liberty,
and our identity as Americans. No matter where we come from,
you can come from anywhere on the planet and become
an American. It's a remarkable system, and in many ways
(00:47):
it's worth really studying what happened. How did our ancestors
somehow put together this amazing, continuously evolving but continuously free system.
So I want to start first by talking about the
history of the decoration independence, of why it's so important,
and why I think that it's well worth while to
think of us spending an entire year driving at home,
(01:10):
celebrating it, exploring it. In twenty twenty six, gradually the
(01:32):
British colonists found themselves going through a conversation it really
began probably in the seventeen sixties. They had been very
loyal and they had frankly been in the shadow of
Great Britain because as long as the French owned Canada,
they had a great power right next to them, which,
in alliance with various Native American tribes, was a mortal threat.
(01:56):
Up until the Seven Years War, which we called French
and Indian War, they really were very, very supportive of
Britain because they needed the British Navy, and they needed
the British Army, and they needed financial support at times
of war. All of a sudden in seventeen sixty three,
the French are gone, They've lost the war, they've given
(02:17):
up candidate, and now the Americans don't have a major
threat to force them into the arms of Great Britain,
and so now finding themselves relatively safe and not needing
a defender, they begin to pay more attention to how
the British government and they begin to decide, you know,
I'm not sure I'm very happy with this. London has
(02:40):
all the power. I have a voice in my local
colony where I vote and I elect somebody. For example,
in Virginia, they elected people to go to the House
of Burgesses, but all the real powers in London and
I don't have much ability to do much about it.
And so you see in the seventeen sixties and early
seventeen seventies a gradual psychological migration, by which at least
(03:05):
a third of the American columnists decided, we really need
to break our ties with England because they're not listening
to us, they're exploiting us, they're trying to raise our
taxes and so forth. By May fifteenth of seventeen seventy six,
this had all developed enough, and every time the British
would react with force, the Americans would get mannered. Once
(03:28):
in seventeen seventy five you had the British send out
armed forces to Lexington and Conquered in Massachusetts to try
to seize the armory of the guns and the ammunition.
That was a disaster because there was a trained, an
independent militia, and they actually defeated the British forced them
(03:48):
back into Boston. Then they fought the Battle of Bunker Hill,
and by that point all of the other colonies began
to decide, Hey, there's going to be a fight between
Massachusetts and London. I'm on the side of Massachusetts. And
so that expressed itself in a Continental Congress, which met
first in seventeen seventy five, bringing the other people from
(04:11):
all thirteen colonies and really being to talk to us.
So what are we going to do? Well? By May
fifteenth of seventeen seventy six, the Virginia Convention instructed its
deputies to offer the following motion quote that these United
Colonies are and of right ought to be free and
(04:32):
independent states. For what a revolutionary moment this is. They're
sending their delegation, which will include people like Thomas Jefferson
and George Washington, and they're supposed to go to Philadelphia
to the Continental Congress. By June seventh, Richard Henry Leo
Virginia is reading the resolution to Congress at the Pennsylvania
(04:54):
State House, and you have being seconded by one of
the leading advocates in Massachusetts, John Adams, and the resolution,
Richard Henry Lee Red said, resolved that these United Colonies
are and of right ought to be free in independent states,
that they're absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown,
(05:16):
and that all political connections between them and the State
of Great Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved.
Now the Congress is going to recess for three weeks,
and they postponed voting on it because New York in
particular wanted to go home and find out from their
assembly back home what do you think. But before they
(05:39):
left for three weeks, they appointed a committee of five
John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson
of Virginia, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, and Robert Livingston of
New York. This committee of five was appointed to compose
the Declaration of Independence. About seventeen days later, on June
(06:01):
twenty eight, Jefferson submits his rough draft the declaration. Over
the next two days, Congress debated and made extensive changes
despite Jefferson's objection. Jefferson he was unhappy that people wanted
to change his language. He was actually much tougher about
the slave trade, and the Southerners were not prepared to
(06:23):
go that far. Ben Franklin, who was the oldest person there,
and I think in many ways the wisest, tried to
reassure Jefferson by telling him a story about a merchant
whose storefront sign said John Thompson, hatter makeson seals hats
for ready money. After his friends offered criticism, the sign
(06:44):
instead read John Thompson above the picture of had and
he was trying to tell us, okay, for it to
be shorter. On July the First, John Adams from Massachusetts
addresses the Congress in a moving speech supporting the decoration Independence.
This is Adam, so in many ways I think is
undervalued as an extraordinary leader who did so much to
(07:08):
shape American quote. Whatever may be our fate, be assured
that this declaration shall stand. It may cost treasure, and
it may cost blood, but it will stand, and it
will richly compensate for both. Through the thick gloom of
the President, I see the brightness of the future as
(07:28):
the sun in heaven. We shall make this a glorious,
an immortal day. When we are in our graves, our
children will honor it. They will celebrate it with thanksgiving,
with festivity, with bonfires, with illuminations. On its annual return,
they will shed tears, copious and gushing tears, not of
subjection and slavery, but of exultation, of gratitude and of joy. Sir,
(07:53):
before God, I believe the hour has come. My judgment
approves this measure, and my whole artis in it all
that I have, and all that I am, and all
that I hope in this life. I am now ready
here to take upon it, and I leave off as
I be gon that live or die, survive or parish.
(08:13):
I am for the declaration. It is my living sentiment,
and by the blessing of God, it shall be my
dying sentiment. Independence now and independence forever. That gives you
some sense of the depth these people understood what they
were doing. They were taking on the most powerful empire
(08:35):
in the world. The British had just defeated the French.
They were unrivaled in their capacity to raise money. Their
navy was the most powerful on the planet. They could
hire plenty of mercenary soldiers from Germany. And here are
these guys sitting in Philadelphia. You know, I just got
to do it. I have no choice. So on the
second of July, the Lee resolutionary independence was adopted by
(08:56):
twelve or thirteen colonies, New York a get him stained.
Immediately after, the Congress began to consider the declaration of
the Pendance. On July third, Adams wrote to his wife Abigail,
whose I think one of the most interesting women of
the era, very intelligent, very well informed. Her letters to
John and his answers are remarkable. So John writes his
(09:20):
wife quote, the second day of July seventeen seventy six
will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America.
I am apt to believe it will be celebrated by
succeeding generations as the Great Anniversary Festival. It ought to
be commemorated as the day of Deliverance, by solemn acts
of devotion to God onlady. It ought to be solemnized
(09:42):
with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells,
bonfires and illuminations. From one end of this comment to
the other, from this time forward forevermore, And on the
fourth of July, the Declaration of Pendance was officially adopted.
(10:08):
This is Gianno Caldwell. This week on Outlie with Giano Caldwell,
I talk to the youngest member of the incoming Congress,
and that as Congressman elect Madison Cawthorne Congressman Elect Canthorn,
and I discussed a tragedy that shaped his life. How
he expects to get along with his new colleagues, including AOC.
His starts on legalizing cannabis and what he expects the
future that GOP to look like. You don't want to
(10:29):
miss this episode of Outlined with Giano Caldwall. Listen to
Outline with Gianno Cauldwell every Monday on an iHeartRadio, app,
Apple podcast or wherever you did your podcast now. On
(10:50):
the fifth, although Congressman adopted the declaration, the Committee of
five Stats scoresn't complete. Congress now directed them to oversee
the printing of the document. Remember, these guys are sitting
in Philadelphia. They have an entire country plus. They have
written this doctor and in part to appeal to the
French and the Dutch in the Spanish, to try to
draw them into helping against Great Britain. The first printed
(11:12):
copies of the Declaration of Independence were turned out from
the shop of John Dunlap, official printer to the Congress.
Dunlop delivers two hundred copies of declaration, which are now
called Dunlap broadsides. One copy is officially entered into the
Congressional Journal and the other copies are distributed throughout the colonies.
On July sixth, the Pennsylvania Evening Post becomes the first
(11:35):
newspaper to reprint the whole declaration. The news of the
July second decision to declare independence has already been widely reported,
and various celebrations and discussions are already taken place throughout
the colonies. On that same day, July six, John Hancock
or a letter to George Washington with an enclosed copy
of the Declaration Independence to be read to his troops. Remembered.
(11:57):
By this stage, Washington is the command and generally left
the Continental Congress in seventy five, goes to Massachusetts so
they can have a Virginia General leading an essentially new
England army to begin to buying people together. It's a
remarkable moment in Washington understands morale matters that have Having
your troops understand what they're fighting for and why it
(12:19):
matters is really important. And the declaration is written in
part is propaganda. It's written to arouse, to excite, to
win the argument, to have people say yes, obviously, that's
what we should do. On the eighth of July, the
declarations read publicly to the people of Philadelphia, and around
this time Congress gets arounder sending a copy to a
(12:40):
Seminster in Europe to be distributed to all the European governments. Sadly,
the original letters lost and the declaration is informally delivered
degree in Britain and the rest of Europe until November,
when news the declarations had already reached Europe, but the
exact language had not. So finally, on ju ninth, New
York climbly got around to saying, okay, yes, we've been
(13:02):
told we should approve it, So they now had all
thirteen colonies approving, with New York's Home Assembly finally authorizing
them to vote yes. On July nineteenth, Congress orders the
declaration be a gross to a parchment with the title
the Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America
and notice they've moved from the colonies to the United
(13:26):
States of America, and be signed by every member of Congress. Hancock,
who was the President of Congress, signs the gross copy,
followed by most of the other delegates. So now we
have the background. Why did it really matter so much?
Why do I think the July two, twenty six, on
(13:48):
the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary should be a central
moment in reigniting American patriotism and an American understanding of
what this country's all well, So I think that it's
very important to understand how the people who wrote this
understood that this was a central moment in history. It's
(14:12):
a central moment because they've written the Declation Independence, which
is a moral document. It says we are endowed by
our creator with certain unalienable rights, among which our life,
liberty in the pursuit of happiness. It outlines and makes
the case that when the king acts against the subjects,
(14:33):
the subjects have the right to change the king. This
is extraordinary revolutionary concepts of breaking down the entire structure
of power which had defined Europe for most of the
last several thousand years. And they knew that it was
that important. John Adams writes to his wife Abigail and
the third of July and says, you will think me
(14:54):
transported with enthusiasm, But I am not. I am well
aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it
will cost us to maintain this declaration and support and
defend these states. Yet through all the gloom, I can
see the ray of ravishing light and glory. I can
see that the end is more than worth all the means.
(15:16):
Almost a generation later, Jefferson and Adams among the last
survivors of that great Congress. In September of first, eighteen
twenty one, Jefferson writes, Adams, who, by the way, have
been real competitors, and in some ways real opponents of
each other. Jefferson writes, the flames kindled on the fourth
of July seventeen seventy six have spread over too much
(15:40):
of the globe to be extinguished by the feeble engines
of Despotus. On the contrary, they will consume these engines
and all who work. A few days before his death
in eighteen twenty six, Jefferson wrote a letter to Roger
Whitman on the fiftieth anniversary of declaring independence, and Jefferson writes, quote,
(16:03):
may it be to the world what I believe it
will be to some part sooner, to others later, but
finally to all, the signal of arousing men to burst
the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them,
to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security
of self government. That form which we have substituted restores
(16:27):
the free right to the unbounded exercise of reason and
freedom of opinion. All eyes are opened or opening to
the rights of man. Jefferson's hope was captured by Frederick Douglas,
the great African American orator who is probably the leading
spokesperson in the black community of the nineteenth century, who
(16:49):
advocated the end of slavery, and who was widely received
both in the North and Europe as a visionary. Frederick Douglas,
in the Fourth of July speech in eighteen fifty two, says, quote,
the signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men.
They were great men, too great enough to give frame
to a great age. Does not often happen to a
(17:11):
nation to raise at one time such a number of
truly great men. The point from which I'm compelled to
view them is not certainly the most favorable. And yet
I cannot contemplate their great deeds with less than admiration.
They were statesmen, patriots, and heroes. And for the good
they did and the principles they contended for, I will
(17:32):
unite with you to honor their memory. So he's saying this,
by the way, in the context of saying, look, slaveries
still exist. They failed to eliminate slavery. I can't be
one hundred percent in favor of them, but they've set
the stage for the argument to eliminate slavery, and I
have to respect how much courage they did show in
moving as far as they did. Abraham Lincoln, in a
(17:54):
letter to Henry Pierce written in April sixth, eighteen fifty nine,
called the Declation Independence quote a rebuke and a stumbling
block to the very harbinders of reappearing tyranny and oppression.
Remember this is a beginning taste of where Lincoln's going is.
Lincoln was very anti slavery, and Lincoln ultimately wraps the
(18:14):
entire explanation of America back to the Declation in Dependence.
For most of the period after seventeen eighty nine, it
was not the Declation Independence but the Constitution, which had
been sort of the central document. But with Lincoln showing up,
Lincoln decides that the explanation for why the North is
in favor of freedom has to be built around the
(18:35):
Declation Independence, and so he in a sense, brings it
back and makes it the centerpiece of explaining America. In
the I Have a Dream speech, Reverend Martin Luther King
Junior said, quote, when the architects of our Republic wrote
the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declation Independence,
they were signing a promissory note to which every American
(18:58):
was to fall there. This note was a promise that
all men would be guaranteed the inaliable rights of life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness. Otherwise, even the critics who
understood that it hadn't solved everything, that it wasn't perfect,
understood there was such a gigantic leap in the right direction,
and it was so clearly establishing the moral framework which
(19:22):
would allow us to have the other arguments to continue
to expand freedom, that they continually come back to what
remarkable people these were, and what a remarkable document the
decoration was. Hi, this is Rob Smith, and I'm problematic
(19:48):
as a black, gay Republican. I don't fit into any
neat boxes. And because of that, I'm problematic to the
political left, which wants me to stay quiet and do
what I'm told. But I'm not about that because no
one owns me, so let's can't divide us with identity politics.
But I'm also problematic it's the right because being problematic
is about thinking for yourself in being your own person,
(20:10):
can be problematic with me. Listen to Rob Smith is
Problematic every Tuesday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or
wherever you get your podcasts. When you start thinking about
(20:30):
the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary and twenty twenty six,
there are really, I think three big reasons to have
a two hundred and fiftieth anniversary celebration. First, this is
an opportunity to drive home the core principles of American exceptionalism.
The Declaration Independence is at the heart of the American
sense of individual authority and responsibility. Remember, the Declaration says
(20:54):
that you personally are endowed by your Creator with certain
on alienable rights, among which your life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness. So it creates a central framework in
which every American is exceptional and every American has their
rights come from God. Second, at the national level, this
(21:17):
celebration can become a significant enough of them that it
can be developed into an immersive experience for the American
people to reconnect with American history. This gives us an
opportunity by building it around the two hundred and fiftieth
anniversary to get every American to look at the extraordinary
importance of the declation Independence and the extraordinary importance of
(21:39):
the American commitment to freedom and to the rule of law. Third,
in addition to educating Americans and focusing Americans, the two
hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Declation Independence is a
tremendous opportunity to communicate to the entire world the extraordinary
difference in moral authority and human freedom between the American
(22:01):
system and the Chinese communist totalitary and efforts to control
everyone and everything. There could be no greater contrast between
the tyranny of Fijian ping and the Chinese communist dictatorship,
and the grant of freedom, the assertion of your rights.
The government doesn't give you freedom, God does. The government
(22:21):
doesn't give you rights. God doesn't. Not, by the way,
is why we need to have a very big national
dialogue about redefining freedom. Given the mess that governors and
mayors and others have made of infringing on our constitutional
liberties using the excuse of COVID to oppose the most
petty and stupid rules, it's pretty useful for us to
(22:43):
take the deculation Independence and from it the Bill of
Rights and remind people this is a country built around
protecting citizens from government. It's not a country built in
which citizens are supposed to be subordinate to government. And
I think that this two hundred and fifty anniversary could
be a great opportunity to recenter the system now. I
(23:06):
also think, frankly, it's a great way to contrast the
real history of America with the project. The New York
Times launched what they call the sixteen nineteen Project. They're
pretty open about their admissions. They said, the sixteen nineteen
projects goal is quote to reframe American history by considering
(23:29):
what it would mean to regard sixteen nineteen as our
nation's birth year. Doing so requires us to place the
consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at
the very center of the story we tell ourselves about
who we are as a country now. I do think
that it's very important to understand the unique experiences of
(23:51):
the African American community. I think it's very important understand
the degree to which slavery was totally wrong and the
degreader which it created aence for African Americans totally different
from that for other Americans. But I think that that
is a piece of the American fabric. It's not the
American fabric. And I think that a sixteen nineteen project
(24:13):
which attempted to get us to integrate the experiences of
African Americans with the larger story of America would make
perfect sense. But a sixteen nineteen project which wants to
eliminate the largest story in favor of a very narrowly
defined story, I think is a huge mistake, in one
which the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Declation
(24:36):
Dependence could truly help us explain. I'm not by myself
in this. Brett Stevens, who's a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist,
wrote about the sixteen nineteen project quote, as fresh concerns
make clear on these points, and for all its virtues,
buzz spin offs and a Pulitzer Prize, the sixteen nineteen
project has failed. That doesn't mean that the project seeks
(24:59):
to erase the declation opening some history, but it does
mean that it seeks to dethrone the Fourth of July
by treating American history as a story of blacks struggle
against white supremacy, on which the Declaration is for all
of its high flow americ supposed to be merely a part.
Holland Welso, a great Civil War historian, in a city
(25:20):
journal I say about the naw Times project, said, quote,
the sixteen nineteen project aspires, through essays, poems, and short fiction,
to rewrite entirely the narrative American slavery not as an
unwilling inheritance of British colonialism, but as the love object
of American capitalism from its very origins. It reviews slavery
(25:41):
not as a blemish that the founders grudgingly tolerated, with
the understanding of them as soon will operate, but as
the prize that the Constitution went out of its way
to secure and protect. The Times presents slavery not as
a regrettable chapter in the distant past, but as the living,
breathing pattern upon which all American social life is based.
(26:01):
World without him well So I went on to say
that the New York Times sixteen nineteen project is essentially
projecting a conspiracy theory. He says, quote again, the sixteen
nineteen project is not history, It is conspiracy theory, and
like all conspiracy theories, the sixteen nineteen project announces with
the eureka that it has acquired the explanation to everything,
(26:25):
and thus gives an aggrieved audience a sense that finally
it is in control through its understanding of the real
cause of its unhappiness. As a way of reconnecting every American,
I'm suggesting that we think about a year long project
for twenty twenty six to really study, celebrate, understand, and
(26:49):
rediscuss the centrality of the Declaration Dependence. We ought to
start now developing month by month a year long plan
so that we could truly communicate an experience and talk
about and come to understand the great lessons of how
the Declature in Dependence was conceived, how it was written,
(27:12):
what they meant by, and what it means to us today.
And I think a year in two twenty six doing
that would just be remarkably impactful, and it would set
the stage because in two thousand and thirty two, we're
going to be celebrating the three hundredth anniversary of George
Washington's birth. The two hundredth anniversary, by the way, which
(27:34):
took place in nineteen thirty two, was a major nationwide
celebration because he was truly the father of our country
and the great, absolutely irreplaceable statesman on whose shoulders we
still stand. Then in two thirty seven, we're going to
have the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the drafting
the Constitution, and in twenty forty one, we're going to
(27:57):
celebrate the two hundred and fiftyth anniversary of the action
of the Bill of Rights, which is vital both for
Americans and for people throughout the world. And it's important
to recognize that the Bill of Rights was designed to
limit government's ability to interfere with the individual's freedom. It's
a key to understand the American system. You can read
(28:18):
more about the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the
declarature Independence and read my President's essay for the Heritage
Foundation on our show page at newtsworld dot com. Newtsworld
is produced by Gingwich three sixty and iHeartMedia. Our executive
producer is Debbie Myers, our producer is Barnsey Slow, and
our researcher is Rachel Peterson. The artwork for the show
(28:42):
was created by Steve Penley. Special thanks the team at
Gingwich three sixty. Please email me with your questions at
Gingwish three sixty dot com slash questions. I'll answer a
selection of questions in future episodes. If you've been enjoying Newtsworld,
I hope you'll go to Apple Podcasts and both rate
us with five stars and give us a review so
(29:04):
others can learn what it's all about. I'm ned gangwish
this is new tool.
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