MY PERSPECTIVE, Gary Damron

As we’ve seen in previous articles, between 1763 and 1776, Britain and her American colonies became trapped in self-fulfilling prophecies. British efforts at control provoked colonial resistance, which in turn convinced Britain that independence was their goal, and their actions pushed the colonies closer together and toward separation. Neither side initially wanted full independence, but repeated crises destroyed mutual trust and made separation inevitable.

In fact, by the summer of 1776, American colonies had already achieved practical independence. Today we’ll review decisive action that concluded with the Declaration we’ll celebrate this week.

By February 1776, news of Britain’s Prohibitory Act which had been passed in December reached the colonies. Rather than addressing particular groups, this heavy-handed approach alienated all thirteen colonies, and ultimately backfired. It severed all trade, imposed a full naval blockade, declared American ships enemy vessels subject to seizure, and authorized the impressment of American crews into the British navy. John Adams immediately recognized its

significance, labeling it an “Act of Independency.” By placing the colonies outside the king’s protection, Britain had effectively dissolved any remaining obligation of colonial allegiance.

The final blow came when colonists learned that King George III had hired approximately 17,000 German  mercenaries to help suppress the rebellion. This decision convinced many that reconciliation was no longer possible and that self-defense demanded a permanent separation. In order to sustain a war effort, the colonies needed foreign allies, particularly France. And the French realized that their strategic interests in permanently weakening Britain would align perfectly with helping the colonial effort.

In May 1776, Congress took decisive action, urging colonies to restructure if they hadn’t already done so. A radical preface stated that “every kind of authority under the said Crown” should be suppressed and governments established “under the authority of the people”. The Virginia Convention instructed its delegates in Philadelphia to propose that the United Colonies declare themselves independent of Britain.

On June 7, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia rose in Congress and introduced a historic resolution: “That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.” The next day and again on June 10, Congress debated the resolution as a Committee of the Whole. Some delegates urged delay, including those from Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York who had previously been instructed not to support independence.

Congress decided to postpone the final vote until early July. It appointed a committee to draft a formal declaration, explaining to the world reasons for independence. Thomas Jefferson of Virginia was asked by the others members - John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin from Pennsylvania, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, and Robert R Livingston of New York - to write the document. Jefferson produced a draft in a remarkably short time, using other documents that he had authored. The committee, and then the full Congress, reviewed and edited the Declaration, removing about one quarter of the text to make it concise and powerful.

On July 2, the document was approved in Congress by all delegates but New York’s, who abstained. That same day, the first ships of the largest armada yet sent across the Atlantic began landing British soldiers on Staten Island, New York. A week later, New York’s delegates received new instructions and joined the others, making the decision unanimous.

On July 4, 1776, Congress formally adopted the final draft of the Declaration of Independence. The document was published, distributed throughout the colonies, and publicly read in towns and villages. Celebrations often included the ringing of bells, firing of cannons, and destruction of royal symbols and statues of the king.

Though the longest section of the Declaration indicted George Ill as a tyrant, the Declaration was far more than a simple list of grievances against the king. It proclaimed to the world that the colonies had assumed “among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them.” The draft justified independence on the lofty ground of “self-evident truths,” that all men are given equally by the Creator certain “unalienable rights” to “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” What had begun years earlier as a defense of traditional English rights had now evolved into a full revolution, aimed at creating a republican form of government where the people, not a monarch, held ultimate authority.

The Declaration announced to the world what had become reality. However, this was only the beginning of the war for independence. Ahead lay years of hardship, sacrifice, and uncertainty as the new nation fought to make its bold declaration “stick” against the might of the British Empire.

The British government’s decision to force Americans into obedience had in effect brought about the loss which the king and Parliament had feared. But first, colonists would have to establish the independence they proclaimed, on the battlefield.