Real people taking real risks. An odd thing I’ll share: John Hart was from my hometown of Hopewell, New Jersey. The Hart family actually still lived in Hopewell. I never really thought about him one way or the other, besides knowing where his grave was, and that it was a big deal somehow. Once you know that he hid in the woods and then in a cave to avoid capture, you realize he was quite the hero.
Wonderful, Adam! “It’s not hard to imagine”because you’ve painted a picture for me, adding a few new pieces to the puzzle. I have never put any thought into what that room may have looked like, how each man courageously stepped forward. What they risked. Right down to your brilliant description: “They will hear the soft scratch, the sprinkled sand on the parchment to blot the ink, the puff of breath to blow it clear of the sanding on parchment.” The ability to tell the story and create the scene in a way only you can, has added one more way to celebrate the Declaration signed in 1776. I was standing in that room. Oh, that’s right, no women allowed. Interestingly, a very local paper in the NEK of VT, put together a wonderful special edition for America 250, focusing on local history and Revolutionary routes created by G. Washington in case the war would take them up to Canada. The route was created but never used. I cool history of the small towns and people in this area that were a big part of the war. Right down to conversations with descendants. A conversation with the great, great….. of
Josiah Bartlett: the first to vote in favor of independence. And just two days later, the second to sign under Hancock. They did a better job than any major newspaper. I wish it could have been read by people across the country. I wish your’s could have too.
My wife and I watched the fireworks over New York Harbor last night. We live just south of Brooklyn Heights where George Washington hoped to defend New York City but was quickly forced back, almost in complete disaster. It was something, though, to realize our 4th of July fireworks would have been easily visible from where the British were encamped on July 4th, 1776. I think very, very few people in the massive crowds knew they were standing on history.
Francis Lewis's (NY) wife Elizabeth was taken prisoner in his place when Crown thugs showed up to their place to charge treason. She was imprisoned for eight months in harsh conditions before Geo Washington ordered the arrest and detainment of two British officials wives as bargaining chips. He tactic worked but Elizabeth died after being reunited with her husband. She had never recovered from the her barbaric imprisonment.
This is one of the uglier outcomes of the signing. I did not know about G.W.'s bargaining for her, only that she was victimized. Thanks for sharing that in this thread.
Certainly it was a mellow day. In an earlier draft of this, I had an aside about the 100 temperatures we were looking at yesterday, but it really didn't fit.
Thanks Rona. That means something coming from you. I'm glad it connected. I've always appreciated when history becomes real in words, images, stories. I enjoyed doing the research on it and simply putting together the simple moments that must have taken place and gone through people's minds. It's quite something what they did. It's very hard for me to imagine, from among the Right or the Left, such a show of force of putting it all on the line courage.
In many ways I'm more worried about the citizenry than the leaders. I don't think the legislatures of 1776 would have put a man in office with such grave character limitations. It's upsetting we did and at such a scale. 70 million people thought Donald Trump was acceptable to be the most powerful man on Earth.
My dad lived in a continuing care facility. When I’d visit and walk rough the building, every TV was on Fox. All the people here is Fox lies all day. In that world Trump is a national hero. Garbage in is garbage out. A third of America’s brains are being spoiled.
I watched Jesse Watters for 5 minutes w my dad one day. Made me sick to my stomach.
John Hancock
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
Matthew Thornton
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
Real people taking real risks. An odd thing I’ll share: John Hart was from my hometown of Hopewell, New Jersey. The Hart family actually still lived in Hopewell. I never really thought about him one way or the other, besides knowing where his grave was, and that it was a big deal somehow. Once you know that he hid in the woods and then in a cave to avoid capture, you realize he was quite the hero.
And on any given topic, all the stories we hear are such a tiny fraction of all the stories there are.
Movie idea! "Signers" - anthology-style vignettes of what happened to each of them after the signing.
The grievances sound eerily familiar.
My jaw dropped when I read them while writing this piece.
Understandably so.
Wonderful, Adam! “It’s not hard to imagine”because you’ve painted a picture for me, adding a few new pieces to the puzzle. I have never put any thought into what that room may have looked like, how each man courageously stepped forward. What they risked. Right down to your brilliant description: “They will hear the soft scratch, the sprinkled sand on the parchment to blot the ink, the puff of breath to blow it clear of the sanding on parchment.” The ability to tell the story and create the scene in a way only you can, has added one more way to celebrate the Declaration signed in 1776. I was standing in that room. Oh, that’s right, no women allowed. Interestingly, a very local paper in the NEK of VT, put together a wonderful special edition for America 250, focusing on local history and Revolutionary routes created by G. Washington in case the war would take them up to Canada. The route was created but never used. I cool history of the small towns and people in this area that were a big part of the war. Right down to conversations with descendants. A conversation with the great, great….. of
Josiah Bartlett: the first to vote in favor of independence. And just two days later, the second to sign under Hancock. They did a better job than any major newspaper. I wish it could have been read by people across the country. I wish your’s could have too.
My wife and I watched the fireworks over New York Harbor last night. We live just south of Brooklyn Heights where George Washington hoped to defend New York City but was quickly forced back, almost in complete disaster. It was something, though, to realize our 4th of July fireworks would have been easily visible from where the British were encamped on July 4th, 1776. I think very, very few people in the massive crowds knew they were standing on history.
Francis Lewis's (NY) wife Elizabeth was taken prisoner in his place when Crown thugs showed up to their place to charge treason. She was imprisoned for eight months in harsh conditions before Geo Washington ordered the arrest and detainment of two British officials wives as bargaining chips. He tactic worked but Elizabeth died after being reunited with her husband. She had never recovered from the her barbaric imprisonment.
This is one of the uglier outcomes of the signing. I did not know about G.W.'s bargaining for her, only that she was victimized. Thanks for sharing that in this thread.
I love the sound of the sand on parchment. And the temperature. Why so cool in July?
Certainly it was a mellow day. In an earlier draft of this, I had an aside about the 100 temperatures we were looking at yesterday, but it really didn't fit.
Don't you just love editing? At least when clarity arises and you can cut cut cut.
You've penetrated a moment in history with the gravitas and reverence it deserves. Thank you.
Thanks Rona. That means something coming from you. I'm glad it connected. I've always appreciated when history becomes real in words, images, stories. I enjoyed doing the research on it and simply putting together the simple moments that must have taken place and gone through people's minds. It's quite something what they did. It's very hard for me to imagine, from among the Right or the Left, such a show of force of putting it all on the line courage.
Talk is cheap—and corrosive.
King Trump is much worse than King George.
In many ways I'm more worried about the citizenry than the leaders. I don't think the legislatures of 1776 would have put a man in office with such grave character limitations. It's upsetting we did and at such a scale. 70 million people thought Donald Trump was acceptable to be the most powerful man on Earth.
My dad lived in a continuing care facility. When I’d visit and walk rough the building, every TV was on Fox. All the people here is Fox lies all day. In that world Trump is a national hero. Garbage in is garbage out. A third of America’s brains are being spoiled.
I watched Jesse Watters for 5 minutes w my dad one day. Made me sick to my stomach.
Well done and said Adam.
Thank you, James. I'm glad it connected.
Beautifully told!
Thank you, sir.