"A Little American History Never Hurt Anyone"

You knew our Declaration of Independence was signed and celebrated each July 4 of our county’s history. But did you know our War of Independence started when the Minute Men skirmished with British troops in April of 1774? And that was when the people of the 13 States, (or colonies as the British preferred) decided for the first time in modern history that a colony which answered to a higher government, England, would declare a right of self-rule.

So, representatives of those states convened in a Congress from September to October, 1774, and decided to create an independent country. They titled that governing document the “Continental Association,” and pledged an independent country that would “encourage frugality, economy and industry, while promoting agriculture, arts, and manufacturing.” Curiously, the Colony of Georgia declined to sign the document and the why is another story.

But the document proved ineffective as a vehicle to inspire the people.

So, the Congress met again in June of 1776, and bowed to the demands from Richard Henry Lee of Virginia who moved for a resolution that, “…these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.”

Congress deferred the resolution and appointed a five-member committee, (John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman) to draft a resolution Congress could adopt. John Adams chaired the committee and first asked Mr. Franklin for a draft. Franklin declined and claimed to have a bad case of gout and, a lifelong aversion to writing anything that would be edited by a Committee. Thus, Adams asked Mr. Jefferson to prepare a draft that was submitted and after several revisions was presented to the full Congress on June 28th. (Thanks to Joseph J. Ellis, “American Creation”)

Even after the Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence as its governing document for “These United States,” few in the country even knew of its existence. The Pennsylvania Evening Post was the first to announce the signing, (which happened on July 6), and was followed by several other newspapers. Soon there were public readings of the document across the country which stirred the country and promoted several states to pay their own way for creating militias to engage the British in combat. (Thanks to Eric Burns, “Infamous Scribblers”)

Before the Revolutionary War was finally over and the British conceded our independence, (almost 13 years after that “first skirmish” in Lexington/Concord), the Declaration of Independence was replaced with another governing document called “The Articles of Confederation (and Perpetual Union)” which was ratified by the 13 states in 1781. Interestingly, those Articles of Confederation provided for a person to chair our government, (a President), elected by the Congress for a term of only one year!

So technically, our 1st President was Mr. John Hanson who was followed by 7 other Presidents until the Congress proposed, and was ratified by the States in 1787, today’s governing document, The United States Constitution. Which led to the 4-year-term of President George Washington, who was unofficially called “The Father of our Nation.”

But wait, George Washington was a delegate of the Congress that created the Constitution, and he was an active member to resolve the issues that it produced. Still, it was the only of our four governing documents he signed.

Of those four documents, “The Continental Association”, “The Declaration of Independence”, “The Articles of Confederation”, and “The United States Constitution”, only one man, one member of all four Congressional Committees was present and signed all four documents!

Allow me to introduce Mr. Roger Sherman, a lawyer by trade and the designated Congressional representative for the colony, (now State), of Connecticut. Remember him? He was an appointed member of John Adams’ committee that drafted the proposed and adopted Declaration of Independence.

Mr. Sherman is seldom mentioned in the history of our country but his presence was enormous. His reputation for calm and intelligent deliberations and effective argument was always there during the most trying and chaotic times in the formation of our constituted government and the formation of our perfect union. Perhaps Mr. Sherman earns the title “Father of our Country.”

In fact, he was paid a most profound compliment by none other than the most respected intellectual of our country at that time, and future President, Mr. Thomas Jefferson. Fellow Congressional Representative Thomas Jefferson said of Roger Sherman:

“This man has never said a foolish thing in his life.”

And that my friends is the reason “A Little American History…never hurt anyone” and reason for our national pride in ourselves and our fellow citizens for this, another of our 4th of July celebrations.

Written by Allyn resident Scotty Ray, with the help of grandson David Schoch. M. Ed.

Inspired by “A Little American History Never Hurt Anyone,” a handbook published by Joseph Ray, Scotty’s uncle, in 1970.