DAVID McHAM'S
COMMUNICATION LAW CENTER

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Section 1

Section 2

• History in Britain
• Coming to America
• The Revolutionary War
• Gaining Independence
• Section 2 Review

Section 3
Section 4

Section 2: Gaining Independence
How We Got To This Point
Ideas That Shaped America
Congresses In America
Independence: The Sequence of Events
The Declaration of Independence
The Preamble
The Gettysburg Address

How We Got to This Point
Everything in our history came together in 1775 and 1776 with the Revolutionary War and the Declaration of Independence.

Among the events in England:

Then, of course, the actions of Parliament and the king toward America in the years leading up to the war.

Americans in 1775 and 1776 were dealing with fairly recent events. They paid attention to history. Time moved a great deal more slowly than it does now.

Although news and information didn't spread rapidly, it did spread. up and down the Eastern Seaboard, most people had an idea of what was going on.

This can be illustrated by those militiamen who came from the Western Carolinas, Western Virginia and Tennessee to fight in the Revolutionary War battles at Kings Mountain and Cowpens.

By now enough specific acts had built up to cause the Americans to be concerned about the relationship with the mother country, England as they referred to it -- although technically after 1707 it was Great Britain.

And what were these acts? Specifically,

Many Americas (that is, the patriots) believed that these actions could have been avoided and that they were oppressive. This opinion spread.

America had a good understanding of the parliamentary system. They understood the law-making aspects that exist in a democracy. It's not as though they were not paying attention.

Through the governors appointed by the crown, the individual colonies still did not have total freedom to govern themselves. This was to become a significant matter of contention.

They had ideas to base their actions on:

The Americans had tried the idea of congresses already:

A New Government
What happened in America about this time was unique in that this was not the work of a dictator, or was it a coup. It was to a certain extent a civil war. More than that, it was a popular uprising in which people sought their independence.

A great irony was this: Even as they were leaving the British empire, the Americans adopted the very laws of the country they were leaving -- the country they were rebelling against.

In this way Americans demonstrated that they were trying to hold the mother country to a higher standard. In doing so, they set a very high standard for themselves.

So, it was natural that they would put this in a document of some kind. They had the antecedents for that in England going back to the Magna Carta. They even had an earlier document in America -- the Mayflower Compact of 1620.

Therefore, during the second Continental Congress a committee was formed to draw up a declaration of independence. Later, other documents come into being - the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

We took the English system and fashioned a new form of government. Not a parliamentary system, as Britain had. Something different.

It was -- and is -- an experiment. We are still tinkering with it today.

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Ideas That Shaped America
Later in life, John Adams looking back on the events that led to the revolution, said this:

The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people... This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people was the real American Revolution.

Several distinct concepts became intertwined in American thinking and led to the attitude that a separation with Britain was necessary.

Perhaps first among these was the thinking of John Locke regarding what constituted a political compact. Cato's Letters continued to have an impact. The writings of Thomas Paine were most current - particularly Common Sense, which argued for the separation. And who could forget the oratory of Patrick Henry. These and other factors contributed to the mindset of the revolutionaries.

John Locke was an English philosopher who lived from 1632 to 1704. His influence was most widely felt in his writings about political theory. His Two Treatises of Government in 1690 contained the basics of his beliefs in this regard.

What he believed is often summarized as the political compact - that a government has the right to govern because of the consent of the people.

Locke believed that a nation existed to preserve the natural rights of its citizens. When governments fail in that, he said, the people have the right to withdraw their support and even to rebel.

Among the natural rights Locke enumerated were the rights to life, liberty and property.

Locke thought government should be limited in this regard and that checks and balances needed to be established to ensure that the government acted responsibly.

John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon, who wrote the essays known as Cato's Letters between 1720 and 1723, stressed three important concepts: individual liberty, representative government and freedom of expression.

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Congresses In America
1) The first congress in America was at Albany, New York, on June 19, 1754, when representatives of seven colonies met with the Iroquois to gain their support against France.

2) Nine colonies met in the Stamp Act Congress in New York, October 7 to 25, 1765.

3) The First Continental Congress met at Carpenters Hall, Philadelphia from September 5 to October 26, 1774.

4) The Second Continental Congress met originally in Independence Hall, Philadelphia but later in other cities from May 10, 1775, to March 1, 1781.

5) The Congress of the Confederation met from March 1, 1781, to March 4, 1789, in various locations.

6) The first congress of the new government met for the first time in New York on March 4, 1789.

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Independence: The Sequence of Events
The Stamp Act was passed by Parliament on March 22, 1765. Word reached Boston on May 16. It was to be effective on November 1.

In June 1765 the Massachusetts House of Representatives called an intercolonial congress to discuss the tax. Nine colonies attended. The congress, known as the Stamp Act Congress, met in New York on October 7 and adopted a Declaration of Rights and Grievances, written by John Dickinson. It presented the colonial position on the Stamp Act.

On May 24, 1766, Parliament voted to repeal the Stamp Act. Repeal became effective May 1. On the same day Parliament passed the Declaratory Act -- a statement that Parliament had authority over America and asserting that Parliament had full authority to make laws binding on America.

The Boston Massacre was March 5, 1770.

The British Tea Act was passed by Parliament on May 10, 1773. The Boston Tea Party was December 16, 1773.

The Coercive Acts, called the Intolerable Acts by the Americans, were passed Parliament in 1774 and closed Boston harbor.

The occupation of Boston by British troops and the Intolerable Acts virtually forced the colonies to get together to talk about the situation for the first time since the Stamp Act.

Meeting in May 1774, 89 Virginia burgesses, including Washington, Jefferson and Patrick Henry, declared their opinion:

"that an attack, made on one of our sister colonies, to compel submission to arbitrary taxes, is an attack made on all British America, and threatens ruin to the rights of all...."

The burgesses asked their Committee of Correspondence to communicate with like committees in the other colonies and arrange for appointing deputies to a general congress to consider again the rights of Americans, and to set a general agreement on economic measures.

First Continental Congress
By August, 12 of the 13 colonies -- excluding Georgia -- had named delegates to the meeting, scheduled for Philadelphia in September, 1774. The stage was set for the First Continental Congress.

The First Continental Congress met at Carpenters Hall in Philadelphia on September 5, 1774. Fifty-six representatives of 12 of the 13 colonies attended. Georgia did not send delegates but agreed to support any plans approved.

Peyton Randolph of Virginia was chosen president. Others attending were Samuel Adams, John Adams, George Washington, Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, John Jay, Joseph Galloway and John Dickinson.

Representatives to the congress denounced the acts passed by Parliament against the colonies since 1763 as violations of the rights of British colonists. They agreed that their colonies would not import any goods from Britain or Ireland after December 1, 1774, and agreed not to export anything to the British Isles or the West Indies after September 10, 1775, unless the abuses had been corrected.

They adopted 10 resolutions on the rights of self-government, including self-taxation by their own legislatures.

They endorsed the resolution from Massachusetts that declared the Coercive Acts/Intolerable Acts to be invalid. They authorized no obedience to the acts and advised citizens to arm and form militia for defense if attacked.

They acknowledged allegiance to the crown but considered themselves a dominion, not subject to Parliament.

The congress adjourned on October 26, 1774.

In January 1775 the declaration and resolves of the Congress were presented to the British Parliament. On February 9, 1775, both houses of Parliament declared Massachusetts to be in a state of rebellion and gave official approval for the use of force to secure compliance with the Intolerable Acts. This was known as The New England Restraining Act.

In summary: The First Continental Congress met from September 5, 1774, to October 26, 1774, at Carpenters Hall in Philadelphia.

Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia on May 10, 1775. New delegates included John Hancock, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin (just back from England). All 13 colonies sent representatives. This congress took on the duties of a government.

The congress organized an Army and on June 15, 1775, named George Washington the commander. He served without salary.

On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia offered a resolution that "These United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states."

On June 11 a committee was formed to draft a document in accordance with the Lee resolution. Thomas Jefferson was chairman. Other members were Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman and Robert Livingston. Lee would have been a member but he was called home because of a family emergency.

Jefferson and the committee worked on the document from June 12 to June 27. On June 28, a draft was read in the congress.

The debate on the document lasted from July 1 to July 4. During the debate, on July 2, the congress declared independence. On July 4 the congress approved the Declaration of Independence.

Afterwards, the congress sent the copy to a printer, John Dunlap. He worked all night to set the type and run the copies. The printed copies were delivered early the next day, July 5.

A typographical error appears in the preamble. It says unalienable and not inalienable, as was written. It was an honest mistake. The words "unalienable Right" had appeared in Cato's Letters.

On July 19, the congress ordered that an official copy of the declaration be signed by the members. On August 2, 1776, fifty members of the congress signed the declaration. Five others signed it by November 19. Thomas McKean of Delaware signed it in 1781.

In summary: The Second Continental Congress met from May 10, 1775, to March 1, 1781. The first meeting was at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Later the congress met in other cities.

To trace the history of the Declaration of Independence from Jeffersons first draft to the final document, go to

The End of the War
The British commander, Lord Cornwallis, and his 8,000 men surrendered at Yorktown on October 19, 1781. Peace negotiations began in Paris in April, 1782. The United States representatives were Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, John Jay and Henry Laurens.

The United States ratified the peace treaty on April 19, 1783 (eight years to the day after the war started). It was signed on September 3. The last British troops left New York City on November 25, 1783.

Congress of Confederation
The Second Continental Congress established the Articles of Confederation to take its place as the governing body of the colonies. The articles went into effect on March 1, 1781.

The new congress that met under the Articles of Confederation was known as the Congress of the Confederation.

But problems arose that showed the weakness of the government under the Articles of Confederation. The articles created a loose confederation with little central authority. This made it practically impossible for the central government to raise money. Also, each state could print money. And each state controlled its own trade.

In summary: This Congress of the Confederation met from March 1, 1781, to March 4, 1789, when it was replaced by the congress established by the United States Constitution.

Moving Toward a New Government
The failure of the government under the Articles of Confederation demonstrated the need for additional changes.

With this in mind, Virginia invited the states to send delegates to a convention at Annapolis in September 1786 to discuss interstate commerce. Only five attended.

They were Virginia, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware.

Those attending the Annapolis convention decided that a new constitution would have to be written. Alexander Hamilton wrote a report calling on the states to attend another convention similar to the one at Annapolis.

The Continental Congress approved of that decision.

In May of 1787, 55 men from 12 states met in Independence Hall in Philadelphia to frame a new government. Rhode Island did not take part because it resented "outside interference" in its affairs.

George Washington presided. The convention hammered out a new form of government over the next four months and created a constitution.

In summary: This, the Constitutional Convention, met from May 25 to September 17, 1787.

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The Declaration of Independence
After the Declaration was adopted on July 4, 1776, it was turned over to John Dunlap, a printer in Philadelphia, to be printed. He delivered the printed copies the next morning. How many copies he printed is unclear.

The printed version included the names of John Hancock, the president of the congress, and Charles Thomson, the secretary.

It was read aloud July 8 in Philadelphia and Easton, Pennsylvania, and in Trenton, New Jersey. On July 9 at 6 p.m. it was read by order of General George Washington to the troops assembled on the Common in New York City (City Hall Park).

The Continental Congress of July 19, 1776, adopted this resolution:

Resolved, That the Declaration passed on the 4th, be fairly engrossed on parchment with the title and stile of 'The Unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America' and that the same, when engrossed, be signed by every member of Congress.

Engrossing involved having someone -- in the case probably Timothy Matlack ' prepare an official handwritten document. Such work took time, and it wasn't until August 2 that the journal of the Continental Congress recorded that the engrossed Declaration was ready to sign.

Fifty members of the congress signed the declaration on August 2. In all, 56 men signed the Declaration, although at various times.

Later in August and September it was signed by Oliver Wolcott of Connecticut, George Wythe and Richard Henry Lee of Virginia and Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts.

Matthew Thornton of New Hampshire joined the Congress November 4 and signed the declaration on November 19. Thomas McKean of Delaware rejoined Washington's Army before signing and said later that he signed in 1781.

Charles Carroll of Carrollton was appointed a delegate by Maryland on July 4, 1776, presented his credentials July 18, and signed the engrossed Declaration on August 2. Born September 19, 1737, he was 95 years old and the last surviving signer when he died November 14, 1832.

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration -- July 4, 1826. Adams was 90 and Jefferson 83.

Two members of the congress present on July 4 didn't sign the Declaration. They were John Dickinson, who still hoped to patch things up with the British, and Robert R. Livingston, one of the committee of five. Livingston thought the congress had acted in haste. Dickinson was from Pennsylvania and Livingston from New York.

Only 24 of John Dunlap's original printed copies of the Declaration survive. One copy sold in 2001 for $8.14 million. Two of the copies are in the Library of Congress. One of those was the copy sent to George Washington.

In January 1777 congress decided that a second printing of the Declaration of Independence was necessary. The purpose was to distribute copies to each of the states. This version had the printed names of all the signers as of then. The printer was Mary Katherine Goddard of Baltimore.

Obviously, many excellent Internet sources dealing with the event are available. One such source is:

John Trumbull's painting of the presentation of the document is the one most authoritative source of the way many of the participants looked. Although the painting is in itself not historically accurate, Trumbull did paint many of the participants from real life.

Best source for the painting and the list of the people in the painting is at:

Where is the painting? It's in the rotunda of the United States Capitol. It was one of four paintings by Trumbull commissioned by Congress in 1817.

Where, other than there or the Internet, can the painting be seen? Since 1976 it has been on the back of the $2 bill. Guess who's on the front of the bill?

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The Preamble
The preamble of The Declaration of Independence:

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable+ Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

"That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

"That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness..."

+ should have been inalienable

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The Gettysburg Address
Lincoln's Address at Gettysburg, 1863

President Abraham Lincoln made this speech at the dedication of the Civil War cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on November 19, 1863.

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battle field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate - we can not consecrate - we can not hallow - this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

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