Happy Independence Day, America
If you know any Marines, even just one of us, there's a good chance that you're aware of the fact that we take our birthday quite seriously.
In November 1921, our 13th Commandant, General John A. Lejeune, made sure we wouldn't get lazy about remembering the importance of the day, drafting a message to all Marines about their valorous heritage.
It begins, "On November 10,1775, a Corps of Marines was created by a resolution of the Continental Congress. Since that date many thousand men have borne the name Marine. In memory of them it is fitting that we who are Marines should commemorate the birthday of our corps by calling to mind the glories of its long and illustrious history."
Each year, Gen. Lejeune's message is read to Marines in formations and at formal balls, along with a birthday message from the current Commandant which, nowadays, is conveyed in professionally produced videos.
Marines don't refer to November 10 by it's date, the way most people refer to Independence Day. Nor do we call it an anniversary.
It's our birthday, and you'll hear Marines wishing each other, Happy Birthday all week. Text threads, email and social media blow up with birthday wishes and videos.
At birthday balls, we drink at least 10 formal toasts, recalling our history and remembering those in harm’s way. We loudly sing all three verses of the Marines' Hymn, and ritualistically cut a ceremonial birthday cake with an official sword.
As Joe Biden might opine, it's a big f**king deal.
Why is it that, as Americans, we don't take our Nation's birthday nearly as seriously?
Of course, there are concerts and fireworks and barbecues and all that but when was the last time anybody raised a glass to the 56 patriots who put themselves in mortal danger when they signed their names to the Declaration of Independence?
And, why do we cheapen the anniversary of our Nation's independence by referring to it simply by its date?
That's as dumb as calling the day that commemorates the end of slavery in the US "Juneteenth." And that's why nobody knows what the hell that holiday is even about. We should but we don't.
Let's not let that happen to this holiday.
Today is Independence Day. It celebrates the date on which 56 American patriots pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor in adopting the Declaration of Independence, declaring that "these United Colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states."
Some people will tell you that the Declaration was actually adopted on July 2 and was signed on the 4th. What was adopted on the 2nd was the Lee Resolution, submitted to the Continental Congress by Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, and which introduced the independence language into the final document.
Before Lee's resolution was added, the working document was essentially just a list of grievances the colonists had with the Crown. They'd already sent the king one of those, back in October of '74 and the SOB never responded.
In fact, even following the Boston Massacre, after years of onerous taxes being levied against them, even after Lexington and Concord and Bunker Hill, few colonists openly advocated for independence from Great Britain. They just wanted to be treated a little better.
It wasn't until January 1776, when Thomas Paine published his pamphlet, Common Sense, that the idea of breaking with England began to take hold.
On May 15, the revolutionary Virginia Convention passed a resolution instructing its delegates to the Continental Congress "to propose to that respectable body to declare the United Colonies free and independent States, absolved from all allegiance to, or dependence upon, the Crown or Parliament of Great Britain."
Lee introduced the resolution to Congress on June 7. However, since the delegates from Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and New York hadn't yet been authorized to vote for independence, the voting on that clause of Lee's resolution was delayed for three weeks. Over that time, advocates for independence worked to build support for the measure in colonial assemblies.
In the meantime, the Committee of Five was appointed, on June 11, to draft a formal declaration, in order to have it ready when the whole independence thing was approved. By this point, pretty much everybody believed that to be inevitable.
The committee consisted of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston and, of course, Thomas Jefferson who, as we all know, did most of the work. Franklin and Adams made additions and changes, which Jefferson then incorporated into the document.
It was presented to Congress on June 28, but the vote on independence was tabled until Monday July 1, when it was taken up by entire body of delegates. Unfortunately, in a trial vote that day, South Carolina and Pennsylvania voted against the independence measure.
After a little arm twisting that night, the South Carolina delegates were persuaded to vote yes, and the two anti-independence members of the Pennsylvania delegation were talked into taking the following day off.
Lee's resolution for independence was approved by 12 colonies, with New York abstaining since their instructions were to seek reconciliation with the king. (A week later, the state's Provincial Congress would vote to "join with the other colonies in supporting" independence.)
The Pennsylvania Evening Post of July 2 briefly reported:
This day the CONTINENTAL CONGRESS declared the UNITED COLONIES FREE and INDEPENDENT STATES.
Meanwhile, up in New York on that very day, British Admiral William Howe began landing the first of what would soon be upwards of 32,000 redcoats on Staten Island.
(Maybe that had something to do with New York changing its mind.)
The following day, the Congress began debating what would be the final and complete document, but leaving mostly untouched Jefferson's soaring rhetoric in the opening paragraphs.
On July 4, 1776, Congress approved the final draft and John Hancock, the President of the Congress, ordered it printed and distributed to the colonial assemblies and all Continental Army units.
Interestingly, only two people signed the Declaration on July 4, Hancock, and Secretary of Congress Charles Thompson. Most of the rest of the delegates signed the parchment version that we're all familiar with on August 2, but some didn't get around to affixing their signatures for another six months.
The mood in that hot, humid room in the Pennsylvania State House that day was anything but gleeful. Each of those in attendance for the signing was keenly aware that he was engaging in an act of treason that might cost him his life.
Pennsylvania's Benjamin Rush never forgot the sense of apprehension in the room, writing to John Adams, in 1811, "Do you recollect the pensive and awful silence which pervaded the house when we were called up, one after another, to the table of the President of Congress, to subscribe what was believed by many at that time to be our own death warrants?"
Rush was right.
Five of the signers were captured as traitors by the British and were tortured before they died.
The homes of 12 others were burned to the ground.
Two of the men lost sons in the war. Another had two sons captured.
Nine of the 56 fought and died themselves in the war.
Not to harsh your Fourth of July buzz, but I think we could do a better job at remembering what today means. 248 years ago, 56 patriotic lunatics, at the risk of death, mutually pledged their Lives, their Fortunes and their sacred Honor, ultimately bestowing on us the greatest, freest, most powerful and most generous nation the world has ever known.
Gen. Lejeune's Marine Corps birthday message could easily be adapted to read:
On July 4, 1776, an independent Nation was created by a resolution of the Continental Congress. Since that date many thousands of men and women have borne the name American. In memory of them it is fitting that we who are Americans should commemorate the birthday of our Nation by calling to mind the glories of its long and illustrious history."
Happy birthday, America.
Brian O'Leary is a retired Marine Corps colonel, who served for 30 years, including combat deployments to Somalia and Iraq, and command of an infantry battalion in Afghanistan. Additionally, he has spent 25 years in the financial services industry. Brian earned his BA in English from Penn State University and his MA in National Security Studies from the US Army War College.
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