GENERAL WASHINGTON
By July 4, 1776, General George Washington was desperate for more reinforcements, flints for their guns and provisions for the troops. Watching as the British and mercenary fleet kept growing in New York harbor, it was only a matter of time before an invasion by the British began.
For several weeks now, General Washington sent daily dispatches reminding the Congress of the critical shortage of men and supplies. The few reinforcements that were being sent were not enough.
50,000 men were now gathered for a showdown on Manhattan Island. Muskets and guns were about to resolve the issues being argured by statesmen on both sides of the Atlantic. The only thing remaining was the bloody business of war, and that was in the hands of General George Washington.
INDEPENDENCE
For two days they edited and changed the wording of the declaration. Finally, on the 4th of July, 1776, there was agreement on the terms – the document was ready for the vote. A final reading was ordered:
“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…”
A bold and majestic manifesto, a declaration of freedom for all men, unanimously adopted. Men of proud vision and violent passion, they signed the charter of freedom with a bold and selfless vow:
“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence, we mututally pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our Sacred Honor.”
And so was born the United States of America.
