by Joseph Max Lewis
Imagine how the signers of The Declaration of
Independence feel while looking down from heaven and listening to their
critics. The thought never occurred to me until my publisher asked me to write
a fictional short story relating how John Hancock experienced the 4th
of July. Before starting, I read Herbert S. Allan’s even-handed biography of
Hancock. Yes, the Founders were all human - Hancock was vain and a clothes
horse, for example. But when you study the founding of America from the
perspective of a Founder, the greatness of these men staggers you.
“But they didn’t free the slaves and women and blacks
couldn’t vote!”
Guess what? No one
could meaningfully vote and everyone, everywhere, was in some form of bondage.
The English themselves were “subjects.” Except for royalty and a small number
of men in a handful of tiny Greek city states, no one had ever controlled their
destiny.
Writing in the first person forces you to see things
through the eyes of the character or historic figure, to imagine what they
felt, wanted and thought. The Founders were operating in uncharted waters,
laying the foundation to free all mankind and making things up as they went.
They were doing it while at war with the most powerful Empire on the face of
the planet. On January 1, 1776, George Washington discovered he had only 8,000
enlistments instead of the 20,000 planned. Georgia and South Carolina announced
they would not sign if slavery were denounced, let alone outlawed.
As I imagine Hancock saying, “The hard truth is we will
not free the Negro slaves . . . not because we don’t want to, but because we
can’t. The southerners would revolt . . . freeing the black man will require a
war and the forces of liberty are barely able to fight one war, let alone two.”
On July 4, 1776, the Founders were almost to a man well
educated, affluent and doing quite well as subjects of Britain. In the 18th
century, traitors were hung from a gibbet with their hands tied behind their
back. Rather than breaking their necks, the traitor took about ten minutes to
strangle to death. Traitors’ property was forfeit, so their families were left
impoverished. While the Founders were signing their own death warrant, Benedict
Arnold was trying to keep his army from disintegrating as he retreated from the
disastrous Canadian campaign. "I have often thought how much happier I
would have been," said Washington, "if, instead of accepting a
command under such circumstances, I had taken up musket on my shoulder and
entered the ranks.”
They were great men, yet consider the petulance with
which they are treated. While reviewing “The Price they Paid” email about the
Founders, the left wing site “Snopes” called it part true, part false. Why?
Here’s an example: “Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The
enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.” Snopes - “yeah, well
. . . she was already sick.” Seriously. I paraphrase, so check it out for
yourselves. Part of the disdain appears to be petty racism, sexism and
anti-Christianity - the Founders were white male Christians - but there may be
something deeper. Writing about an attack on the Framers, Professor Walter
Williams wrote, “If I believed in conspiracies, I'd say (Time’s) article is part
of a leftist agenda to undermine respect for the founding values of our
nation.”
Hancock might have said, “No doubt, those who hate
liberty and embrace hate amongst the races will use this against us not only
now, but far into the future. We can only trust this and future generations
will be wise enough to detect the charlatan, understand his aim and reject his
deception. That battle is for another time, and will be fought by other men. We
must fight the one in front of us now.”
This is a column of opinion and satire. The author
knows of no undisclosed facts. Contact
Lewis, the author of John Hancock, in Remington
Colt's Revolutionary War Series, visit him at josephmaxlewis.com and click on
Rimersburg Rules. © Joseph M. Lewis
