Here's a little more history about the Declaration of Independence.
It actually wasn't signed on July 4th. it was approved. The actual signing didn’t take place until a month later. Most of the delegates signed the Declaration on August 2, 1776.
Several signatures were obtained later ... George Wythe (Virginia) on August 27; Richard Henry Lee (Virginia), Elbridge Gerry (Massachusetts), Oliver Wolcott (Connecticut) signed in September; Matthew Thornton (New Hampshire) in November. Thomas McKean, representing Delaware, was serving in the army and was unavailable to add his ‘John Hancock’ until 1781.
Following the natural rights theory of John Locke, the document proclaimed the equality of ‘all men’ and their ‘unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’. The authors wrote that governments were established to secure these rights; when they failed to do so, the people could abolish them. This one statement alone was considered as treason to the British crown.
And so, at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, John Hancock said, “Now we must all hang together.”
Benjamin Franklin smilingly stated, “Or most assuredly we will all hang separately.”
Oh that Ben, he was such a card.
