HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY 2020
An adult children’s Book for all ages APOCALI NOW! brilliantly lampoons the left. ODER > HERE
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A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into the cartoons that have been popular all over the country, in various news outlets including “Fox News”, MSNBC, CBS, ABC and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, the great El Rushbo, and has had his toons tweeted by President Trump.
It has become fashionable to equate the French and American Revolutions, but they share absolutely nothing beyond the word “revolution.” The American Revolution was a movement based on ideas, painstakingly argued by serious men in the process of creating what would become the freest, most prosperous nation in the history of the world. (Until Democrats decided to give it away to the Third World.)
The French Revolution was a revolt of the mob. It was the primogenitor of the horrors of the Bolshevik Revolution, Hitler’s storm troopers, Mao’s Cultural Revolution, Pol Pot’s slaughter and America’s periodic mob uprisings, from Shays’ Rebellion to the current attacks on White House employees and Trump supporters.
The French Revolution is the godless antithesis to the founding of America.
One rather important difference is that Americans did win freedom with their revolution and created a self-governing republic. France’s revolution consisted of pointless, bestial savagery, followed by another monarchy, followed by Napoleon’s dictatorship and then finally something resembling an actual republic 80 years later.
Both revolutions are said to have come from the ideas of Enlightenment thinkers, the American Revolution influenced by the writings of John Locke and the French Revolution informed by the writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. This is like saying presidents Reagan and Obama both drew on the ideas of 20th-century economists — Reagan on the writings of Milton Friedman and Obama on the writings of Paul Krugman.
Locke was concerned with private property rights. His idea was that the government should allow men to protect their property in courts of law, in lieu of each man being his own judge and executioner. Rousseau saw the government as the vessel to implement the “general will” and create a new man. Through power, the government would “force men to be free.”
As historian Roger Hancock summarized the theories of the French revolutionaries, they had no respect for humanity “except that which they proposed to create.” To liberate man, they would “reconstruct his very humanity to meet the demands of the general will.”
Liberals dearly wish our Founding Fathers were more like the godless French peasants, skipping around with human heads on pikes. But alas, our Founding Fathers were God-fearing descendants of Puritans and Presbyterians. (And one Catholic!) King George denounced the American Revolution as “a Presbyterian war.”
As Stephen Waldman writes in his definitive book on the subject, “Founding Faith,” the American Revolution was “powerfully shaped by the Great Awakening,” an evangelical revival in the Colonies in the early 1700s, led by famous Puritan theologian Jonathan Edwards, among others. Aaron Burr, the third vice president of the United States, was Edwards’ grandson.
There are books of Christian sermons endorsing the revolution. The barbaric attacks on the church by the French revolutionaries would later appall Americans and British alike, even before the bloodletting began.
Americans celebrate the Fourth of July, the date our written demand for independence from Britain was released to the world.
The French celebrate Bastille Day, a day when a thousand armed Parisians stormed the Bastille and savagely murdered a half-dozen guards, defacing their corpses and sticking their heads on pikes — all in order to seize arms and gunpowder for more such tumults. It would be as if this country had a national holiday to celebrate the Ferguson riots.
Among the most famous quotes from the American Revolution is Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty or give me death!” Among the most famous quotes from the French Revolution is the Jacobins’ “Fraternity or death!” Or, as Jacobin Sebastien Nicolas de Chamfort satirized it: “Be my brother or I’ll kill you.”
Our revolutionary symbol is the Liberty Bell, rung to summon the citizens of Philadelphia to a public reading of the just-adopted Declaration of Independence.
The symbol of the French Revolution is the “National Razor” — the guillotine.
Of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, all died of natural causes in old age, with the exception of Button Gwinnett of Georgia, who was shot in a duel unrelated to the revolution.
Only one other founding father died of unnatural causes: Alexander Hamilton, who did not sign the Declaration of Independence. He died in a duel with Burr because as a Christian, Hamilton deemed it a greater sin to kill another man than to be killed. Before the duel, Hamilton vowed in writing not to shoot Burr.
President after president of our new nation died peacefully for 75 years, right up until Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865.
Meanwhile, all the leaders of the French Revolution died violently, guillotine by guillotine.
The Fourth of July also marks the death of two of our greatest Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, who died on the same day, exactly 50 years after the Declaration of Independence was signed.
We made it for nearly another 200 years. And then, for some reason, the Democrats decided to give our country away to the rest of the world.
Political cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2018.
More A.F. Branco cartoons at Constitution.com here.
Political Cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2018.
To see more Legal Insurrection Branco cartoons, click here.
A.F.Branco’s New Coffee Table Book <—- Order Here!
Donations/Tips accepted and appreciated – $1.00 – $5.00 – $10 – $100 – it all helps to fund this website and keep the cartoons coming. – THANK YOU!
A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into the cartoons that have been seen all over the country, in various news outlets including “Fox News”, MSNBC, CBS, ABC and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as James Woods, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, and even the great El Rushbo.
Political Cartoon by A.F. Branco 92018.
More A.F. Branco Cartoons at The Daily Torch.
A.F.Branco Coffee Table Book <—- Order Here!
Donations/Tips accepted and appreciated – $1.00 – $5.00 – $10 – $100 – it all helps to fund this website and keep the cartoons coming. – THANK YOU!
A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into the cartoons that have been seen all over the country, in various news outlets including “Fox News” and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as James Woods, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, and even the great El Rushbo.
URL of the original posting site: http://freedomoutpost.com/independence-week-an-homage-to-the-preachers/
Let us then speak of this cherished virtue and how it affected our country’s foundation.
Out of this virtue sprang many patriots, including the Sons of Liberty. The initial goal of the Sons of Liberty, and patriots of all classes and distinctions, was to ensure their God-given rights as Englishmen.
They relayed in print the major events of their struggle for Liberty and would hold meetings to decide which candidates to support—those that would bring about the desired political change. In return, the British authorities attempted to denigrate the Sons of Liberty by referring to them as the “Sons of Violence” or the “Sons of Iniquity.”
Stuart Varney, Screen Grab Fox Business Network
Varney was born in Britain and became an American citizen last November. He said, “It’s a very special day—this July the Fourth—because it will be the first July the Fourth that I have been a fully-fledged, bonafide American citizen.”
“I’ve been in America a long time, but just recently became a citizen. And I have to tell you that, when I, on the day that I swore allegiance to the Constitution to the United States of America it was a very special day.”
“In my swearing-in ceremony, there were 80 people from 33 different countries, and there wasn’t a dry eye in the place,” Varney recalled fondly. “Everybody wanted to be there. We all wanted to be Americans, and it was a fine feeling.”
“I realized at that point, I’m a member of the club. I am an American,” Varney said. Being an American “makes you feel different. It just does. I’ve loved America since day one, and now I’ve joined the club. I’m in, and I’m a very happy guy.”
Elaborating on his choice to become an American, Varney told TheDC, “I have pretty much a free choice as to where I want to live and work in the world. And I deliberately chose America because this is the place that I know and like and came to love.”
Varney said he chose America because “it offered opportunity—and nobody cared what my mom and dad did for a living. You know, that’s an astonishing thing to say when you’re a European because your birthright, your background means a lot. In America, I never got that impression. Can you do the job? Have you got any brains, drive, talent, and ability? And if you do well, you can climb the tree. And that’s what happened to me. I liked it immediately, fit right in, felt myself to be very American, and took it from there.”
“It’s a feeling of belonging, being part of it,” Varney said.
When asked about the anti-Trump protesters who have shown up in California and New Mexico at the presumptive Republican nominee’s rallies, Varney said, “That’s like a red rag to a bull. Outrageous. You do not fly any foreign flag when you’re demonstrating against an American presidential candidate… You just don’t do it. Period. And on American soil, in California, to wave the Mexican flag is extremely provocative. And, I think, wildly counter-productive for the demonstrators. Nothing will move voters toward Donald Trump quite like a Mexican flag…. That’s provocative and counterproductive and utterly wrong.”
For Varney, becoming an American has “solidified” his views on immigration. “This thing of choice is very important to me. All immigrants are making that choice. They’re all saying. ‘I want to be here’—for whatever reason. They’re saying. ‘I want to be here,’ and America is a place which opens its arms to foreigners,” Varney said. “I mean, after all, where else in the world could I go, with a very foreign accent, and tell you Americans, the locals, what’s going on in your society. And if you think that an American could go to Germany and, with a pronounced American accent, read the news in German and have them—I mean, would you be accepted? Course you wouldn’t! But in America you can. America offers a warm embrace to foreigners, and I’ve always felt that and always felt at home.”
The Fox host told TheDC that he plans to celebrate his first Fourth as an American citizen on Cape Cod with his family. They will spend time, Varney said, at the annual Fourth of July parade with “my fellow Americans, all of whom want to be there and are celebrating our independence.”
URL of the original posting site: http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/kencatalino
URL of the original posting site: http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/bobgorrell
URL of the original posting site: http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/bobgorrell
URL of the original posting site: http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/bobgorrell
URL Of the original posting site: http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/glennmccoy
URL of the original posting site: http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/lisabenson
Per the Daily Caller, enjoy Independence Day while you still can. If President Obama gets his way, this could be the last Fourth of July worth celebrating.
Yep, another one of those great ideas that will increase prices of goods sold, eliminate jobs and once again, assault one of our most cherished traditions.
Recent studies by the National Association of Manufacturers and other groups have shown that the EPA’s new directive would be the most expensive regulation ever enacted, costing the economy $140 billion annually. Even the EPA’s own cost estimates acknowledge the economic hit from the proposed regulation would be well into the tens of billions of dollars a year
Oh, and here’s the best part of all. Despite the damage this will do to our economy and American way of life, it will do almost NOTHING to improve air quality, reducing ozone to a level barely above naturally occurring levels.
Excuse me for a moment. HAHAHAHAHAHA.
Okay. I’m better now.
Even the EPA doesn’t really understand why the rule is needed. While testifying before Congress earlier this year, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy indicated that ozone levels would go down without this rule in place.
My friends, we are frogs in that pot of water and the temperature is ever so slowly being turned up, almost imperceptibly. As the Daily Caller says, this new guideline will make it so difficult to comply, whole regions of the country will have to pay fines and face other penalties, without any realistic hope of meeting the standard short of banning cars and forcing businesses to close.
[Note: this article was written by Michele Hickford, Editor-in-Chief]
Late last week there were three terror attacks carried out in three different countries after ISIS called for attacks on western targets during the Islamic holiday of Rahmadan. After the attacks, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson released a statement encouraging Americans to stay vigilant as the Independence Day, or July 4th, weekend approaches.
“Today’s terrorist attacks in France, Tunisia and Kuwait are a reminder of the evolving global terrorist threats. We stand in support of the people of those countries and mourn the loss of those killed. Particularly with the upcoming July 4th holiday, here in the United States the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI continue to communicate with state and local law enforcement about what we know and see. We are encouraging all law enforcement to be vigilant and prepared. We will also adjust security measures, seen and unseen, as necessary to protect the American people,” Johnson said. “We continue to encourage all Americans to attend public events and celebrate this country during this summer season, but always remain vigilant. ‘If You See Something Say Something™’ is more than a slogan. In our great country, acts of mass violence will never divert, discourage or frighten us. Today President Obama eulogizes the Reverend Clementa Pickney in Charleston. The alleged killer sought to divide us. Instead, his actions appear to have had the opposite effect in South Carolina, where people of different races have come together to denounce the tragedy and mourn those killed.”
The FBI and Department of Homeland Security have issued official warnings about the upcoming holiday weekend.
Federal authorities have warned local law enforcement officials across the country about a heightened concern involving possible terror attacks targeting the July 4th holiday, a U.S. law enforcement official said.
While there was no specific or credible threat of attack, the official said the intelligence bulletin prepared by the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI alerted local colleagues to the ongoing threats posed by the Islamic State and other homegrown extremists. The official was not authorized to comment publicly.
The bulletins are frequently issued in advance of major U.S. holidays out of an abundance of caution and concern that operatives may exploit the timing to generate greater attention.
The warning comes as federal investigators have worked to disrupt a number of Islamic State-inspired plots, including a planned assault earlier this month on police officers in Boston. In that case, authorities fatally shot Usaamah Rahim as he allegedly planned to attack police with military-style knives.
“No credible threat” means nothing when it comes to lone-wolf attacks inspired by ISIS or other radical Islamic terror attacks. They can strike at anytime. There wasn’t a “credible” threat against the May 2015 Mohammed cartoon contest in Texas either when we saw two terrorists open fire on the event. Luckily, they were immediately killed by prepared police in the parking lot.
Two weeks ago House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes told CBS the United States faces its highest threat since after 9/11. Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee Michael McCaul has echoed that sentiment.
JULY 4, 1776, some 238 years ago, the Declaration of Independence was approved and the battle was on. This world famous document — today studied daily around the world– for the first time declared to a watchful world that the only true way to be free and independent from the chains of powerful men was to be dependent upon the Creator of the universe. This firm reliance in providence is what gave the Founders the resolve and courage to set forth upon the greatest journey in modern history.
In patriotic boldness John Hancock signed first, saying, “The price on my head has just doubled.” Rumor has it that Hancock wrote so big as to allow the King to read it without his glasses. Benjamin Franklin while signing said “We must hang together or most assuredly we shall hang separately.”
These men knew the risks to not only their fortunes but to their very lives. They risked it all. Some gave all. Are we today cut from that cloth? Are there any George Washingtons among us today?
The original draft of the Declaration boldly declared slavery an abomination. However, two southern colonies prevented the language from remaining, and thus without unanimous consent, the language was removed upon the final draft. Make no mistake, the Founding Fathers, some even as slave holders themselves, were true abolitionists.
Three of the men most responsible for the birth of this new nation and the penning of the Declaration gave to us indispensable wisdom on how to remain free:
“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.” — Thomas Jefferson
“Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom.” — John Adams
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” — Ben Franklin
These three men would also comprise a committee set forth by the Continental Congress to come up with ideas for the Great Seal of
the United States of America. Today that final design can be found on the back of the one dollar bill. However, the very first design included a depiction of Moses and the Israelites crossing the Red Sea (following the smoke and fire of God) with Pharaoh and his army being swallowed up by the rushing waters. The motto circling the image declared, “Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.”
The Founding Fathers, being the children of the Great Awakening era, knew their Bibles and knew the significance of God’s providence in history. They studied philosophy, they studied government. They knew that for government to truly be an instrument of the people, by the people and for the people, it must begin with faith in God. Only a virtuous people will be good public servants. These rulers would be of their own, choosing from among themselves.
The liberty bell in Philadelphia — cracked during the revolution — declares this truth. It holds the inscription of Leviticus 25:10 “Proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.”
Today we are told by an all powerful IRS that the churches and pulpits of America are no place for political rhetoric. Churches today face fines and loss of non-profit status if they dare speak out on their view of politics and government. It wasn’t always this way.
Leading up to the revolution was a group of patriot soldiers known as the black robe regiment. These men were the patriot clergymen who gave rousing sermons to their congregations and to town hall meetings held in their churches all across the colonies. These speeches were vital and instrumental in getting the word out to the people, encouraging and educating the colonists about the need for revolution if freedom was indeed their desire.
Today we call this networking and mobilization. It has become the foundation upon which success is achieved in both our personal and professional lives.
These black robed clergy knew that without God — life, liberty and the pursuits of man — are all truly nothing more than what we now refer to as “survival of the fittest.”
Soon after the Declaration, the Continental Congress assigned a paid Chaplain to each Regiment of George Washington’s continental army. Washington himself asked all soldiers to attend religious services and prayed himself for the “blessing and protection of Heaven” and to “endeavour so to live, and act, as becomes a Christian Soldier defending the dearest Rights and Liberties of his country.”
We are a nation adrift — we’ve been lost at sea for so long most no longer remember when or where we set out on this journey and certainly have no clue what-so-ever on where we are headed. We are like lost children who have forgotten their parents and who only know but where they stand.
Of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence: 17 lost their fortunes, 12 had their homes destroyed, 5 became prisoners of war, 1 had two sons imprisoned on the British starving ship Jersey, 1 had a son killed in battle, 1 had his wife die from harsh prison treatment and 9 of the signers died during the War.
When Samuel Adams signed the Declaration, he said: “We have this day restored the Sovereign to whom all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in heaven and from the rising to the setting of the sun, let His kingdom come.”
John Adams prophesied: “I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.” Continuing he said, “I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost to maintain this Declaration…Yet through all the gloom I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory…Posterity will triumph in that day’s transaction, even though we should rue it, which I trust in God we shall not.”
Today we face a broken world, divided people, discontent, fear, political crisis, war, famine, moral depravity, licentiousness, covetousness and selfishness beyond comprehension.
As we celebrate the birth of our Nation and the freedom we have been blessed with, we thought this recording was worth sharing. We think you will agree and want to make sure everyone you know gets to hear it too.
John Wayne was and still is an American icon and his heart bled red, white, and blue. This stirring spoken word recording is sure to fill you with pride and you might even shed a tear or two. At the very least, it is hard to listen to this without getting chills.
In honor of 238 years of Independence, we present John Wayne’s America, Why I Love Her.
Photo: Thinkstock
U.S. sovereignty was hard-fought. The Declaration was just the beginning. It took seven years of war and tens of thousands of American lives to secure the 13 colonies under a single flag. What was once British territory became American territory. Sovereignty over one’s territory is key to maintaining a nation’s independence—just ask Ukraine about Russia’s “acquisition” of Crimea. Protecting one’s borders is equally important—just ask Syria and Iraq about their border, a portion of which was recently bulldozed by ISIS.
But just as important as territorial sovereignty is legal sovereignty, which is how a nation’s independence truly is measured. A people technically may possess their territory but be under the dominion of another nation. A nation under military occupation by a foreign nation is not independent. Even when the U.S. returned sovereignty to the government of Iraq in 2004, the country was not truly independent until many years later.
So as America celebrates its birthday today, let us take the measure of our sovereignty. Territorially, Americans need only look to the south for a reminder of how lax border enforcement can lead to chaos as more than 50,000 children have streamed over the U.S.-Mexico border in recent months. It is difficult to call a nation sovereign if it is unable to control its own borders. Why is it that an additional $2 billion and a “sustained border security surge” is necessary to prevent tens of thousands of illegal immigrants from entering our nation? Such negligence indicates, at best, a serious lack of commitment to our territorial integrity.
And what about our legal sovereignty? The Obama administration has urged Congress to ratify treaties that would make the drafters of the Declaration blanch. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea would subject the U.S. to baseless international lawsuits and require the U.S. Treasury to transfer millions of dollars in offshore oil royalties to the International Seabed Authority in Jamaica for “redistribution” to the so-called developing world.
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities would subject U.S. disability laws to the scrutiny of a committee of supposed experts holding court in Geneva. The administration also is preparing to sign the Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty, which would require the U.S. to ban its anti-personnel landmines, depriving U.S. armed forces of a key tool for shaping the battlefield. Again, ask Ukraine, which ratified the Ottawa Treaty in 2005, how its zero-tolerance landmine policy is working for it as Russian tanks roll into its territory.
In the Declaration, the Founders complained about being subject to foreign taxation, to being subjected to “a Jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution,” and to being transported across the seas to face criminal charges in a foreign land. The Declaration gave notice that these infringements on American sovereignty would not stand. Yet the Obama administration would have Americans subjected to taxes from the International Seabed Authority and U.S. laws and policies adjudicated by international committees sitting in Switzerland. Some American progressives would even have our military leaders and servicemen tried by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in The Hague, Netherlands.
Today, as in 1776, such infringements on American sovereignty must not stand. The drafters of the Declaration would be shocked to find Americans submitting themselves to the will of international organizations. The United States should, of course, work with other nations in a principled way that advances its national interests. But the Founders would be amazed by the extent and depth of the threats to American sovereignty posed by this new progressive vision.
About the time our original 13 states adopted their new constitution, in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior:
Read more at http://conservativebyte.com/2014/03/democracy-temporary/#46wBsQAh7fOpbecA.99
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
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. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:
Column 1 Georgia: Button Gwinnett Lyman Hall George Walton
Column 2 North Carolina: William Hooper Joseph Hewes John Penn South Carolina: Edward Rutledge Thomas Heyward, Jr. Thomas Lynch, Jr. Arthur Middleton
Column 3 Massachusetts: John Hancock Maryland: Samuel Chase William Paca Thomas Stone Charles Carroll of Carrollton Virginia: George Wythe Richard Henry Lee Thomas Jefferson Benjamin Harrison Thomas Nelson, Jr. Francis Lightfoot Lee Carter Braxton
Column 4 Pennsylvania: Robert Morris Benjamin Rush Benjamin Franklin John Morton George Clymer James Smith George Taylor James Wilson George Ross Delaware: Caesar Rodney George Read Thomas McKean
Column 5 New York: William Floyd Philip Livingston Francis Lewis Lewis Morris New Jersey: Richard Stockton John Witherspoon Francis Hopkinson John Hart Abraham Clark
Column 6 New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett William Whipple Massachusetts: Samuel Adams John Adams Robert Treat Paine Elbridge Gerry Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins William Ellery Connecticut: Roger Sherman Samuel Huntington William Williams Oliver Wolcott New Hampshire: Matthew Thornton
Reprinted from http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html
Written
on July 4, 2014