On June 11, 1776, John Adams was among five members of the Continental Congress selected to draft a declaration of independence to sever relations of thirteen colonies with Great Britain. The initial language was drafted by Thomas Jefferson but would have no effect unless Congress would formally vote for independence. As discussed earlier in this series [See May 21, 1787], that vote took place on July 2, 1776, prompting a euphoric John Adams to take pen in hand to predict to his wife, Abigail, that “the second day of July 1776, will be the most memorable epocha in the history of America. 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. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forever more.”

Adams’s prophecy has proved to be accurate with the exception of one small detail – the date. For eleven years since that auspicious moment in early July 1776, celebrations have taken place on July 4, not July 2, simply because July 4 was the date Congress approved the actual language of the Declaration. One year later, in 1777, the Continental Congress held its first official commemoration on July 4. The following year, 1778, General George Washington gave his soldiers double rations of rum on July 4. The date was settled.

Celebrations of the Fourth of July in Philadelphia are like no other. After all, it was here, in the State House where the Constitutional Convention is now meeting, that patriots, “with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence,” mutually pledged to each other their lives, fortunes and sacred honor to declare that “the united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States,” absolving all allegiance to the British Crown.

Of the five members of the committee which drafted the Declaration, two are here today as delegates to the  Constitutional Convention – Benjamin Franklin and Roger Sherman. Of the other three, Thomas Jefferson is serving as United States ambassador to France while John Adams holds the same position with respect to Great Britain. Robert Livingston is serving as the first Chancellor of New York, the highest judicial office in that State.  History will record that on April 30, two years from now, Livingston will administer the oath of office to George Washington, the first President of the United States under the Constitution.

Our celebrations today were true to Adams’s fondest hopes. The ringing of bells and “illuminations,” or fireworks, were accompanied by the city cavalry, a battalion of militia, and the Philadelphia Light Horse performing various military maneuvers, including the feu de joie or “fire of joy,” a formal salute fired by rifles in rapid succession along a line of troops to celebrate a victory. The artillery fired a salute to the United States – thirteen rounds, three times. Finally, as reported by The Pennsylvania Herald, “the officers of militia, with the corps in uniform, then the State Society of the Cincinnati, who met at the State House, marched in procession, with accompaniments of music from martial instruments.” 

They were marching to the Reformed Calvinist Church on Race Street to hear “an oration on the anniversary of Independence.” George Washington was among them and later “dined with the State Society of the Cincinnati at Epplees Tavern.”

The oration was delivered by a young lawyer, James Campbell, and sponsored by the Society in “Commemoration of the Independence of the United States of America.” Campbell’s speech, along with the introductory prayer, were later printed for public distribution. 

William Rogers, a Baptist minister who had served as a chaplain in the Continental Congress during the Revolutionary War, delivered the prayer. “With unfeigned thanks” to God for “that liberty, civil and religious, which we so fully enjoy,” his prayer did not neglect to ask God to favor the Federal Convention with His presence, wisdom and strength to “enable them to devise such measures as may prove happily instrumental for healing all divisions and promoting the good work of the whole.”

James Campbell chose as his topic “the advantages resulting to mankind from the independence of America.” “It was the spirit of liberty,” he asserted, “that animated the patriot and supported the American soldier” during the War. “It is same spirit which has convened the members of our Federal Convention, at the expense of private ease and fortune” to “prop up the tottering fabric of our union and to lay the foundations of national safety and happiness.” This “spirit of liberty,” he insisted, is our greatest advantage.

Campbell animadverted at length on other advantages of American independence, including “the expansion it has given the human mind.” Of necessity, once independent, we had to increase our “resources for knowledge” and have erected colleges, academies, and literary societies. We have “opened the avenues of commerce with every part of the world,” and changed “the opinions and conduct of European nations” as demonstrated by events in France, Germany, and Spain, on which Campbell expounded. We have “extended the empire of humanity – the time is not far distant when our sister States, in imitation of [Pennsylvania’s] example, shall change their vassals into subjects.”

Why then, he asked, do we hear of discontents in the country? Heavy taxes, decay of trade, a weak federal government, and lack of international credit – all these may be true. But “where is the nation that ever became suddenly wise, great and respectable? History answers, none.” Campbell then launched into an extensive survey of history to prove his point. Finally, after paying special tribute to General Nathanael Green, he closed. “Rising from the ashes” of American martyrs, he foresees the “stately fabric of a free and vigorous government rising out of the wisdom of the Federal Convention.”