This week, as we prepare to celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the birth of the United States of America as a country, and our right to vote, MFE will begin posting a series of articles on Nuggets of Patriotism - stories of Revolutionary War patriots, their contributions to the founding of our country, and parallels with today's modern "patriots".
By Elizabeth Dallam Ayoub | July 3, 2024
Firmly rooted in military history, this provides each of us an opportunity to show respect to the United States flag, the United States of America, and to those who created and served this country. Reveille on bugle | West Point Band (youtube.com) This ceremony is a call to remembrance, a call to remember the following:
Today's Patriot story - 56 Men Pledging Lives, Fortunes and Honor
Prior to 1776, this is what life looked like in what is now called the United States of America (then the Colonies):
The people in the Colonies (colonists) were forbidden from establishing a government in the colonies. When the colonists proposed laws to King George III of England for the public good, he rejected the laws.
King George appointed his own ministers to come to the colonies to rule;
King George III prevented the colonists from establishing a judicial system themselves; he made the judges dependent upon himself for their jobs and their salaries.
On the streets of the colonies stood British army soldiers who were given power superior to that of any civil laws. If they killed a colonist, soldiers were given a “sham trial.” The colonists were taxed to pay for this military.
King George III cut off the colonies’ ability to trade with any other parts of the world.
King George III taxed the colonists without giving them any say in whether or not they should pay the taxes, or for what the taxes would finance.
If colonists were charged with a crime, they were transported to England for trial where they were given a trial without the right to a jury.
Suspecting that the colonists might rebel, King George III attempted to quell rebellion through violence and military means. The British military would attack colonists, burn their towns, attack their ships at sea. Colonial soldiers were kidnapped and forced to serve in the British military.
Unhappy with their way of life in the colonies, 56 men met together in the summer of 1776 in Philadelphia to deliberate, to write, and to sign a document entitled the Declaration of Independence.
They wrote, “We mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
How easy it would have been if they could have called for an election. How easy for those who wanted to establish their own laws free from England’s control to cast a vote against King George. How easy for those who wanted to remain ruled by England to cast a vote in favor of King George. That was not an option for the colonists. Elections were unheard of in England; the King’s word ruled in both England and in the colonies.
Instead, these fifty-six men wrote the words and then had to act upon their words.
They pledged their lives, because they knew that winning their rights to govern themselves was not as easy as merely signing a document. They knew there was going to be a war for independence. They knew that governmental power comes from the consent of the people, and they were no longer giving consent to the person in charge.
While these individuals signed their names to the Declaration of Independence, there were people in the colonies who were not like-minded. There were people who supported rule by King George III, people who would have seemingly remained content to be a colony of England. The people who were content with British rule were the Loyalists (or Tories).
Today, we give our consent by voting for representatives for our constitutional republic. Loyalty is to the system, the system of election integrity, the system of knowing (or working towards) election being fair, honest, and transparent.
Those who gave us the right to vote, those who pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor we call Patriots.
Want an opportunity to learn more about our Founding Fathers? See below.
Elizabeth Dallam Ayoub serves on MFE’s Communications Team. She started her career working for an international company, transitioned into teaching French and Latin while her children were young, and then became a Michigan attorney.
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