July 4th is always a fun day around our house.   We usually have a nice cookout for the family, and get caught up in the celebrations of the day, including our family “tradition” of finding a public fireworks display, spreading out a quilt and enjoying the show.  And on those July 4th nights where the show is choreographed with patriotic music (as it often is when we go to the truly spectacular downtown Nashville display), it’s that much more enjoyable.  But for me, the celebration doesn’t become quite “real” until July 8th.

For me, July 8th is the day I feel most like celebrating.

July 8th is the anniversary of the first PUBLIC readings of the Declaration of Independence. In three places, Philadelphia, Trenton NJ, and Easton PA, the PEOPLE actually heard, for the very first time, what all those old guys with powdered wigs in the Pennsylvania State House (which we now know as Independence Hall) had been working on and had signed and formally adopted just a few days before.

A bit of personal back-story …

For reasons lost to history, Johann Adam Schauss decided, along with his wife Maria Baum Schauss to make the journey from Germany to the “New World”, braving storms, dark passage, and disease aboard the Dutch merchant ship the Harle in 1734. Sailing from Rotterdam, they took their two sons, Friederich and Phillip with them. I can’t imagine the difficult decision it must have been to pull up roots from the country they knew as “home”, and move.  Statistics show that an average of almost thirty percent of those who began such passage did not live to see the other side of the ocean.  This is something which Johann and Maria would have known in making their decision.  It really was a gamble of the highest order. How many of us today would decide to take even a vacation drive, if you knew there was a 1 in 3 chance of not reaching the destination alive??  Much less, to uproot your life, sell your lands and possessions, take little more than what you could carry in a trunk or two, and cross the ocean for a totally uncertain future. But Johann and Maria, like so many others, did just that. What forces led them to such a decision??

Upon arrival in America, the Harle sailed into the Chesapeake Bay, and up the Delaware River, docking in Philadelphia. Johann, Maria, Freiderich, and Phillip soon made their way 70 miles to the north to the town of Easton, PA, where they settled down and began a new life.  Once again, lost to history is the reason that Easton was chosen.  In any case, Johann became, as he had been back in Albisheim, Germany, a miller.  He was my great great great great great great great grandfather. In the new world, Johann and Maria would have more children. Phillip, as an adult, moved south and his descendants eventually settled mostly in North Carolina. Friederich stayed in Easton, and like his father became a miller. He also changed his last name, as so many immigrants families did, to a more “American” sort of spelling.  Shouse. Records show that their family mill was just a block or two off of the main town square in Easton. My lineage of the Shouse family is directly descended from Friederich, through his son Jacob, who was born in September of 1764.

Skip ahead a few years…..

Thomas Paine, the English pamphleteer, radical, and intellectual, had published (anonymously)  on January 10th, 1776, the short 46 page treatise called simply, “Common Sense”. In this short essay, he raised some truly radical ideas. And he raised them, really for the first time, in common language accessible by the typical Colonist who had little formal education. Among these were such ideas/questions as “Why do we NEED to be subject to a monarch that resides across the ocean and understands precious little about our reality, here in this place?” “Why does he even get to BE king? Just because HIS distant ancestors defeated some enemies, they get to rule forever?? Why?? ” And these wonderful quotes below which are extracted directly from the text.

“A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom.”

and

“In the early ages of the world, according to the scripture chronology there were no kings; the consequence of which was, there were no wars; it is the pride of kings which throws mankind into confusion.”

and

“Small islands not capable of protecting themselves are the proper objects for kingdoms to take under their care; but there is something very absurd in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by an island.”

To say that “Common Sense” was popular misses the point. It sold within the year over half a million copies. It was even more widely read for a time than the bible. It was often read and debated and discussed in public houses, inns, town halls, etc.

So, the PEOPLE were overwhelmingly primed and ready for not only the IDEA of “independence” but also, to stand up and lay everything on the line to secure it. Everything.  One more quote from “Common Sense” : “Wherefore, since nothing but blows will do, for God’s sake let us come to a final separation.. . “

It is against THIS backdrop that Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Washington, Hancock, etc. gathered to plan a course of action.   And it was for a populace primed by events of the day and by Thomas Paine’s powerful words that Declaration of Independence was written and signed.

And it is against this backdrop that the citizens of Philadelphia, Trenton and Easton turned out on July 8th to hear this new “Declaration” read.

I’m pretty sure that in 1776 in a small town like Easton, the public reading of ANY document in the town square would be a big event. The public reading of THIS document … a document which the citizens KNEW would surely be seen by the monarchy and by loyalists to England as completely seditious, was a momentous occasion.

In all likelihood, Friederich Shouse and his 12 year-old son Jacob Shouse, were at the reading in Easton, which took place in the town sqaure 233 years ago on July 8th, just a block or so from the family home attached to the mill.   I sure hope so.  It fills me with no small measure of pride and wonder to think my great great great great great grandfather, as a 12 year-old boy would have been there to hear those words.  To see and hear the reaction of the people.  Those who were riled up.  Those who may have tended to want to avoid conflict at all costs. And those loyal to the crown.

What went through their heads as they heard those words… .those eloquent words…. spoken aloud in the public square? “We Hold THESE truths to be self-evident, that ALL men are created equal and are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights. That among those are Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness”

Did they know how much their lives would change? I do not know if Friederich fought in the Revolution. He would have been in his mid-50’s … my age now.  I do know that he died in 1788 at the age of 63, so if he fought, he survived. And what is more, I know that Jacob grew up as a free citizen of the UNITED States of America, not a subject of a distant monarch.

And I know that Jacob, along with his wife Catherine, gave birth to Bernard. Bernard Shouse and his wife Rachel gave birth to John Shouse (!) in 1823.  John and his wife Sarah had a son he named Henry Harrison Shouse. Henry and his wife Mattie had a son, Ora Linton Shouse. Ora and Minnie had Dorsey. Dorsey and Helen had me. I and my wife Janet have Emma and Evan and Brendan.

I am grateful that Johann Adam and Maria Schauss decided to board the Harle in Rotterdam, with two young children, and to bravely face an uncertain future.  I am grateful that Friedrich and his wife Eva and 12-year-old Jacob and his siblings were there to watch (and to maybe have a hand in) this country … this independent nation … being born.

When was the last time YOU read the Declaration of Independence all the way through, and thought about it in the context of personal history?? Ever? Maybe you can’t trace names and dates and places like I’ve done here, but you CAN read this and think about what it means to have had family in the distant past who made hard, hard decisions to leave homelands, and come to this place. THIS place… and create a better life for themselves and those who would come after. (By the way….that’ s us.)

Read the Declaration through.

Give thanks.

Yes, we have problems in this country.  Yes, many (most?) of these problems are of our own doing. But, regardless of what kind of political “label” you wear…. Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, independent, liberal, conservative, etc., etc., I think we can ALL agree that THIS place is unique, and certainly among the best places on earth.  Many would say THE best, and I would not presume to argue that point.

We are able to give thanks and make such a bold declaration of  our own in all confidence, precisely BECAUSE of the principles contained in the Declaration, and in the Constitution, and in the Bill of Rights, and yes even in “Common Sense”.

Read these words below.   I’ve started a tradition myself of reading them aloud every July 8th.   Yeah, it takes a few minutes.  But, give it a try.  You owe it to yourself to take that time.

You owe it to your own ancestors and mine, who gave up more than we will ever know so that WE could have it better.

The following was written just for us.

love,
John.

****************************************

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776. 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 shewn, 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.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

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 Brittish 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.

 Massachusetts

John Hancock
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry

New Hampshire

 Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Matthew Thornton

Rhode Island

Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery

 Connecticut

Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott

New York

William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris

New Jersey

Abraham Clark
John Hart
Francis Hopkinson
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon

Pennsylvania

George Clymer
Benjamin Franklin
Robert Morris
John Morton
George Ross
Benjamin Rush
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson

Delaware

Thomas McKean
George Read
Caesar Rodney

Maryland

Charles Carrol
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone

Virginia

Carter Braxton
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Jefferson
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
George Wythe

North Carolina

Joseph Hewes
William Hooper
John Penn

South Carolina

Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton
Edward Rutledge

Georgia

Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton