Signing for Independence

While the Declaration of Independence was ratified by the Second Continental Congress on July 4th, 1776, modern historians believe that most of the delegates didn’t formally affix their signatures to this famous document until almost a month later, on August 2nd, 1776. In the following selection from his 1838 “Lyceum Address”, Abraham Lincoln eloquently states how Americans can continue to honor these men who signed – and even died – for us:

“Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well-wisher to his posterity swear by the blood of the Revolution never to violate in the least particular the laws of the country, and never to tolerate their violation by others. As the patriots of seventy-six did to the support of the Declaration of Independence, so to the support of the Constitution and laws let every American pledge his life, his property, and his sacred honor – let every man remember that to violate the law is to trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the charter of his own and his children’s liberty.”