Philadelphia July 3d. 1776 -- "Had a Declaration of Independency been made seven Months ago, it would have been attended with many great and glorious Effects. (1) We might before this Hour, have formed Alliances with foreign States. We should have mastered Quebec and been in Possession of Canada.... You will perhaps wonder, how such a Declaration would have influenced our Affairs, in Canada, but if I could write with Freedom I could easily convince you, that it would, and explain to you the manner how. Many Gentlemen in high Stations and of great Influence have been duped, by the ministerial Bubble of Commissioners to treat.... And in real, sincere Expectation of this Event, which they so fondly wished, they have been slow and languid, in promoting Measures for the Reduction of that Province. Others there are in the Colonies who really wished that our Enterprise in Canada would be defeated, that the Colonies might be brought into Danger and Distress between two Fires, and be thus induced to submit. Others really wished to defeat the Expedition to Canada, lest the Conquest of it, should elevate the Minds of the People too much to hearken to those Terms of Reconciliation which they believed would be offered Us. These jarring Views, Wishes and Designs, occasioned an opposition to many salutary Measures, which were proposed for the Support of that Expedition, and caused Obstructions, Embarrassments and studied Delays, which have finally, lost Us the Province.

"All these Causes however in Conjunction would not have disappointed Us, if it had not been for a Misfortune, which could not be foreseen, and perhaps could not have been prevented, I mean the Prevalence of the small Pox among our Troops.... This fatal Pestilence compleated our Destruction. It is a Frown of Providence upon Us, which We ought to lay to heart. But on the other Hand, the Delay of this Declaration to this Time, has many great Advantages attending it. The Hopes of Reconciliation, which were fondly entertained by Multitudes of honest and well meaning tho weak and mistaken People, have been gradually and at last totally extinguished. Time has been given for the whole People, maturely to consider the great Question of Independence and to ripen their Judgments, dissipate their Fears, and allure their Hopes, by discussing it in News Papers and Pamphletts, by debating it, in Assemblies, Conventions, Committees of Safety and Inspection, in Town and County Meetings, as well as in private Conversations, so that the whole People in every Colony of the 13, have now adopted it, as their own Act. This will cement the Union, and avoid those Heats and perhaps Convulsions which might have been occasioned, by such a Declaration Six Months ago.

"But the Day is past. 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 Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.

You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not."(2)

RC (MHi). Adams, Family Correspondence (Butterfield), 2:29-31.
1 Suspension points in MS, here and below.
2 For the provenance and publication history of this celebrated letter, see Adams, Family Correspondence (Butterfield), 2:31n.9.

• Alger, William Rounseville. The Genius and posture of America: an Oration delivered before the citizens of Boston, July 4, 1857. Boston, 1864. 57 pp.

"It is our design, on the present occasion,--
1st. To inquire what were the fundamental principles of our Union.
2d. How far, in the organization of the present government of the United States, these principles were maintained aby the venerated framers of our Constitution.
3d. What direful evil has, by them, through mistaken policy, been entailed upon the country.
4th. How, and by what means, the nation may be preserved from the inevitable and untimely destruction which the continuance of this evil must bring upon it."

• Austin, James Trecothick. An Oration: delivered on the Fourth of July, 1829, at the celebration of American Independence, in the city of Boston. Boston, 1829. 26 pp.

• Austin, Samuel. An Oration, pronounced at Worcester, on the Fourth of July, 1798; the anniversary of the Independence of the United States of America. Printed at Worcester, 1798. 38 pp.

* It is worthy the attention of every serious mind, who carefully traces the secret footsteps of Divine Providence, that if the late Revolution had not taken place, and America had still continued under the dominion of Great Britain, the unhappy sufferers in the cause of Freedom, both in Europe and the West Indies, would not now have had a spot on tlie globe to which they could, with propriety and safety, have retired, in case of a failure of their exertions in favor of Universal Liberty. Neither can any European nation afford so complete an asylum as the United States for the opposition, in case they should finally be driven from a country which might conceive itself essentially injured by their hostile conduct in the day of her distress.

Where religion prevails, Illumination cannot make disciples, a French directory cannot govern, a nation cannot be made slaves, nor villains, nor atheists, nor beasts. To destroy us therefore, in this dreadful sense, our enemies must first destroy our Sabbath and seduce us from the house of God.

... Religion and liberty are the meat and the drink of the body politic. Withdraw one of them and in languishes, consumes, and dies. If indifference to either at any time becomes the prevailing character of a people, one half of their motives to vigorous defense is lost, and the hopes of their enemies are proportionally increased. Here, eminently, they are inseparable. Without religion we may possibly retain the freedom of savages, bears, and wolves, but not the freedom of New England. If our religion were gone, our state of society would perish with it and nothing would be left which would be worth defending. Our children, of course, if not ourselves, would be prepared, as the ox for the slaughter, to become the victimes of conquest, tyranny, and atheism.

"Yesterday the greatest question was decided that was ever debated in America, and greater perhaps never was nor will be decided among men. A resolution was passed without one dissenting Colony, that these United States are and of right ought to be Free and Independent States."

The day is passed; 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 forevermore!
You will think me transported with enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure, that it will cost us to maintain this Declaration and support and defend these States. Yet through all the gloom, I can see the rays of ravish- ing light and glory. I can see that the end is more than worth all the means; and that posterity will triumph in that day's transaction, even although we should rue it, -- which I trust in God we shall not."

• Everett, Edward. Success of our Republic: an Oration. New York, 1860. 26 pp. Also here.
  "Our constitutions, whether of the United States or of the separate States, exclude all public provision for the maintenance of religion, but in no part of Christendom is it more generously supported. Sacred science is pursued as diligently, and the pulpit commands as high a degree of respect in the United States as in those countries where the Church is publicly endowed; while the American missionary operations have won the admiration of the civilized world. Nowhere, I am persuaded, are there more liberal contributions to public-spirited and charitable objects. In a word, there is no branch of the mechanical or fine arts, no department of science, exact or applied, no form of polite literature, no description of social improvement, in which, due allowance being made for the means and resources at command, the progress of the United States has not been satisfactory, and, in some respects, astonishing."

The occasion, my brethren and friends, on which we have assembled, is a joyful and solemn occasion. It is no other than to commemorate the birth-day of our National Independence,--to retrace the steps by which we arrived at that event,--to review the scenes, through which we passed--to recall to mind the labors, and dangers, and sufferings by which it was obtained--and what ought to be our principal concern, to make our devout acknowledgments to that great and good BEING, by whose favor and blessing it was accomplished. And what can be more appropriate, as a theme of discourse, than the words which I have just read? In these words, MOSES, by divine direction, required of the children of Israel, annually to commemorate the day of their deliverance from the Egyptain bondage, which may be considered the day on which their National Independence commenced. They had been a nation perculiarly favored of heaven. From a single family, or rather from a single pair, they had been increased to a numerous and powerful nation. They had passed through a variety of scenes, in all which they experienced, in a peculiar degree, the favor and protection of GOD. These signal mercies demanded of them special acknowledgments. They were required, therefore, to do and observe a number of things, as memorials of particular favors which they had received. But as their deliverance from the bondage of Egypt was an event, in which the divine interposition was remarkably visible, and laid the foundation of their existence, as an independent nation, they were required to observe the day, on which it took place, ass a standing memorial of the divine goodness. And have not we, also, my hearers, experienced, as a nation, signal interpositions of divine Providence, in our favor. And ought not we to observe, as the Jews were required to do, the day on which commenced our national existence, as a memorial of the divine goodness? We have not, indeed, as they had, an express divine command to do this. But when we consider the similarity between the favors, which the Jews, as a nation, received at the hand of GOD, and those which have been conferred on us, does there not appear to be an evident propriety in it?

What I propose, therefore, on the present occasion, is, in the First place, to endeavor, more at large, to shew the propriety of commemorating the day of our National Independence, from a comparison of the national favors, which we have received, at the hand of GOD, with those which were conferred on the Jews;--and Secondly, to point out some of the ends for which it ought to be observed.

As nothing is more valuable in this life, and nothing more condusive to our temporal happiness, than liberty, and nothing more destructive to a people, and more inconsistent with their welfare than slavery, so nothing can alarm a free people more than when their liberties are invaded, and nothing afford them more joy, than when lost liberty is restored to them again, or that which is invaded properly secured. All men are born free, and liberty appears as a natural to man, as reason, and unless too far degenerated, a person will equally exert himself to preserve both. With this heavenly jewel, every thing that is near and dear to us is connected, and when this is taken from us, we become truly miserable in every respect. Therefore our fears and joys as a people will rise and fall according as it stands with our liberty.

"UNION, and FREEDOM, and VIRTUE, are ours:
We heed not the tempest, the chain, or the rod.
Delusion and faction may exhaust all their powers,--
Our virtue remains! and our hope is in GOD.

• Grimké, Thomas Smith. An Oration, delivered in St. Philip's church, before the inhabitants of Charleston, on the fourth of July, 1809, by the appointment of the South ... Charleston, 1829. 34 pp.

*Extract from an address presented President Washington by the Jews at Newport, when on his tour through the eastern states, August 1790.

May we ever show ourselves worthy of the blessings we enjoy, and never tarnish the bright lustre of this day, by any unbecoming excesses. Americans! think of the many privileges which distinguish your condition. Be grateful for your lot; and let your virtue secure what your valour, under God, hath obtained; and transmit to latest posterity the glorious inheritance. May the political edifice erected on the theatre of this new world, afford a practical lesson of liberty to mankind, and become in an eminent degree the model of that glorious temple of universal liberty which is about to be established over the civilized world.

• An Oration in Commemoration of the Independence of the United States of America. Ellis Sandoz, Political Sermons of the American Founding Era. Vol. 2 (1789-1805) [1991]

• Jarvis, William C. (William Charles). An Oration, delivered at Pittsfield, before the Washington benevolent society of the County of Berkshire [Mass.] on the 4th July, 1812. 2nd edition. Stockbridge, 1812. 25 pp.

We are informed of only one government, which was framed under the immediate direction of heaven; and this was a republic. Monarchy was permitted, but never was instituted, by divine authority. The Jews had it, because they would have it. God prescribed for them a better government. The form which he prescribed was well adapted to their genius and circumstances; and, in its fundamental principles, was equally suitable for any other people. Among the privileges secured to them by their constitution, there was one, which might be considered as the foundation of all the rest; and is indeed, the basis of all free government---That their Rulers should be chosen by, and from among themselves.

... This day completes the eighteenth year, since we renounced our subjection to foreign power, and assumed a national independence. We are assembled to commemorate the important revolution.

The periodical commemoration of happy and interesting events is agreeable to the usage of nations, and justified by many institutions, which God made for his favored people. The celebration of this Anniversary is of use, not only to awaken a grateful sense of God's peculiar favor, but also to preserve the great principles of the revolution, and prevent an insensible declension into aristocracy.

• Linn, William. The Blessings of America: A Sermon preached in the Middle Dutch Church on the fourth of July, 1791 : being the anniversary of the Independence ... . New-York, 1791. 37 pp.

• Macomber, Job. A Poem, delivered in Bowdoinham, to a respectable audience, on the Fourth of July, 1806, it being the anniversary of American independence . 2nd ed. Buckstown, Me.: Printed by Anthony H. Holland, 1811. 8 pp.

• Morris, Benjamin Franklin. Christian life and character of the civil institutions of the United States. "During the deliberations of the convention to form the Constitution, the 4th of July, 1787, was celebrated in Philadelphia with great enthusiasm. The oration was delivered in the Reformed Calvinistic Church, and Rev. William Rogers- offered up a prayer, of which the following is an extract:"

..."When tempted to 'speak evil of dignities and of the powers that be which are ordained of God,' pause long enough to reflect that our government will be perfect, when our citizens shall be so."

"At home he was a firm opponent of all extravagance, dissipation, and sumptuary expense, and an advocate and example of the sternest republican simplicity in life and morals as the surest guaranties of the perpetuation of liberty. Indeed, he said he hoped to make Boston a "Christian Sparta." He caused the abolition of the stocks and of the whipping-posts, as being derogatory to the dignity of freemen.
"The cultivation of private and social virtue and the education of the children of all citizens by free schools may be said to have been his hobbies.
..."As early as 1764 he had opposed the slavetrade, and when a negro girl was offered as a present to his wife, he declined to receive her as a slave, saying that 'Surry must be free on crossing the threshold of his house.' She afterwards served his family faithfully thirty years.
"Such is a short view of the life of the patriot who organized the Revolution, who gave his life to the cause from a pure love of liberty and a conscientious belief in the natural right of a people to resist what is wrong in government and oppressive to the many."

"The first object that claims our particular attention, is the principle of EQUALITY contained in the declaration of Independence. It says, 'We hold this truth to be self evident THAT ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL'--The same act that announced the existence of our Republic, proclaimed also the principle on which it is erected a principle essential to every rule of Justice, but never before made the basis of any government.
"In vain do we look for this principle in the structure of ancient Republics, where the citizens were divided into classes with unequal privileges--where the PRIESTHOOD, ---nised without any control--or where the peace and rights of all other Nations were continually violated; and in vain do we look for it in Monarchies or Aristocracies whose constituent principles are precisely the reverse of Equality, of Nature and of Justice. Though indeed the Equality of all Men in respect to their social rights, is self evident to the unbiased judgment of the man of nature; it is not so to him whose understanding has been from infancy misled by art, and habituated in error. To infuse wrong sentiments has been the constant tendency and design of the former system. Teach a man from childhood that he is BORN to obey and labor for another, without receiving an equivalent ... and he is then fitted for every imposition and every degradation of which human nature is capable: the idea of justice is banished; and the fear of present or future punishment alone prevents his commission of crimes, Whereas the principle of EQUAL RIGHTS to the unprejudiced mind, is evident as the light of day; and it naturaly suggests the idea,and prompts to the practice of Equal Justice. The stronger and more universal the sense of this EQUALITY is impressed on the minds of any people--the more will social intercourse conform to equity--the rights of individuals will be respected--and the necessity of coercive government will proportionably diminish.
"The old system of government built on principles of injustice--corrupting mankind by its own example, ORGINATED and continues the crimes it pretends to correct; and is itself the greatest of all crimes ever committed against God or Man.
"As Equality of Rights is the order of Nature, confirmed by the decision of Reason; so, it is recognised as the ROOT of ALL MORALITY, and the ESSENCE of that Religion we profess to believe. Hear what the AUTHOR of Christianity answered to the interogating Lawyer. "Thou shalt LOVE the Lord thy God with all thy Heat, Soul, and Mind: this is the first and great command; and the second is like unto it--THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR AS THYSELF. On thse two hang all the law and the prophets." The love of our fellow men without distinction of rank; or exception of privilege EQUALY with ourselves, is here enjoined as a duty of the next importance to the love of our Creator.
"AGAIN, the same divine ILLUMINATOR directed all human intercouse to be regulated by this unerring Rule--'Whatsover ye would that others should do unto you, do ye even so unto them.' The universal practice of this precept, would annihilate the old system of Inequality, Vassalage, Slavery and Subjection of Man to Man.
"PERFECTLY correspondent to this, he gave his followers another Republican precept. 'Ye know that the PRINCES of the gentiles exercise dominion over them; and they that are GREAT exercise authority upon them: BUT IT SHALL NOT BE SO AMONG YOU; but whosoever will be great among you let him be your minister, and whosover will be chief let him be your servant.'
"Services rendered was to be the only rule of distinction.
"HERE then is seen the source from whence was derived the ELEMENTS of our system of Republic government ... from the order of nature--from the dictates of reason--and from the express precepts of holy writ! they are surely of divine origin ... eternal as truth ... perfect as light ... and permanent as the principles of justice.
"The adoption of this principle of EQUALITY as the foundation and chief corner Stone of the new republic, is what distinguishes the American Revolution, and dignifies it above all revolutions of the world; and the DAY when this was declared as the will of the nation, has consequently become the most important ERA in the history of Man. It is this we admire--this we venerate. It has already received the honorable execration of Tyrants, the plaudits of MAN, and the approbating smiles of Heaven; and it will descend to a grateful posterity through every future age with increasing evidence of is [sic] divine excellence."

• Story, Joseph. An Oration, pronounced at Salem, on the fourth day of July, 1804, in commemoration of our national Independence. Salem, 1804. 35 pp.

• Sumner, Charles. Extracts from an Oration, delivered before the authorities of the city of Boston, July 4, 1845. Wilmington, Del, 1846. 25 pp.

"LET us cultivate the principles of piety and virtue, not that unnatural alliance between church and state, so much talked of and professedly so much dreaded at the present day, but which, in our country, is probably rather an imagination than a reality; but the genuine principles of piety towards God and benevolence to men, which tend to the promotion of every civil and social virtue. A people habitually irreligious cannot be long free. Those who are endeavouring to eradicate the principles of religion and virtue, by discarding christianity, and tapping the foundation of natural religion, however extensive the benevolence may be which they profess, are our worst enemies. Tho' their song may be bewitching as a Syren, to listen to it is equally fatal. The poison of asps is under their tongues. The notion of cultivating morality without religion is nothing but the raving of a distempered fancy, if not rather the fruit of a depraved heart. This is abundantly verified by the bitter experience of all ages. Reduced to general practice it will banish benevolence out of the world, set aside the obligations of an oath, and rend asunder every other tie which, either binds man to man, or connects men in society. Such an event would be sufficient to people a continent with thieves, pick-pockets, robbers, adulterers, and midnight assassins. It would render every man every man's foe.

"--Such are the conseqences to be expected in this life, from the banishment of religion out of society, but futurity opens a prospect infinitely more awful. The notion that death is an eternal sleep, can last no longer than until the soul's separation from the body. No sooner does the unembodied spirit launch into the invisible world, than it awakes, either to the prospect of inconceivable happiness; or of unutterable and never ending woe. When we reflect upon the height to which depravity of manners, and irreligious principles are arrived in our country, we have reason to tremble for the consequences. But we would fondly hope that the disease is not yet altogether without a remedy. For faith the Lord by the prophet Jeremiah, 'At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it. If that nation against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.'"

... "You are the actual rulers of the country. The officers of government are but delegates of your power, chosen by your voice. Directly or indirectly, all authority flows from you; from the chief Magistrate of the Union, to the lowest officer in a state. On you, therefore, rests the responsibility of having the stations in your government filled by real friends to their country, and its free institutions, not in word, but in very deed; men of upright and honorable views, scoring to sacrifice the interests of their country to their sinister ends. If such men are chosen by you to seats in the national or state legislatures, you need fear no encroachments from the former--no disunion among the latter. You may sometimes be deceived by appearances; but the frequency of elections enables you to redress the evil, if the remedy is not too long delayed. When the streams of authority that flow from your hands become corrupt, they may be purified by new draughts from the fountain of power. The elective franchise is the palladium placed in your hands to preserve the liberties of your country. Duly estimate, then, the importance of the trust. Let it be considered a sacred charge, and exercised with deliberate, serious reflection. Examine thoroughly the fitness, in rectitude of purpose as well as intelligence and experience of candidates, presented for your choice, and confide your powers to none but those who are in all these respects worthy of your confidence--and the Republic is safe! Trust not too much to loud and vehement professions of extreme regard for you. Let not the poison of flattery seduce you from your duty. Power, in whatever form, is destined to be the object of adulation."

"The principle, on which we justify the patriots of '76, is the soul of all our political institutions, the natural and inborn right of man to self-government; a right that can neither be strengthened nor impaired by precedent or prescription. On this principle the statesmen of our country have erected a scheme of civil polity, which, while it is the pride and glory of America, has extorted the admiration of the wise and good of other countries."

• Washington Society, Boston, Young Republicans of Boston. An Historical view of the public celebrations of the Washington Society, p. 93.
  The following note was received from the amiable Thomas Jefferson, on the receipt of a copy of the Oration delivered before the Society by Ashur Ware, Esq. on this anniversary:

  "Thomas Jefferson presents his respects to the Washington Society in Boston, and his thanks for the copy of Mr. Ware's eloquent oration, forwarded by their order. He is particularly happy to see the revered name they have chosen for their designation, restored to its genuine principles of union and independence; to no other than which, was its authority or countenance ever lent,"

  Monticello, August 22, 1816.

"Our political institutions, again, are but the body of which liberty is the soul; their preservation depends on their being continually inspired by the light and heat of the sentiment and idea whence they sprung; and when we timorously suspend, according to the latest political fashion, the truest and dearest maxims of our freedom at the call of expediency or the threat of passion, -- when we convert politics into a mere game of interests, unhallowed by a single great and unselfish principle, -- we may be sure that our worst passions are busy 'forging our fetters;' that we are proposing all those intricate problems which red republicanism so swiftly solves, and giving Manifest Destiny pertinent hints to shout new anthems of atheism over victorious rapine. The liberty which our fathers planted, and for which they sturdily contended, and under which they grandly conquered, is a rational and temperate but brave and unyielding freedom, the august mother of institutions, the hardy nurse of enterprise, the sworn ally of justice and order; a Liberty that lifts her awful and rebuking face equally upon the cowards who would sell, and the braggarts who would prevert, her precious gifts of rights and obligations; and this Liberty we are solemnly bound at all hazards to protect, at any sacrifice to preserve, and by all just means to extend, against the unbridled excesses of that ugly and brazen hag, originally scorned and detested by those who unwisely gave her infancy a home, but which now, in her enormous growth and favored deformity, reels with blood-shot eyes, and dishevelled tresses, and words - of unshamed slavishness, into halls where Liberty should sit throned!"

• White, William Charles. An Oration pronounced at Hubbardston: before the republicans of the North District of the county of Worcester, July 4, 1810, the thirty fourth anniversary of American Independence. 2nd edition. Boston, 1810. 15 pp.