The chair recognizes Richard Henry Lee of Virginia.
Mr. President, I return from Virginia with the following resolution: Resolved: that these
united colonies are, and of a right ought to be, free and independent states; that they
are absolved of all alliegence to the British crown; that the independent states seek to
form foreign alliances; and a plan of confederation be prepared and transmitted to the respective
colonies for their consideration.
I must state again for the record that South
Carolina, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Georgia are against war.
Yeah, because you don't care about the fate of the colonies like we do!
You're all unpatriotic! We're protesting this war because we care
so deeply for the fate of our colonies. You are all unpatriotic for leading the colonies
into a war that half of them don't want! Well, how very, very relevant.
Oh, Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Franklin. Mr. Franklin, where do you stand on the war
issue? War is upon us, like it or not.
Our great comfort is that we honestly and faithfully did everything in our power to
prevent it. But war is here, on our doorstep, whether our doorstep be in Boston or Baltimore.
Mr. Dickinson. Independence will not strengthen us by one
man, nor by the least supply, but it may expose our soldiers to additional cruelties and outrages.
The full fury of British wrath will be unleashed. By their own admission, the advocates of separation
say foreign assistance will be necessary. At what cost?
Let us imagine, when the guns fall silent, many will have bled and sacrificed only to
have exchanged the light yoke of Great Britain for the heavy dominion of an alien power.
What is to keep 13 unwieldy colonies from splitting asunder? No, gentlemen, to escape
the protection of Great Britain by declaring independence unprepared, as we are, would
be to brave the storm in a skiff made of paper.
The President recognizes Mr. Adams of Massachusetts.
My worthy colleague from Pennsylvania has spoken with great ingenuity and eloquence.
He has given you a grim prognostication of our national future. But where he foresees
apocolypse, I see hope. I see a new nation, ready to take its place in the world, not
an empire, but a republic, and a republic of laws, not men. We are in the very midst
of revolution, the most complete, unexpected, and remarkable of any in the history of the
world. How few of the human race have ever had an opportunity of choosing a system of
government for themselves and their children? I am not without apprehensions, but the ends
that we have in sight is more than worth all to me. I believe, sirs, that the hour
has come. My judgment approves this measure, and my whole heart is in it.
All that I have, all that I am, and all that I hope in this life I am now ready to stake
upon it.
While I live, let me have a country,
a free country!