Independence Day

Photo courtesy of PatriotIcon.org

by SS Hampton, Sr.

On July 4, 1776, the Virginia representative to the Continental Congress, Thomas Jefferson, presented one of the most important documents of the ages to that Congress. The Declaration of Independence was written on vellum parchment, “paper” made from sheepskin. In that simple yet complex document of a little more than 1,300 words, a collection of thirteen colonies expressed the reasons for their armed revolution against the British Crown.

By the time Jefferson, the senior member of the drafting committee, presented the draft, the Colonies had been at war for over a year. The first shots were fired on April 19, 1775, at Concord and Lexington when 77 minutemen—no trained professionals but all volunteers—faced some 700 British troops sent to seize arms and munitions. The Battle of Bunker Hill took place in June 1775, and though the British took the hill, they suffered horrendous casualties. The Battle of Trenton took place in December, 1776 after the dispirited and freezing rag-tag Continental Army crossed the icy Delaware River, marched on the town and took it from Hessian mercenaries. The crucible of the savage winter of 1777-1778 at Valley Forge tested the resolve of the Continental Army, and even George Washington’s spirits were low. Finally, there was the Siege of Yorktown in October 1881 that ended with British Lord Charles Cornwallis forced to surrender his army. The war would drag on for almost two more years until the Treaty of Paris was signed in September 1783, and the United States of America obtained the freedom it sought and took its place among the nations of the world.

Thousands had died and tens of thousands were wounded during the war. Homes were lost and farms devastated. “Loyalist Americans” and “non-loyalist Americans” had warred with one another.

Names, filtered by the passage of centuries, loom larger larger-than-life with an almost mythical quality. George Washington. Henry Knox. Marquis de Lafayette. Friedrich von Steuben. Benjamin Franklin. James Madison. John Adams. Nathanael Greene. And, Thomas Jefferson.

The Declaration of Independence is a wonderful, even poetic, document. It was given life by the dedication, deprivation, and sacrifice of men and women the length and breadth of the Thirteen Colonies, and that of foreigners who arrived to serve in the Continental Army.

What many people may not think of is that without the sacrifice of so many there would never have been the Articles of Confederation; a Constitution of the United States; the Bill of Rights; and the Constitutional Amendments. The documents above are so few in number, but their importance and their meaning give our country life, a life that many nations around the world envy.

That, I believe, is the real meaning of the 4th of July, Independence Day. An eloquent document of a little over 1,300 words began the remarkable journey of a fledgling country with all of its faults and weaknesses—and today the incredible journey continues without end in sight.

SS Hampton, Sr. is a full-blood Choctaw of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, a grandfather to thirteen, and a veteran of Operations Noble Eagle and Iraqi Freedom. He served in the active duty Army, the Army Individual Reserve (mobilized for the Persian Gulf War), then enlisted in the Army National Guard; he was mobilized for active duty for almost three years after his enlistment. He continues to serve in the Guard, where he holds the rank of staff sergeant.

He is a published photographer and photojournalist, an aspiring painter, and is studying for a degree in anthropology—hopefully to someday work in underwater archaeology.

Hampton's first short story was published in 1992. His writings have appeared as stand-alone stories, and in anthologies from Dark Opus Press, Edge Science Fiction & Fantasy, Melange Books, Musa Publishing, MuseItUp Publishing, Ravenous Romance, and as stand-alone stories in Horror Bound Magazine, Ruthie’s Club, Lucrezia Magazine, The Harrow, Penumbra E-Mag, and River Walk Journal, among others.