The Legacy of the Declaration of Independence

A&E's "Biography of the Millennium" ranks Jefferson fifteenth, putting him, once more, ahead of the rest of the Founders. (Washington comes in a respectable #21. Franklin sits at #68. No other Founders make the list.)

There is ample truth to the statement that the "pen is mightier than the sword." The enduring power of the written word proves itself time and again, and is readily observable with the steady popularity of Thomas Jefferson, and how he has come, in many ways, to symbolize the entire founding generation.

John Adams, painfully aware of the colorful beauty and absorbing power of Jefferson's words, tried to point out repeatedly that the Congress had already effectively declared independence well before the formal Declaration of Independence was signed. In fact, Adams pointed out (correctly) that, as early as May, the Continental Congress had economically separated from Great Britain and had, even before that, confirmed a state of war with the Mother Country. And, of course, as far as "officially" declaring independence, it was Adams who predicted July 2 would go down in history as the seminal day, since it was then that the Congress approved Richard Henry Lee's motion that "dissolved" all ties to the British Crown. Nevertheless, as effective as Congress's earlier actions had been and as emphatic as Lee's motion was, nothing could compare to the literary aura and moral power of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson had performed his task well, giving voice to the hopes and aspirations of the American people as no parliamentary move or behind-the-scenes maneuver could ever do.

When word of the Declaration spread through the colonies, many expressed euphoria at the decision by Congress to transform their fight to regain their rights as English subjects into a War for Independence, but their excitement was sobered by an appropriate recognition of what they were up against. At the time, George Washington's under-supplied Continental Army was hopelessly outnumbered as the British had landed their largest expeditionary force to date to put down the colonial insurrection. The odds for success, on military grounds alone, were slim. Yet they were faced with many more challenges, including the lack of any government structure and the absence of a working, national economy. And even if they were to miraculously succeed, what then?

Thomas Paine had already allayed many of these fears with his wildly popular Common Sense, again attesting to the power of the written

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