Congress Approves the Resolution for Independence, June 7, 1776

mongst the largely futile clamor that marked the early half of the Second Continental Congress, there rose to his feet the leading delegate of powerful old Virginia, and he declared with chilling clarity his motion to resolve “that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.”

Independence Hall, Philadelphia, PA where the Second Continental Congress convened

The reaction was hardly that of unanimous agreement or even spirited dissent—delegates sent by their respective colonies to exert new ways to pacify England were utterly alarmed and dubious that their Virginian colleague even had the backing of his state to propose such an inflammatory motion. Richard Henry Lee, the “Cicero of Virginia” as he was called on account of his oratory, assured them he had. His state’s House of Burgesses were agreed: peace with such tyranny was no longer fitting for a free people—there must be separation, whatever the cost.

Richard Henry Lee (1732-1794)

Interior of Independence Hall, where the Second Continental Congress convened

His resolution was approved by Congress on June 7, 1776, making it the first official act of the United Colonies that set them irrevocably on the road to independence. Almost a month’s worth of debate, persuasion and the seeking of each colonies’ approval drew the process on interminably, as violence continued in the northern colonies and General Washington’s poorly-equipped militia suffered loss after loss. But there were many amongst the delegates who were not taken by surprise: they had yearned and prayed for this day from before the start of the first Congress.

Patrick Henry’s famous speech was met with passionate response, both for and against his ideas

Knowing the proposition must come from a Virginian to be persuasive to the rest of the Congress, Massachusetts firebrand John Adams happily stepped aside for Lee to lead the charge. It did not prevent Adams, however, from almost immediately following Lee’s divisive resolves with a few of his own: one being the setting up of a delightfully hopeful committee to draft a Declaration of Independence—in the off-chance this extremely polarizing resolution were to actually pass. Adams famously persuaded Thomas Jefferson to pen the document and the rest now comprises one of the most pivotal moments of our national story.

The Second Continental Congress charged the Committee of Five—comprised of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman—with authoring the Declaration

In the popular overview of our revolution that we often learn, there is acknowledgment of the monumental opposition that had to be surmounted. Yet nothing short of a thorough dive into the particulars—a dive that only leads to ever more astonishing findings that go on and on endlessly—gives even a glimpse of how long and anticipated was our nation’s birth..

“Declaration House” or the Graff House at 700 Market Street, Philadelphia, is the boarding house in which Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence

The portable writing desk on which Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence

It was miracle enough that on July 4 the Declaration of Independence was ratified and proclaimed to the public. Behind that date were years of visionary patriots longing for independence, but caught amongst a people not fully ready to embrace the inevitable.

It is a beyond hopeful study to read of their frustrations, but also of their patient purposefulness. Just as an example:

As far back as 1768, Richard Henry Lee proposed and created the Committee of Correspondence for the purpose of linking the leaders of the thirteen colonies together. This committee later became a crucial communication route for “treasonous” plans—plans that included his proposal that there be a Continental Congress in the first place.

The Liberty Tree in Boston, under which the Committee of Correspondence frequently met

John Adams was famously a lawyer in Boston who used his practice to defend British soldiers in the wake of the Boston Massacre. His victory that day—proving that English Common Law still ruled America with justice and impartiality—got thrown back in his face shortly after during the British occupation of his city. Fully convinced that England was no longer ready or willing to govern justly, he appealed desperately to both congresses while his family was suffering under the thumb of British occupation. His efforts seemed futile in the face of others’ indolence, but in the end his tenacity was greatly rewarded.

An unfinished painting of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence,
by Charles Édouard Armand-Dumaresq, c. 1873

Patrick Henry, fierce persuader in the first Continental Congress, swayed the pivotal vote for ratifying independence in Virginia’s House of Burgesses, and later served as wartime Governor of the state. Henry had such foresight that he was warning his countrymen a year before the vote thusly:

“They tell us, sirs, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and Who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable—and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come!

The famous painting of Patrick Henry’s impassioned and persuasive speech

It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace—but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

A depiction of the Second Continental Congress voting on the United States Declaration of Independence

Image Credits: 1 Independence Hall (wikipedia.org) 2 Richard Henry Lee (wikipedia.org) 3 Independence Hall, interior (wikipedia.org) 4 Patrick Henry’s speech (wikipedia.org) 5 The Committee of Five (wikipedia.org) 6 Graff House (wikipedia.org) 7 Jefferson’s Desk (wikipedia.org) 8 Liberty Tree (wikipedia.org) 9 Signing the Declaration (wikipedia.org) 10 Patrick Henry (wikipedia.org) 11 Congress voting for independence (wikipedia.org)

David Livingstone Leaves for Africa, June 1, 1841

n his book The Man Who Presumed, Byron Farwell records that former Confederate soldier turned journalist-explorer, Henry Morton Stanley, upon meeting David Livingstone in Ujiji “along the shimmering blue waters of Lake Tanganyika”, presented his hand and asked, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” “Yes… I feel thankful that I am here to welcome you,” the famous missionary-explorer responded. And so began a meeting of which few in the English-speaking world would not hear of, and marvel at the amazing story of the Scottish missionary. His story has no modern parallels.

Henry Morton Stanley’s famous meeting with David Livingstone at Ujiji

Born in the mill-town of Blantyre, Scotland, along the River Clyde, David Livingstone heard the Gospel from his earliest years from his parents and church. His father, Neil, faithfully conducted family worship, passed out Gospel tracts as he travelled for his work, and taught Sunday school. David was given a New Testament for reciting Psalm 119 from memory. The study of science and the creation captured young David’s mind, an interest that one day would contribute greatly to his African exploration after God had captured his heart.

The David Livingstone Centre, Shuttle Row, Blantyre, Scotland is a museum dedicated to the life and work of David Livingstone, housed in the buildings in which he lived and worked

While studying in medical school, Livingstone determined to leave for the mission field in the Far East, but political circumstances, and his meeting missionary Robert Moffat, steered him toward Africa where he could see “the campfires of a thousand villages where the Gospel had never been heard.” He left for Africa at age 28, where he would serve for most of the next 32 years. Livingstone spent about three years with one tribe, but quarreled with a fellow missionary and, seeing no fruits of his preaching, moved to another tribe. He again saw no conversions there and left after two years for another with the same result. It seemed that God’s kingdom would not be expanded through the Scottish missionary’s witness.

Livingston preaches to the natives

Map of the travels of David Livingstone in Africa

Livingstone moved into the interior of Africa following the Zambezi River, mapping the course of the river and the terrain as well as keeping record of the flora and fauna of the continent. He met with chiefs and negotiated peaceful passage through their lands. He still preached, with no results, but also traded, learned languages, studied the cultures, and wrote down everything he observed. Convinced that he was mapping a way into the interior for future missionaries, he successfully convinced other British missionaries to follow in his paths. A number who took him up on the idea perished in the wilderness from the many fatal diseases that awaited white men in the jungle. He himself suffered often from malaria and other maladies.

Inside Livingstone’s birthplace, fitted with furnishings of the period

He visited England and published a book of his travels, making him one of the best-known explorers of the century. He was fêted by the scientific community and given a roving commission by Queen Victoria’s government. His expeditions took him to places never before seen by Europeans and his maps and journals paved the way for many who followed. Livingstone took his family with him in the early days, but his wife died at the age of 27 in Africa and most of his children died young there. They rarely saw him. One son died fighting for the Union in the American Civil War.

A letter written by Jacob Wainwright in 1873 recalling the death of David Livingstone

African slave traders and their captives

Livingstone fought slavery through his writings and sometimes on the ground in Africa. He worked hard to prevent abortion and infanticide among tribal people. His years of devotion to preaching, exploring, mapping, and recording, resulted in his heart being buried in Africa by the Africans and his body interred at Westminster Cathedral. While David Livingstone had proposed to found churches, God had disposed to map the way for the spread of the Gospel after his death.

David Livingstone (1813-1873)

Image Credits: 1 Stanley meets Livingstone (wikipedia.org) 2 Livingstone Center (wikipedia.org) 3 Livingstone preaching (wikipedia.org) 4 Map of Livingstone’s explorations (wikipedia.org) 5 Livingstone’s birthplace (wikipedia.org) 6 Livingstone’s death account (wikipedia.org) 7 Slave traders and captives (wikipedia.org) 8 David Livingstone (wikipedia.org)

Legacy of the Venerable Bede, May 26, 735

his summer, Landmark Events will be embarking on a tour of the old kingdom of Northumbria, a land once encompassing northern England and southern Scotland, with strategic strongholds and centers of culture in York and Edinburgh. There is a rich history to be explored in these less-frequented haunts and a powerful aspect of Christendom to be rediscovered. Key to this great story of gospel triumph is the legacy of the venerable Bede.

The Kingdom of Northumbria around 700

Bede, Saint Bede or “the venerable” as he is often referred to, died on the 26th of May, 735, already acknowledged as the most learned man of his time. He was born in Northumbria on the grounds of a monastery, and from the age of seven, spent his life as a monk and in service to the church.

Bede (672/3-735) on his deathbed, translating the Gospel of John

Bede grew to become a great scholar, a theologian and a brilliant linguist, and his copious writings reflect his passion for each. The latter skill he used to translate much of the Latin Bible into the common languages of the British Isles—Briton and Anglo-Saxon chiefly; the former he exerted to settle the dating of time, and is generally credited for his role in our counting years from the time of Christ’s Birth—Anno Domine.

The title page of a 1563 copy of Opera Bedae Venerabilis

But the great work of his life was his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, a meticulous and inspiring chronicle that pretended no other goal but to note the progression of the gospel in post-Roman England. Due to his indefatigable efforts to compile and create a linear narrative of Christianity at home, in his own time and that preceding it, we now have access to remnants of many ancient accounts otherwise lost in their entirety. Through him we can witness the mysterious ways a land can fall into paganism and rise out of it again by the liberating power of faith in Christ, while the tradition of God’s Word being accessible to the common man in his common tongue ultimately paved the way for the bastion of religious freedom that Great Britain became.

A page from one of Bede’s works

Bede writing his Ecclesiastical History of the English People

Bede’s allegiance to the authority of the Roman Catholic Church gave him some bias in recounting the deeds of kings, many of whom held to a Celtic tradition of church rule. He typed many of them as unconverted until they were brought into the Catholic faith, despite their previous professions of faith in Jesus Christ and their observance of worship and Biblical sacraments. Still, while accused of being overburdened with the seemingly miraculous, his chronicle is nothing short of an exultation in the civilizing influence of Christian ethics and industry upon his native land.

“If history records good things of good men, the thoughtful hearer is encouraged to imitate what is good: or if it records evil of wicked men, the devout, religious listener or reader is encouraged to avoid all that is sinful and perverse and to follow what he knows to be good and pleasing to God.”—the Venerable Bede

Bede’s tomb in Durham Cathedral, Durham, England

Image Credits: 1 Kingdom of Northumbria (wikipedia.org) 2 Bede on his deathbed (wikipedia.org) 3 Frontispiece (wikipedia.org) 4 Illuminated Page (wikipedia.org) 5 Bede writing (wikipedia.org) 6 Bede’s Tomb (wikipedia.org)

William Wilberforce Makes His First Speech Against the Slave Trade, May 12, 1789

n this day in 1789, William Wilberforce rose to his feet in the House of Commons and began what would become his lifelong crusade to abolish the slave trade. An ambitious and gifted young orator, he had spent his first few years in Parliament arguing for peace with the revolting American colonies. After the ascension of his close friend, William Pitt, to the post of Prime Minister, both young men became the nexus of policy for Great Britain in the coming years. Elevated to such a position, Wilberforce’s philanthropist reputation and recent conversion to Christianity made him a prime choice for recruitment by the abolitionist movement.

William Pitt the Younger (1759-1806)

William Wilberforce (1759-1833)

While initially reluctant to remain in politics at all after his conversion, Wilberforce welcomed a surplus of evidence to be regularly presented at his home and office by various members of the movement, mostly churchmen who held a moral objection against the trade. Through their exhaustive and meticulous research, by the summer of 1789 Wilberforce had both facts and resolves fit for Parliament to vote upon.

The House of Commons as it appeared in the days of William Wilberforce

His speech was met by a great clamor of mockery and dissent—logged into the very minutes of its record—and would be shot down easily in the ensuing vote. Undeterred, William Wilberforce would then commit the next forty years of his life to seeing the great evil abolished, weathering personal woes and revolutionary upheaval, presenting his bill yearly with unchecked urgency.

Wilberforce Home and Museum, birthplace of William Wilberforce—Hull, Yorkshire, England

n remembering this, his first speech, it is remarkable to note the very politic reasoning he presented in length to win over his profiteering fellows, and also, his admittance that such was not his own driving motivation. He was compelled by a grieved conscience that such atrocities were being committed in the name of commerce and perpetrated by a Christian country, one that incited those they deemed their lessers to tear themselves apart for earthly gain.

Forty years is a long time. In the end God granted the victory and allowed its staunchest champion to live to see it. As cognizant of his opposition as the young and bold Wilberforce appeared in this first speech, one doubts he knew the full magnitude of labor that would be extracted from him. Today, we remember the day of small beginnings, as the book of Zechariah calls them, and how faithfulness waters and tends the Divine mission without expectancy of seeing victory in one’s lifetime. Such is the characteristic of holy patience.

Barbara Wilberforce (1759-1806), wife of William, about the time of their marriage

William Wilberforce Memorial in his birthplace of Kingston Upon Hull

Below are extracts of the lengthy first speech, taken down by newspaper men as there were no official, full-length Parliamentary records in those times:

When I consider the magnitude of the subject which I am to bring before the House, a subject in which the interests, not of this country nor of Europe alone, but of the whole world and of posterity are involved, and when I think at the same time on the weakness of the advocate who has undertaken this great cause; when these reflections press upon my mind, it is impossible for me not to feel both terrified and concerned at my own inadequacy to such a task.

But when I reflect, however, on the encouragement which I have had, through the whole course of a long and laborious examination of this question, and how much candor I have experienced, and how conviction has increased within my own mind, in proportion as I have advanced in my labors; when I reflect, especially, that however averse any gentleman may now be, yet we shall all be of one opinion in the end; when I turn myself to these thoughts, I take courage. I determine to forget all my other fears, and I march forward with a firmer step in the full assurance that my cause will bear me out, and that I shall be able to justify upon the clearest principles, every resolution in my hand, the avowed end of which is, the total abolition of the slave trade…

For my own part, so clearly am I convinced of the mischiefs inseparable from it, that I should hardly want any further evidence than my own mind would furnish, by the most simple deductions.

Facts, however, are now laid before the House.

A report has been made by His Majesty’s Privy Council, which, I trust, every gentleman has read, and which ascertains the slave trade to be just such in practice as we know, from theory, it must be. What should we suppose must naturally be the consequence of our carrying on a slave trade with Africa? With a country vast in its extent, not utterly barbarous, but civilized in a very small degree? Does any one suppose a slave trade would help their civilization? Is it not plain that she must suffer from it? That civilization must be checked; that her barbarous manners must be made more barbarous; and that the happiness of her millions of inhabitants must be prejudiced with her intercourse with Britain? Does not every one see that a slave trade, carried on around her coasts must carry violence and desolation to her very center?

That in a continent just emerging from barbarism, if a trade in men is established, if her men are all converted into goods, and become commodities that can be bartered, it follows they must be subject to ravage just as goods are; and this, too, at a period of civilization when there is no protecting legislature to defend this their only sort of property, in the same manner as the rights of property are maintained by the legislature of every civilized country.

…Having now disposed of the first part of this subject, I must speak of the transit of the slaves in the West Indies. This I confess, in my own opinion, is the most wretched part of the whole subject. So much misery condensed in so little room is more than the human imagination had ever before conceived.

I verily believe, therefore, if the wretchedness of any one of the many hundred negroes stowed in each ship could be brought before their view, and remain within the sight of the African merchant, that there is no one among them whose heart would bear it. Let any one imagine to himself six or seven hundred of these wretches chained two and two, surrounded with every object that is nauseous and disgusting, diseased, and struggling under every kind of wretchedness! How can we bear to think of such a scene as this? One would think it had been determined to heap on them all the varieties of bodily pain, for the purpose of blunting the feelings of the mind…

It is now to be remarked that all these causes of mortality among the slaves do undoubtedly admit of a remedy, and it is the abolition of the slave trade that will serve as this remedy. When the manager shall know that a fresh importation is not to be had from Africa, and that he cannot retrieve the deaths he occasions by any new purchases, humanity must be introduced; an improvement in the system of treating them will thus infallibly be effected, an assiduous care of their health and of their morals, marriage institutions, and many other things, as yet little thought of, will take place; because they will be absolutely necessary.

…Wherever the sun shines, let us go round the world with him, diffusing our beneficence; but let us not traffic, only that we may set kings against their subjects, subjects against their kings, sowing discord in every village, fear and terror in every family, setting millions of our fellow-creatures a-hunting each other for slaves, creating fairs and markets for human flesh, through one whole continent of the world, and, under the name of policy, concealing from ourselves all the baseness and iniquity of such a traffic…

I trust, therefore, I have shown that upon every ground the total abolition ought to take place. I have urged many things which are not my own leading motives for proposing it, since I have wished to show every description of gentlemen, and particularly the West India planters, who deserve every attention, that the abolition is politic upon their own principles also.

Policy, however, sir, is not my principle, and I am not ashamed to say it. There is a principle above everything that is political; and when I reflect on the command which says, “Thou shalt do no murder,” believing the authority to be Divine, how can I dare to set up any reasonings of my own against it? And, sir, when we think of eternity, and of the future consequences of all human conduct, what is there in this life that should make any man contradict the dictates of his conscience, the principles of justice, the laws of religion, and of God. Sir, the nature and all the circumstances of this trade are now laid open to us; we can no longer plead ignorance, we cannot evade it, it is now an object placed before us, we cannot pass it. We may spurn it, we may kick it out of our way, but we cannot turn aside so as to avoid seeing it; for it is brought now so directly before our eyes that this House must decide, and must justify to all the world, and to their own consciences, the rectitude of the grounds and principles of their decision.

Read the full speech here

Image Credits: 1 William Pitt (wikipedia.org) 2 William Wilberforce (wikipedia.org) 3 House of Commons (wikipedia.org) 4 Wilberforce House (wikipedia.org) 5 Barbara Wilberforce (wikipedia.org) 6 Wilberforce Memorial (wikipedia.org)