Declaration of Independence

     Johnson devotes a good three pages to the Declaration of Independence, the changes that were made to it, its creation in general, and those involved in its synthesis.  I liked that he includes the change Congress made to the Declaration regarding slavery.  It shows that he is striving to give an honest, complete history of the United States rather than a nice rosy one.  He even calls the issue of slavery a black hole "at the heart of America's claim to liberty" (155).  I also like how he says "So the slavery passage was removed, the first of the many compromises over the issue during the next eighty years, until it was finally resolved in an ocean of tears and blood" (156).  So true.  I also enjoyed Franklin's statement when signing the Declaration took place (Johnson said all the delegates signed on the same day, but Lytle and Davidson believe otherwise).  According to Hancock, Franklin said, "Well, Gentlemen, we must now hang together, or we shall most assuredly hang separately."  He reiterates how important it is to stick together in order to win this battle against the Crown of England.  He reminds them that this is all pointless if they don't stand together as one body.  It goes along well with Davidson and Lytle's idea that the Declaration had an audience of one for that one moment when each man signed it.  It also fascinated me that Franklin's statement was said 136 years earlier by Cromwell at the start of England's Civil War.  I wonder if everyone present when he said it were immediately aware of the irony in that.