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Show :lf Caesar Rodney Had Not Made His H I Heroic Ride, Americans Might Not Now I Be Celebrating the Fourth of July! y ELMO SCOTT WATSON Mideast by Western Newspaper Union.) r'"' HANKS to the poets, the story of the rides of Paul ,,, Revere and Gen. Phil j'Vridan are an imperish-':We imperish-':We part of American tradition. tradi-tion. But, so far, no bard has i'(jng of the heroic ride of Haesar Rodney at least, Mne has given us a poem Kbout it so familiar as those Henry W. Longfellow and Gliomas Buchanan Read, .f" Yet here is truly an epic l! ,eme the story of how irath rode in the saddle with .5US heroic horseman and how history might have been Ranged if he had failed in his Hussion. The events leading !t:p to Caesar Rodney's ride p-ere these: lnt::On June 7, 1776, a resolution """"itroduced by Richard Henry Lee rot;! Virginia in the Continental congress, con-gress, declaring that "these Unit-oiai Unit-oiai Colonies are, and of right jght to be, free and independ- it States," was accepted in a jmmittee of the whole by repre- mtatives of seven of the coloniesa colo-niesa bare majority of one: If is revolutionary step of sever-""""ig sever-""""ig the ties which bound the col-Tfaies col-Tfaies to the Mother Country was ) be taken successfully, there lTiust be greater unanimity among jjiem. So the leaders in the move nr independence set about to win per those who hesitated to take ich a radical step. The only surviving letter, dated July 4, 1776, written by any signer of the Declaration of Independence and referring to that document. docu-ment. It is Caesar Rodney's and it refers only briefly to his heroic ride. would but he could not be sure. According to one account, Mc- Kean was striding up and down the brick walk outside Independ- j ence hall after the other members of the congress had filed in when he saw a horseman speeding along the dusty street toward him. A moment later this rider drew up in front of the hall and, as he swung wearily down from the saddle, McKean recognized the dust-covered, grimy-faced man as Caesar Rodney. There was a brief handclasp, then the two men entered the hall, Rodney still "booted and spurred and travel-stained." A few minutes later the roll call on the adoption of the Declaration Declara-tion of Independence began. It started with New Hampshire, the most northerly of the colonies, and proceeded through Massachusetts, Massa-chusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Connecti-cut, (New York was passed for the time being, although her delegates dele-gates were favorable) to Pennsylvania. live in hopes and still retain my usual spirits." Rodney's Modest Story. So it took courage of the highest high-est kind for him to set out upon the hasty 80-mile trip to Philadelphia, Phila-delphia, because the exertions of such a journey might easily cause his death. Apparently he never thought of that his only thought was that his presence was needed need-ed in the Continental Congress where a momentous decision was about to be made. In the letter (reproduced above) which he wrote after completing his journey, jour-ney, he makes little mention of the hardships of that journey. It says: Philad.a July the 4th. 1776 Sir: In have Inclosed you a summons directed di-rected to the Sheriff to (Call) Summon the Members for our Co-unty to meet in Assembly at Newcastle on the 22d. day of this Instant which I hope you will have put into his hands as soon as possible possi-ble after it comes to Yours I arrived in Congress tho Detained by Thunder and Rain; time enough to give my Voice in the matter of Independence It is now determined by the Thirteen United Colonies Col-onies without even one dissenting Colony Col-ony We have now got through with the whole of the Declaration, and ordered it to be printed so that you will soon have the pleasure of seeing it Hand-bills of it will be printed, and sent to the Armies, Cities, County Towns etc. to be published or rather proclaimed in form. Don't neglect to attend closely and carefully to my Harvest and You'll oblige Yours CAESAR RODNEY Being "detained by Thunder and Rain" was probably the least Jonathan D. Sargent hurried itrkcross the Delaware river into rcti'ew Jersey where delegates stiJ'ere being chosen and succeeded l securing the election of men JtEledged to independence. A few ffecays later the Maryland conven-3 conven-3 jr-on, which had previously been j opposed to the idea of declaring r independence, reversed its po- ition and adopted resolutions in- tructing its delegates to vote for .line Lee resolution. Next South ?lj 'arolina was won over, as was II Pennsylvania, although its delegation dele-gation was split on the issue. The Relegates from New York, though jm'i-ersonally in favor of independ- 61 Tee, could not vote for it until ion,'eceiving approval from the con- ention in their colony, though it ;as certain that such approval Ihili'vould be forthcoming. en 5 A Divided Delegation. There now remained only the ote of Delaware to make the ecision of the Thirteen Colonies ipanimous. She had three dele-i dele-i Mates to the congress Thomas yilcKean, George Read and Cae-Relkliar Cae-Relkliar Rodney. McKean was one of se most outspoken advocates of Independence but Read, influ-fe9M!',nced influ-fe9M!',nced by John Dickinson of Penn-yylvania, Penn-yylvania, was opposed to declar-iritig declar-iritig for freedom at this time. This eft the deciding vote in the Del-ouware Del-ouware delegation to Rodney, who jnwas also speaker of the Dela- The Crucial Vote. So far the vote of these colonies colo-nies has been for adoption of the Declaration. The Pennsylvania delegation is divided but by a vote of three to two her voice speaks for independence. Then comes the crucial vote of Delaware. Dela-ware. As was expected McKean votes in favor of adoption of the Declaration Dec-laration and Read votes against. When Rodney's name is called, some of the delegates turn in surprise sur-prise it is the first intimation they have of his return. They know how important his vote is, so they hang on his words. Those words made such an indelible impression im-pression upon some of them, among them McKean, that they remembered them for years afterwards. aft-erwards. He said: IWware assembly and had returned o Dover to preside' over it. ' On July 1 the Lee resolution GooUme up for discussion and all good luring that day and far into the best lext the momentous decision was he subject of a hot debate. Late P- the afternoon of July 2 it was jut to a vote. 'Eleven of the col- pLlltnies, by the votes of the ma-tMe.:vority ma-tMe.:vority of their delegates, cast :1heir ba'lots in favor of independ--cgmce. The votes of two New :ork and Delaware were not recorded. "As I believe the voice of my constituents and of all sensible and honest men is in favor of independence, my own judgment concurs with them, I vote for independence." in-dependence." So Caesar Rodney cast the deciding de-ciding vote for Delaware and Delaware's vote was an all-important one. The rest was a foregone fore-gone conclusion. Delegates from the remainder of the colonies also voted for the charter of liberty and thus the Declaration of Independence In-dependence was adopted. So Caesar Cae-sar Rodney's heroic ride had not TTTff u such a decisive step were yj'o be taken, it must be unani--sJious, else the results might be "sastrous. Meanwhile a com- nittee headed by Thomas Jeffer- Hate ion was drafting a Declaration they t;J Independence, and Thomas eyicKean was making an impor-ant impor-ant decision. He knew that Rod-. Rod-. 'ley was also in favor of independence inde-pendence and if he were brought -,o Philadelphia he could break ST Pie deadlock in the vote of the -Delaware delegation. At his own expense he hired a 'lessenger and sent him speeding Jo Dover to explain the situation dney and urge him to come ' Philadelphia at once. It was yearly midnight of July 1 when , "V messenger started for Dover P miles away and he did not V or!ve there until 24 hours later, i no.dney was at his home a few es further on, so it was not WU the early morning hours of , Iuy 3 that he was aroused from I leep and given McKean's mes-r mes-r , ? ge' At daybreak, mounted on r I rongest horse in his stable, ''1 Trley was on his way to Phila-,v Phila-,v ielphia. been in vain. Had he not made it, July 4 might not have been the important date that it is in the history of the United States and of the whole world! But his fame does not rest entirely en-tirely upon this one act. Eleven years earlier he had been a member mem-ber of the Stamp Act congress which met in New York to protest pro-test against the acts of parliament parlia-ment which were to lead eventually eventu-ally to the Revolution. of his difficulties, for we know by contemporary accounts that the weather was extremely hot and the necessity for haste must have taken a heavy toll of the energies of both man and beast. Where Rodney stopped for the rest and food that was absolutely necessary for both is unknown but since he did not arrive m Philadelphia until the morning of July 4 it is evident that he must have paused somewhere along the way for a brief breathing spell for his horse and a few moments mo-ments of relaxation from the saddle sad-dle for himself. Meanwhile Jefferson, John Adams Ad-ams and Benjamin Franklin had drafted the Declaration of Independence Inde-pendence and the final vote on it was set for the morning of July 4 It is not difficult to imagine the anxiety of McKean as the hour for the congress to assemble d?ew near. Would Rodney ar-rive ar-rive in time to support him in casting Delaware's vote for independence? inde-pendence? He hoped that he Rodney was among those who urged the appointment of George Washington as commander-in-chief of the Continental army and he became one of Washington's most valued friends. He entered the war as a brigadier-general of the Delaware militia, was with Washington at the Battle of Trenton Tren-ton and despite the ravages of cancer, served throughout the Revolution. He came out of the war a major-general and lived to see the country win the freedom free-dom for which he had cast his historic vote. He died at Poplar Grove, Delaware. June 29, 1734, or yeafs Rodney had suffered Mih a cancer on his face. Be-we Be-we the opening of the Revolu-,ifc Revolu-,ifc , ,had been urged to go to 'CMi 1a in search f relief from 'HW .read disease, but his sense ? t0 his colony in the trou" Am tmes ahead kePt him in rRT1?- In a letter t0 his sis" described his case as "tru- &jL angerous, and what will be gjjjr event God only knows; I still |
