My John Hancock

There are rumblings in this nation, and rightfully so.  The crimes are heinous, the injustice intolerable, and the deception disgusting.  The dystopia foreseen in 1949 by George Orwell, portrayed in his book 1984, is upon us in living color.  Those Americans still capable of independent thought and critical analysis are searching for answers.  It is not unexpected that they should look back into the past at the example set by their illustrious forefathers, who on July 4, 1776 publicly declared their independence from the oppressive government that ruled over them.

I have come down that same path and arrived at that same destination.  I no longer accept the government forced upon me, and I too feel the need to declare my independence.  I started to take matters into my own hands and began to write my own declaration, but then I stopped.  Surely others have preceded me, and this new Declaration of Independence must already exist.  I need only search for it.  I did, and I promptly found it.  It was very much like what I would have written myself, and I was anxious to add my name to the long list of signatures that would surely accompany this splendid document!  I signed, and then I quickly clicked to view all the other brave souls who would testify to their displeasure with the current government.  Alas, other than the original editors of the document, there was but one signature -- mine.

John Hancock is known to be the first delegate to sign the Declaration of Independence.  What is not widely known is that he was the only delegate to have his name attached to the original type-set copies released to the public.  From the British perspective, the only traitor acknowledging his role in creating the Declaration of Independence was John Hancock, a precarious position indeed for Mister Hancock!  It took six long months before a second series of type-set copies was released to the public with the names of all signers listed.  Most delegate signatures, including John Hancock's written signature, were not collected on paper until nearly a month after the Declaration was written, when a special hand-written parchment copy was signed on August 2, 1776.  This copy was not publicly circulated and is the one displayed in the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

So, like John Hancock, there is only one "traitor" associated with the new Declaration of Independence, a precarious position indeed for me.  I only hope that I don't have to wait six months to see other signatures join mine.