Answering Liberty's Call

I could not see how our nation could exist without embracing the faiths of all who called the United States home. I thought of our sweet little sons and wondered if soldiering lay in their futures. Hard as it was to let Benjamin go, I knew that should I have to watch Elijah and William march away someday it would rend my heart in two. 

Yet I would be proud if my sons grew into men like their father, willing to put themselves in harm’s way to advance the cause of liberty.

***

Stone Orchards and Farm, Carters Run, Virginia

August 1776

A few weeks after Benjamin returned home from his service in the Minutemen, Washington’s troops drove the British out of Boston. At this news, I hoped the conflict was drawing to a close and our lives could return to normal, but things were soon to escalate again, and a radical new idea took hold.

One spring evening Benjamin, brimming with excitement, brought home Mr. Paine’s pamphlet, Common Sense, which he read aloud to me by candlelight. “‘How came the King by a power which the people are afraid to trust and always obliged to check? Such a power could not be the gift of a wise people, neither can any power, which needs checking, be from God.’” His dark eyes shone with excitement. “Mr. Paine put into words what I have thought for some time. It is a matter of common sense.” 

I finished drying the last dish and sat at the table with him as he continued. 

“The Anglican Church obeys the King of England. If we follow our consciences, we must seek independence from the Crown. And here it says, ‘America would have flourished as much, and much more, had no European power taken any notice of her.’”

It felt like treason, to suggest America would thrive without Crown rule. For the first time, I wondered, Should Americans want independence?

“I thought it would be enough to restore the way things were before the late war, but with more religious liberty. Now, I don’t believe we should stop there. It’s our Christian duty to oppose tyrants.” He stood and placed the pamphlet between two of his books on the mantel. 

Just weeks after Elijah’s first birthday at the end of July, the Continental Congress sent copies of a new declaration to all congregations in the colonies.  

Benjamin received the document midweek and, treating it with the same reverence he would have afforded a rare religious text, he set about studying it before writing his sermon. When he stood before the congregation that Sunday, he led the service with more than his usual enthusiasm.

“It is written, in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, ‘For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.’

“This is also true of our nation, for surely there is more that binds us as Americans than drives us apart. I ask you, what would you be willing to sacrifice to secure a future free from Crown rule for yourselves and your children?

“In Thomas Paine’s Epistle to the Quakers, he asserts that all men dislike violence and want peace, but there comes a time when violence is inevitable. Mr. Paine writes that total separation from England solves the problems we face.”

He unrolled the parchment. “This is a copy of our Continental Congress’s Declaration of Independence. The original is on its way to England and King George. I am privileged to be the one to share this message with you.

“‘In Congress, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America: When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the power of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind require that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.’” 

As he read, I scanned the faces of the people in the congregation and saw the dawning excitement I experienced a few months before. But now, fear overshadowed my excitement. What would independence from England and Crown rule mean? What would it cost to gain it? Benjamin read the crimes of the King. When he came to, “‘He has plundered our Seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our Towns, and destroyed the lives of our People,’” his voice shook for a moment, and he cleared his throat. I saw the tears in his eyes, and a combination of pride, patriotism, and fear caused the tears pooling in my own. 

My pride swelled at Benjamin’s commitment to change and for what our nation accomplished outside the grasping hand of the King. I saw enough of what Crown rule did to us to want independence, too. But I feared war would force families like ours into long separations. If we lost, what would happen to the men who rebelled?

 As I watched my husband stand before his congregation, I could almost see the fresh flames burst forth from the smoldering coals of his ideals.

That night, when the children were asleep and the windows thrown open to the night sounds of frogs and katydids, Benjamin spread the Declaration out on the trestle board and weighed down the corners of the parchment with candlesticks. He traced his fingers over the words. “Many great statesmen hail from Virginia—among them Thomas Jefferson, the author of this declaration. I marvel that King George will see the signature of my cousin, Thomas Stone of Maryland.”

I leaned against him. “Do you wish you had pursued the law and become a statesman?”

“Nay. I understand my role in what is to come. Just imagine what possibilities may be open to us if this challenge to the Crown leads to our independence. We’re living in wondrous, dangerous times.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I warrant I shall not sleep tonight. I’m that excited.”

His elation put me in mind of the day we married and just like then, I was there to fan the sparks of his passion. I brought his callused palm to rest against my cheek. “Then neither of us shall sleep.” 

He needed no more encouragement. He cradled my face in his hands and his kiss ignited a blaze deep within me. The flames spread until I felt nothing but the desire to draw him in and receive his unrelenting energy.