“I had, ‘marked a Nation’s birth,
And saw her Constellation rise
With radience glancing o’er the Earth.
Daring the Sun with steady eyes
I saw her Eagles mount the skies.’”
(Deborah Norris Logan)
“Deborah Norris was the only daughter in a prominent Philadelphian Quaker family that traced its lineage to the settlement of Pennsylvania, where her grandfather Isaac Norris was a merchant and provincial assembly member.” (O’Leary)
“The granddaughter of Isaac Norris, one of Philadelphia’s original Quaker settlers, Deborah Norris grew up in the heart of the city, where she witnessed momentous events in the history of the United States”. (Asleson)
“Apart from attending Anthony Benezet’s Friends Girls School (the first public school for girls in America), Norris essentially educated herself through reading.” (Asleson) In 1781, she married the physician, diplomat, and politician George Logan.” (O’Leary)
“In 1815, at the age of fifty-four, Logan began keeping a diary in which she resolved to record “whatever I shall hear of fact or anecdote that shall appear worthy of preservation.” (Asleson) On July 4, 1826 (the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declarations of Independence), she wrote:
“It is quite impossible on this remarkable day not to fall into a chain of thoughts inspired by recollections; and I have been much occupied in them – at this time. If I were able to set down what mine have been, with clearness and precision, they would perhaps go far to establish some of my own theories …”
“Setting aside the grand and almost overwhelming remembrances which the anniversary of the Independence of our country never fails to introduce to the mind, with all the train of events that at that time, and since that time, have agitated the political and moral world …”
“ … and thinking only of the tide of human beings that at that period lived and acted and looked forward, as we do now, but have since dropped … “
“It will be no doubt. As it is the anniversary that answers to the ancient Jubliee among the Hebrews, be celebrated with extraordinary zeal in many places, and many commemorative orations will be spoken …”
“My son went to town in the morning but returned to dinner, whilst at table he told us that it was currently reported in town that both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were no more, and that they had both died on the anniversary of the Independence!”
“It seems so strange a coincidence to be true, but we shall be resolved of out uncertainty in a very little time. Jefferson is said to have been ill for some days – the elder President to have died suddenly.”
“It seems as if it really was so, and that the 50th anniversary saw the estinction of both their lives – It is singular – and according to the doctrine of chances, what an odds would have been against it so occurring!”
“… we talked about the recent deaths of the old sages of Quincy and Montecello – that of the former was characteristic to the past of ‘A Glorious Anniversary!’ are said to have been the last words which he uttered. …”
“How things relative to these conspicuous characters now crowd upon the mind – mine had dropped every sentiment towards them but respect for their virtues and gratitude for their services to my Country. They were two of the most strenuous and efficient operators of our Independence.”
“Jefferson at that time was comparatively a young man, and not much talked of (at least where I had any opportunity of hearing), but the two Adams were designated as mark and determined men, who drove directly at that measure, and pushed on to commit this country, so that intercepion should be impossible …”
“… and to John Adams the tasks seemed to be allotted to him in and keep together the New England Delegation, so that no impulsion favourable to any thing short of that object should remain on any of their minds …”
“… the danger of a failure the power and resources of the Mother Country, our inadequacy for the contest, and total want of means, which startled more prudent and timid men, were totally overlooked in his enthusiasm.”
“I have heard from a source that I cannot doubt that Dr Franklin himself, who had then recently returned from England, was for putting off the Declaration, to gain more time to meet its difficulties …”
“How a little time spreads the vail of oblivion over the manner of the most important events! It is now a matter of doubt as what hour, or how, the Declaration was given to the people. Perhaps few now remain that heard it read on that day.”
“But of the few I am one: being in the lot adjoining to our old mansion house in Chestnut Street, that then extended to 5th Street …”
“I distinctly heard the words of that Instrument read to the people (I believe from the State House steps, for I did not see the reader) a low building on 5th Street (later the location of City Hall) which prevented my sight and I think it was Charles Thomson’s voice.”
“It took place a little after twelve at noon and they then proceeded down the street, (I understood) to read it at the Court House. It was a time of fearful doubt and great anxiety with the people, many of whom were appalled at the boldness of the measure, and the first audience of the Declaration was neither very numerous, nor composed of the most respectable class of citizens.”
“Though there is no mistake in saying that the Revolution itself was (I believe) in all the States, the worth of the best informed and most efficient men; but then they only looked, in general, to their resistance to the Tyranny of the Government, inducing an abandonment of its obsessious designs, as have been the case with the Stamp Act …”
“[I]ndeed the events of the 4th have caused such a train of thoughts that when I had time to write, I chose rather to set down what occurred to be of other day …”
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