The Signing of the Declaration of Independence
By H. A. Guerber
John Hancock, President of Congress,
was the
first to sign the Declaration of Independence,
writing his name in large, plain letters, and saying:
"There! John Bull can read
my name without
spectacles. Now let him double the price on my
head, for this is my defiance."
Then he turned to the other members,
and solemnly declared:
"We must be unanimous. There
must be no
pulling different ways. We must all hang together."
"Yes," said Franklin, quaintly, "we
must all
hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang
separately."
We are told that Charles Carroll, thinking that
his writing looked shaky, added the words, "of
Carrollton," so that the king should not be able
to make any mistake as to whose name stood
there. |
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