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The four signers from Connecticut who delivered independence · Cultural Wars | America Out Loud News

• 0:23
  Happy history class day, everybody won and all.
• 0:28
  I'm happy to see the room so full.
• 0:30
  It's nice when people when people want to come to history class.
• 0:35
  And that's what we've got here.
• 0:36
  We have got truly we do.
• 0:39
  We have people that that want to be here.
• 0:41
  They want to they want to learn history.
• 0:43
  They want to learn specifically American history.
• 0:46
  They're interested in these men and women who formed and shaped the beginning, the very beginning and foundation of America.
• 0:55
  And they did it with good old fashioned American values.
• 1:00
  They did it as it was said of Andrew Jackson with shoot in their eye.
• 1:05
  Now we are going to get into the founding fathers from Connecticut today.
• 1:11
  But first, first we have a little mini history class because just one of those days, one of those annual days.
• 1:19
  This is Andrew Jackson.
• 1:21
  Old Hickory, they called him.
• 1:23
  We're gonna we're gonna dive.
• 1:24
  So here's the schedule today.
• 1:26
  We're gonna do a little mini history class on Andrew Jackson, who by the way is one of our favorites.
• 1:32
  You know, I remind me.
• 1:34
  Will you remind me to talk about the list of the best presidents that I that I came across the other day?
• 1:40
  Thank you.
• 1:41
  I want to get to that in a minute.
• 1:42
  So we're gonna we're gonna do a little mini history on on old hickory.
• 1:47
  And then we're going to get to the signers of the declaration from Connecticut, the four of them, the big four, as it were.
• 1:57
  But first, before we do any of that, right here at the onset.
• 2:00
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• 3:26
  Oh, yeah, it's it's I know I know it's it's fantastic.
• 3:30
  All right, so let's uh old hickory.
• 3:33
  Did you know that in let's see, let me see.
• 3:38
  I don't know if I saved that.
• 3:39
  I might just have to go off of my off of my memory, which you know is fine.
• 3:44
  My memory is decent, but but maybe I I saved it somewhere.
• 3:48
  I came across the other day, this list of the the best presidents, and it was from I want to say it was a Harvard list, and it uh I think it was from 1940, maybe 1950s, somewhere in there.
• 4:08
  This this Harvard list of of the best presidents, and I don't I just I don't know if I saved it, so I'm I'm probably just gonna have to operate off of memory here.
• 4:18
  Uh Andrew Jackson was oh, yes, I do.
• 4:24
  I remember the top five.
• 4:26
  So they had listed in great presidents who were great, presidents who were good, presidents who were something else mediocre middle of the pack, and then presidents who were horrible.
• 4:42
  They only had two presidents that were horrible, and again, this list is from I want to say the late 1940s.
• 4:49
  So we're not gonna see Carter, we're not gonna see Obama on the uh on the horrible list, unless they had the ability, the wherewithal to predict the future, and it doesn't appear that they did.
• 5:02
  Um but here's the ranking of the top five.
• 5:06
  Abraham Lincoln, number one, George Washington number two, FDR number three.
• 5:12
  You gotta be kidding me.
• 5:14
  Truman number four, you've got to be kidding me.
• 5:18
  And number five was Andrew Jackson.
• 5:21
  Okay, the late 40s.
• 5:24
  When we get into the uh the second ranking, which I don't remember the date of the second ranking, it was decades later.
• 5:32
  So maybe it was the early 90s and the 80s somewhere.
• 5:37
  Uh again, I think this ranking is from Harvard, so you know, keep that in mind.
• 5:42
  But when we get to the 80s and 90s, it's still Lincoln and Washington and uh FDR.
• 5:49
  How in the world are you ranking FDR after Lincoln and Washington?
• 5:56
  Now, Truman and Jackson had fallen out of favor.
• 6:00
  Uh they were no longer in the top five of greats.
• 6:03
  They had fallen into the mediocre category, which Truman, yes.
• 6:07
  I mean, put him down there.
• 6:09
  But but Jackson, I mean, I think probably Jackson fell out of favor because of the uh trail of tears.
• 6:18
  I mean, it's history, and you know, could it have been handled better?
• 6:22
  Yes, but does that mean he's not you know, the other that the great things he he did?
• 6:28
  Does that it's it's perspective, you know.
• 6:31
  We look at things differently, especially in the lens in and through the lens of virtue signal, but I don't I don't know how you put FDR in the top the top three.
• 6:44
  I mean, as far as I'm concerned, FDR is um I oh you know what I think Jefferson was also up there.
• 6:51
  I think it might have been Jeff, maybe it was maybe there was a top six because Jefferson was in there too, you know.
• 6:58
  Jefferson uh had this quote, somebody on Substack posted it the other day, and I'm not going to remember the quote off the top of my head.
• 7:10
  Um I might be able to pull.
• 7:14
  Oh, here it is.
• 7:15
  Yeah, uh, this is it.
• 7:16
  This is Jefferson's quote.
• 7:18
  And this is in relation to uh FDR, unbeknownst to Jefferson.
• 7:23
  He said the danger is that the indulgence and attachments of the people will keep a man in the chair after he becomes a dottered.
• 7:34
  Now, the chair is talking about here is the presidency, by the way.
• 7:38
  Um General Washington set the example of voluntary retirement after eight years.
• 7:44
  I shall follow it.
• 7:46
  And a few more precedents will oppose the obstacles of habit to anyone after a while who shall endeavor to extend his term.
• 7:55
  But Jefferson said if you're gonna extend your term, you're like a dottered.
• 8:01
  The danger is that the indulgence and attachments of the people will keep a man in the chair after he becomes a dottered.
• 8:08
  Uh so what is daughter being?
• 8:10
  Okay, here's the definition of dotted.
• 8:11
  Are you ready?
• 8:12
  A person who is in his or her dotted, one whose mind is impaired by age, one in second childhood, an old person with impaired intellect, one in his or her dotted, an oldster in his dotted, someone whose age has impaired his intellect.
• 8:33
  Uh, don't you think that's that's what happened to uh uh FDR.
• 8:38
  Did he just become a dottered?
• 8:40
  I don't know if his intellect was ever impaired.
• 8:43
  I mean, he died in office.
• 8:45
  Um, but I think it's hilarious here that Jefferson's like, you know, after two years, be or after two terms, be done.
• 8:51
  Sign off and be done.
• 8:52
  But FDR is like, no, we're gonna reshape America in my image.
• 8:57
  That's that's what this is all about.
• 8:59
  I'm gonna stick around.
• 9:00
  I'm gonna stick around for 12 years.
• 9:02
  I mean, it it was four terms.
• 9:04
  I don't think he lasted 12 years, but uh you know, I would not put FDR anywhere near the top.
• 9:12
  I'm just telling you that right now.
• 9:14
  No, I'm not yes.
• 9:16
  Um, you know, he was a man of courage, he was a man of fortitude, he was a man of stictuativeness, he he overcame obstacles at a time when those kind of obstacles weren't being overcome by anybody.
• 9:29
  Um, but I'm not putting him in the in the top, sorry, top tier.
• 9:33
  You know, the top tier is reserved for two people, and it happens in this order, Washington and Lincoln, not Lincoln and Washington.
• 9:40
  Lincoln was great, without a doubt, he was great.
• 9:44
  But the order is Washington Lincoln.
• 9:47
  That, my friends, is the official order brought to you by me.
• 9:51
  All right, so I got on to all of this because of Jackson.
• 9:55
  Well, I wanted to do a little mini history class today.
• 9:58
  Uh Andrew Jackson.
• 10:00
  And the reason why he's important is he is the first um he's the first president to have been born in a log cabin.
• 10:09
  He is the son of a poor Scots-Irish immigrant who essentially just scratched out a living from the soil of South Carolina backcountry.
• 10:18
  He's part of the he's part of the second generation of Patriots.
• 10:25
  He and John Quincy Adams, they're the second group that kind of take the helm from the first generation.
• 10:34
  Uh Andrew's father died about two weeks before he was born.
• 10:40
  Uh he had a strong-willed mother named Elizabeth.
• 10:42
  And so she was left to to raise the Jackson boys on our own.
• 10:47
  And during the the revolutionary war, Andrew Jackson, Andy, as they called him.
• 10:52
  He's 13 years old.
• 10:54
  And as a 13-year-old, he he joins up with a Patriot militia.
• 10:59
  And he's an orderly.
• 11:01
  He's a courier.
• 11:02
  I mean, he's he's part of the part of the team here as a 13-year-old.
• 11:08
  Uh, and so here's the anniversary of this particular event, April 10th, 1781.
• 11:15
  The the this particular militia had gathered at a Presbyterian church.
• 11:20
  British troops show up by surprise.
• 11:23
  Boom, we're here, everybody.
• 11:25
  Uh Andrew, Andy, as they called him, and his brother Robert escaped into the woods only to be captured the next morning at a nearby cabin.
• 11:35
  The Tory officer, and this is the this is the spirit here of Andrew Jackson.
• 11:39
  A Tory officer ordered Andy to clean his boots.
• 11:43
  The fiery boy shot back, sir.
• 11:46
  I am a prisoner of war and claim to be treated as such.
• 11:51
  Uh, I mean, he knew his stuff.
• 11:53
  He he he understood the the lingo of the day.
• 11:57
  He he understood the protocol of the day, and he had the courage.
• 12:01
  He had the fortitude, he had the gumption here to say, sir, I'm a prisoner of war and claim to be treated as such.
• 12:09
  The uh the officer was furious at this and brought his sword down on young Andrew's head, leaving a scar that Andrew Jackson carried the rest of his life.
• 12:22
  He grew up with he grew up in and on the frontier.
• 12:25
  He was a saddle maker, school teacher, lawyer, planter, land speculator, Indian fighter, U.S.
• 12:33
  Congressman.
• 12:33
  He was a senator, he was a judge, he was a general.
• 12:38
  He was the hero of the Battle of New Orleans, which sealed the deal during the War of 1812.
• 12:45
  And he he he knew little grammar, and uh he had many scars, few classics, and he had many fast horses.
• 12:57
  Uh, this is what the writer Carl Samberg observed about it.
• 13:03
  While a judge in Tennessee, he sent a succession of deputies.
• 13:07
  This is according to our friend Bill Bennett.
• 13:10
  He sent a succession of deputies to apprehend a huge man who was wanted for a heinous crime.
• 13:16
  Every single last one of his deputies returned empty-handed.
• 13:21
  So Jackson himself gets off the bench, gets on his horse, and he goes out to arrest the large mountain of a criminal here.
• 13:31
  And uh asked why he finally surrendered, the mountain of the man said I looked him in the eye.
• 13:36
  We're talking about Jackson, Judge Jackson, as it were.
• 13:40
  I looked him in the eye, and I saw shoot, and there wasn't shooting any other them eyes in the crowd.
• 13:46
  I saw shoot in his eyes.
• 13:48
  Saw shoot.
• 13:50
  When old Hickory was elected the seventh U.S.
• 13:53
  president, frontiersmen rode hundreds of miles to join the inaugural party, overrunning the White House with muddy boots.
• 14:02
  The refined ladies and gentlemen of the day said it was the beginning of mob rule.
• 14:09
  But Jackson knew better.
• 14:11
  He knew it was just good old-fashioned American Republicanism on its way to growing up.
• 14:17
  That's what it was.
• 14:19
  Good old-fashioned American Republicanism.
• 14:22
  Now, uh Bill Bennett refers to it as good old-fashioned American democracy, but we know better than that.
• 14:28
  We know it's not American democracy, it's American Republicanism, because we are a republic, and as such, we produce republicanism, not democracy.
• 14:38
  We're gonna we're gonna reframe the debate here.
• 14:41
  We're gonna reframe the narrative.
• 14:43
  We're gonna start talking about American Republicanism rather than American democracy.
• 14:49
  I know that you know, the Tocqueville, he called it American democracy.
• 14:53
  And we should have corrected him immediately.
• 14:56
  We should have.
• 14:57
  I mean, if you own the book, uh, if you own the Tocqueville's book, uh, you know, feel free to make notes.
• 15:06
  Feel free to annotate, feel free to scratch through the word democracy and write republicanism.
• 15:12
  I'm I'm doing that from time to time, specifically when we're talking about the time frame, and they've erased the the time markers of BC and AD, and they've replaced it with B C before the common era and um CE, which is common era.
• 15:31
  We're living in the common era.
• 15:32
  You know, the common era.
• 15:34
  I'm sorry, did not begin at um zero zero.
• 15:40
  It didn't begin at 01 or 02, and that's not the common era.
• 15:43
  I mean, 2,000 years ago is not common to us.
• 15:46
  I'm sorry, that's not the common era.
• 15:50
  Uh no, it's it's B C.
• 15:52
  It's before Christ, and it's A D.
• 15:56
  Ano Domini, it's not after death, it's Ano Domini.
• 15:59
  It's Latin.
• 15:59
  It means year of our Lord.
• 16:00
  It's a year zero.
• 16:03
  Um, and that's just the way it is.
• 16:05
  And so I've got books where I've got BCE scratched out and written in in the margin in the side that says BC before Christ.
• 16:13
  I mean, yes, that might be a little extreme, but we are going to keep the narrative.
• 16:19
  We're gonna keep the tradition.
• 16:21
  We believe in a classical education, and a classical education consists of what education used to be, and that's what we're going with.
• 16:30
  We're going with what things used to be.
• 16:33
  And uh, no questions asked.
• 16:35
  I mean, you can ask questions.
• 16:37
  I shouldn't say that, no questions asked, but but the answer is the answer is what it is.
• 16:42
  We are sticking with tradition.
• 16:44
  That's what we're doing around here.
• 16:46
  We're sticking with tradition.
• 16:47
  All right.
• 16:48
  Uh a little uh little little mini history class right here at the onset in segment one.
• 16:53
  Segment two, we're gonna pause here for a break in a minute.
• 16:55
  When we get to segment two, my friends, we are going to explore the four signers from Connecticut.
• 17:03
  Now, now let me let's just do a little quick quick quiz here.
• 17:07
  Have you ever heard of these names?
• 17:08
  Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Walcott.
• 17:13
  Which of these names have you heard of before?
• 17:16
  Out of the four.
• 17:17
  All right.
• 17:18
  Okay, all right.
• 17:20
  Okay, so all of you have heard of Roger Sherman.
• 17:22
  We know we know who Roger Sherman is.
• 17:25
  What why do we know Roger Sherman?
• 17:26
  Why do we know that name?
• 17:28
  Do you do you know why you?
• 17:30
  All right.
• 17:30
  No, that's fair.
• 17:31
  That's that's fine.
• 17:32
  I'm not going to beat anyone up for that.
• 17:34
  You just know the name, but you don't know.
• 17:36
  Okay.
• 17:37
  Uh, and and this is probably common.
• 17:39
  I think most of us know the name Roger Sherman.
• 17:44
  We've heard the name, but we're not, we don't really remember maybe what he did.
• 17:47
  He was on the committee.
• 17:49
  He he was on the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence with Adams Franklin Jefferson and Livingston.
• 17:58
  It would have been Roger Sherman and Livingston, who uh I wouldn't call them dead weight, but these were the two that a lot of people consider uh the the on this committee, a lot of people equate them to the two or the one person in the in your group project who well while your group is getting an A, they didn't really produce anything.
• 18:22
  You know, they just kind of rode the uh they were just on the group.
• 18:26
  They were their name is on the attendance sheet as being a part of this group, and the group gets the yay, but it was really one or two or three members that did the heavy lifting.
• 18:35
  And that's the that's just the nature of it.
• 18:37
  That's the way it's gonna be.
• 18:38
  Not everybody can do the heavy lifting.
• 18:41
  Um, and so you're gonna have people that are gonna, you know, and and they probably, I don't know, maybe they, you know, took part in the editing process at some point.
• 18:50
  There isn't any record of them taking part in the editing process.
• 18:54
  We don't see their handwritten scribbles in the margin of Jefferson's first draft of the declaration, or and there isn't any notes anywhere that they added anything of value, and that's fine.
• 19:04
  That's fine.
• 19:05
  We're not going to beat them up for it.
• 19:06
  But that, yeah, that's Roger Sherman's claim to fame.
• 19:09
  Uh Samuel Huntington, William Williams, and Oliver Walcott are the other three signers from Connecticut.
• 19:17
  And all three of these men are they're just good old-fashioned patriots.
• 19:21
  They're stalwart.
• 19:22
  They're they are consistent, and they produce a story that is consistent.
• 19:29
  It is true to form.
• 19:31
  It's it's what I think of when I think of these men gathering together to sign the Declaration of Independence.
• 19:37
  It's these four.
• 19:38
  And so I'm looking forward to diving into the details of these four men on the other side of this break.
• 19:45
  You're listening to the Dean's list.
• 19:47
  Don't go anywhere.
• 19:49
  History class will continue on the other side.
• 19:52
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• 23:50
  All right, my friends, let's dive into history class today in Connecticut.
• 23:55
  We're going to go to Connecticut.
• 23:56
  And we we're going to start off with Roger Sherman.
• 23:59
  Since Sherman is probably the most well-known of the signers from Connecticut.
• 24:06
  Let's let's start with him first, shall we?
• 24:12
  Here's what Jefferson uh later, later on.
• 24:16
  Here's what he said about Roger Sherman.
• 24:19
  Um said, I served with him in the old Congress in the years of 75 and 76.
• 24:26
  He was a very able and logical debater in that body, studying the principles of the revolution, always at the post of duty, much employed in the business of committees, and particularly was of the committee of Dr.
• 24:41
  Franklin, Mr.
• 24:42
  J.
• 24:43
  Adams, Mr.
• 24:44
  Livingston, and myself for preparing the declaration of independence.
• 24:49
  Being much my senior in years, our intercourse was chiefly in the lines of our duties.
• 24:56
  I had a very great respect for him.
• 24:59
  Um Sherman's qualifications and his right to merit this distinction at the time were without question.
• 25:11
  The significant part of this American success story, as we refer to here in the terms of Sherman, is that he rose to such prominence from humble beginnings, and he did it of his own effort.
• 25:25
  He did it of his own volition.
• 25:27
  He didn't, he didn't do it on the coattails of anybody.
• 25:32
  Um not forgetting to mention that Roger Sherman was born in Massachusetts, by the way.
• 25:39
  Uh John Adams said this of him.
• 25:43
  Uh he referred to Sherman as his most cordial friend.
• 25:49
  Destitute of all literary and scientific education, but such as he acquired by his own exertions, he was one of the most sensible men in the world, the clearest head, and the steadiest heart.
• 26:03
  Yeah, so Sherman didn't have this classical education paid for by wealthy parents that the other men had.
• 26:13
  He was kind of like Washington.
• 26:15
  Uh, you know, Washington didn't possess that expensive classical education.
• 26:21
  Washington kind of went about it on his own in much the same way as Roger Sherman did.
• 26:26
  Uh early in life, Sherman was apprenticed to uh a shoemaker.
• 26:32
  And it was said that he continued his studies and and his self-education.
• 26:40
  Uh, every chance he had, and that um he was accustomed to sit at his work with a book, devoting to study every moment that his eyes could be spared from the occupation in which he was engaged.
• 26:56
  So he's over here making shoes, but yet when he's not making shoes, he's got a book open.
• 27:01
  Oh, what a lesson, my friends.
• 27:04
  Young people, what a lesson.
• 27:06
  If you're paying attention today.
• 27:09
  When you're not occupied in something of value, something that is uh, you know, bringing you uh, you know, some strength or some merit or some worth by all means, pick up a book.
• 27:24
  Because in so doing, you are going to be occupied in something that's going to bring you strength and and value and and worth and merit.
• 27:33
  Pick up a book.
• 27:34
  Well, what a what a lesson.
• 27:36
  So he's he is um working hard at making shoes.
• 27:42
  And when he's not making shoes, he decides I'm gonna, I'm gonna crack open this book right here, and I'm gonna do some studying.
• 27:50
  I'm gonna, I'm gonna do some reading.
• 27:51
  I'm going to uh I'm gonna educate my mind.
• 27:55
  I'm going to strengthen my my mind.
• 27:57
  I'm going to bring some value, some worth to the membranal tissues.
• 28:04
  Uh, he became based upon this method, he became proficient mathematics, logic, geography, philosophy, theology, and especially law and politics.
• 28:17
  Skilled in mathematics, uh, that led to his being appointed county surveyor in 1745, because he knew the math.
• 28:28
  And he was self-taught in the math.
• 28:31
  A few years later, he was supplying astronomical calculations for an almanac published in New York City.
• 28:39
  In 1754, he was admitted to the bar as a result of his legal studies, which he did on his own.
• 28:48
  And then he began to practice law.
• 28:51
  Uh, the he is a self-made man, a complete American success story.
• 28:59
  In August of 1774, Sherman and Joseph Trumbull, who at the time is the son of Governor Jonathan Trumbull.
• 29:10
  These two are elected uh delegates to the first continental congress, 74.
• 29:17
  Uh, Sherman is elected again in 75 to the second.
• 29:22
  And then in October of 1775, he's joined by the other three.
• 29:28
  Uh, Wolcott, Huntington, and Williams.
• 29:33
  Here's what John Adams wrote during that that long hard struggle for liberty during the fall of 1775.
• 29:42
  Through the spring of 1776, he said, Mr.
• 29:45
  Roger Sherman of Connecticut was always on my side.
• 29:50
  He was with me.
• 29:51
  And it wasn't just Sherman, but the other three.
• 29:55
  Uh Connecticut doesn't have this story of interest.
• 30:00
  Intrigue where a message has to get out to somebody at the 11th hour on June or July 1st, and they've got to ride back to Philadelphia to cast the deciding vote for their colony, like it was with Caesar Rodney in Delaware.
• 30:16
  They don't have that story of intrigue.
• 30:19
  Or there's not the story of intrigue where half of the colony is split for and half is against.
• 30:27
  And you know, two of them have to uh abdicate their decision to vote in order to pass independence, like what happened in Philadelphia with with Dickinson and Morris, where they they disappeared on the day of the vote, the final vote.
• 30:45
  And so uh independence passed from the uh Philadelphia delegation.
• 30:50
  There isn't that story of intrigue, or there's not the story of intrigue like what came out of Rhode Island, where you've got um these these two delegates who were arch enemies, Hopkins and the other guy.
• 31:05
  What's his name?
• 31:06
  Robert something or other, I forget his name.
• 31:09
  Uh arch enemies that they were, though, and uh arch enemies throughout their entire political career.
• 31:15
  And then when they get to Congress, they're still, you know, one is for independence and one is one is not for independence.
• 31:22
  This this intrigue and this drama that that builds up to the vote.
• 31:27
  Connecticut doesn't have that.
• 31:29
  All they have, I shouldn't say all they have.
• 31:32
  What they have is consistency.
• 31:34
  Connecticut has patriotism.
• 31:38
  These four men from Connecticut, really being led by by Roger Sherman.
• 31:43
  They uh they are locked in.
• 31:47
  These men are absolutely locked in.
• 31:48
  Sherman, Wilcott, Oliver Wilcott, William Williams, and Samuel Huntington.
• 31:55
  These guys are locked in.
• 31:56
  Uh on June 11th.
• 31:59
  Sherman was appointed to the committee to prepare the articles of Confederation, uh, which were finally ratified by the states on March 1st, 1781, as well as we already mentioned, he's on the committee to draft the declaration of independence.
• 32:17
  So he's he's on two committees drafting two very important documents here.
• 32:21
  One to declare independence, and one to create essentially a new form of government uh of his work on the declaration draft.
• 32:32
  Here's what Jefferson said.
• 32:34
  He said that the committee approved his draft.
• 32:38
  Adams that he did not remember that Sherman criticized anything.
• 32:43
  Uh so uh and it might be that again, Sherman gets the the uh bum rap here, and that you know, he doesn't have any documentation or any notes, or he didn't criticize anything on the declaration, but it might have been that he was just working his tail off on the other committee.
• 33:03
  Uh June 14th, instructions to the Connecticut delegates from the state assembly were to propose that that respectable body to declare the United American colonies free and independent state.
• 33:19
  So on June 14th, their instructions from Connecticut were men were in, let's go, full bore independence.
• 33:28
  The May 15th Virginia resolution to that effect had appeared in Connecticut newspapers, uh the week before June 14th, when Connecticut made this decision.
• 33:41
  So uh again, just for your recollection, May 15, Virginia resolves that the uh this that Virginia and their delegates should declare independence, and so that appears in Connecticut newspapers uh the first week in June.
• 34:03
  And so on June 14th, the Connecticut delegation said, Yeah, we're in, let's go, independence.
• 34:10
  And so, in approving the independence motion on July 2nd, and also the declaration on the 4th of July, Roger Sherman, of course, along with the others was risking his life, risking his honor, risking the hard-earned fortune he had amassed by constant work and thrift and just just plain living.
• 34:29
  It wasn't handed down to him.
• 34:31
  This man worked his tail off for it.
• 34:34
  Um, and he was comfortably off, especially in comparison with his fellow Connecticut citizens.
• 34:40
  And even though even with that knowledge, Sherman didn't waver.
• 34:46
  He didn't waver, he signed his name to it, he voted for it, he was all in.
• 34:51
  Uh, it was estimated by uh Dyer uh in 1775, that there were not 10 men in the colony I come from that were worth 12,000 pounds.
• 35:04
  Dyer was also part of the delegation.
• 35:09
  He was part of the original delegation.
• 35:11
  And so he's saying, look, Sherman, he's one of the wealthiest here.
• 35:15
  There isn't there isn't 10 men that's got as much money as he does, and he did it all on his own.
• 35:21
  Uh Benjamin Rush described Sherman this way.
• 35:25
  He was so regular in business and so democratic in his principles that he was called by one of his friends a Republican machine.
• 35:36
  Patrick Henry asked him in 1774 why the people of Connecticut were more zealous in the cause of liberty than the people of other states.
• 35:48
  And Sherman answered, it's because we have more to lose than any of them.
• 35:53
  What is that?
• 35:54
  said Patrick Henry.
• 35:56
  Our beloved charter, replied Mr.
• 35:58
  Sherman, our beloved charter.
• 36:01
  So Connecticut received a charter from the king.
• 36:05
  They weren't a royal colony.
• 36:08
  So they weren't directly governed by the king.
• 36:12
  They had a charter and they were governed by the charter, and they were able to conduct business as they saw fit.
• 36:21
  It was really one of the best ways to be a colony was to have a charter.
• 36:27
  And this is why they were so he felt like they were so zealous for liberty, even more so than other colonies, even more so than royal colonies, because of the freedom that their charter gave them.
• 36:45
  And the royal colonies didn't they didn't experience that freedom.
• 36:50
  They were governed as essentially by the king or the king's appointed man.
• 36:56
  And it was it was the king's appointed man that dictated, you know, what should happen and what shouldn't happen.
• 37:02
  And the people just kind of went along with it.
• 37:04
  And that's where you had Tories, and that's where you had Royalists.
• 37:07
  But Sherman and the people of Connecticut saw things a little differently.
• 37:14
  And they they wanted to hold tight and hold hold fast to what had been given to them in the form of this form of this charter.
• 37:28
  Um let's go to Sam Huntington, because he is uh, you know, he's one of the other members.
• 37:36
  He is elected to the state assembly 1764.
• 37:43
  Uh the next year he's chosen as a member of the council and the various duties of official station.
• 37:49
  He's always maintained the entire confidence of the people of his constituents.
• 37:55
  He is appointed associate judge of the superior court, 1774.
• 38:01
  And then in 1775, he is elected as a delegate to the uh to the general congress from from Connecticut.
• 38:11
  Of course, the following year, he's he has the glorious privilege of voting for and signing the Declaration of Independence.
• 38:18
  He's right there alongside Roger Sherman.
• 38:21
  Uh he was a member of Congress nearly five consecutive years, and he was looked upon as one of the most active men there.
• 38:32
  His integrity and his patriotism were stern, they're unbending.
• 38:37
  So conspicuous became his sound judgment and untiring industry, that in 1779, he was appointed president of Congress.
• 38:49
  Now, this would have been at the time the highest office in the nation.
• 38:53
  And Samuel Huntington is he's the man.
• 38:56
  He's president of Congress.
• 39:00
  Um he has taken over the role from John Jay.
• 39:07
  Uh he was appointed to succeed John Jay, who was sent to to uh negotiate a treaty of peace with Spain.
• 39:16
  And so who should they rely on?
• 39:18
  But Samuel Huntington from uh Connecticut.
• 39:23
  And why would they rely on Samuel Huntington?
• 39:25
  You know, someone whose name we don't know.
• 39:27
  Well, it's because he was he was staunch.
• 39:30
  He was a patriot, he was firm.
• 39:32
  He believed in the cause, he understood the cause.
• 39:37
  Um, however, his his health uh became bad, it became rough, it became impaired, and so he uh resigned his office as being the president of Congress.
• 39:52
  Um, and he returned back to Connecticut to kind of get healthy, and after getting healthy, he kind of resumed his normal.
• 40:00
  Duties there.
• 40:01
  So he's on the bench.
• 40:04
  He's still a member of the state council, the state assembly.
• 40:09
  And he does this while he's regaining his health until he comes back to Congress in 1783.
• 40:15
  I mean, this dude is he's a beast.
• 40:19
  Um then finally in November, he he retires.
• 40:23
  Ultimately, um goes back to Connecticut.
• 40:27
  When he gets back, he's appointed chief justice of the superior court, so he's an unretired.
• 40:33
  Uh in 1785, he's elected as the lieutenant governor.
• 40:38
  He becomes the chief uh magistrate in 1786.
• 40:44
  And uh he holds that office until his death, which took place in January 1796.
• 40:52
  So, you know, he's 64 by the time he dies, but he holds that office for 10 years.
• 40:58
  And again, this is a man whose name that that we don't know, Samuel Huntington.
• 41:03
  But uh during the heat of the revolutionary war period, he's president of Congress.
• 41:08
  He holds the highest office in the land, and he's a staunch patriot.
• 41:12
  He's a man of uh of integrity.
• 41:17
  Uh he's a stalwart, as it were, one of the stalwarts.
• 41:21
  And so this is again, we we believe here that it's important that we know who these people are.
• 41:27
  We know what they stood for.
• 41:29
  All right, my friends, I'm looking at the clock, we're up against it.
• 41:32
  Let's get into Williams and Walcott on the other side of this break.
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• 44:12
  All right, my friends, let's let's finish history class today, shall we?
• 44:16
  Let's let's finish the four stalwarts from Connecticut.
• 44:21
  William Williams and Oliver Walcott are last on the list here.
• 44:27
  And by the way, in case you're keeping notes at home, I am uh for reference, I am referring to uh BJ Lossing's book Signer of the Declarations.
• 44:40
  This was published in 1848.
• 44:44
  And I'm also referencing McGee's book, famous signer of the Declaration.
• 44:49
  That was published in uh gee, I don't know when that one was published.
• 44:54
  But uh there you have it, just in case you are keeping notes at home.
• 44:59
  All right, William Williams, and by the way, this Lossing book being published in 1848, just uses that old rich language that I love so much.
• 45:10
  Uh so William Williams, uh, as a young man, he studies theology with his dad, but he abandons that to wants to pursue the uh the business, the mercantile industry, which he does, and then he gets into politics at age 25.
• 45:28
  He's the town clerk, he holds that office for nearly 50 years.
• 45:32
  He's elected soon after he becomes town clerk, he's elected to the Connecticut Assembly.
• 45:38
  He's in the state assembly for 45 years, always present in its sessions, unless, unless he's at the Continental Congress, which he was elected to 1775, alongside Sherman and Huntington and Walcott.
• 45:57
  He is a staunch supporter of independence, cheerfully signs the glorious declaration when it's adopted.
• 46:04
  But this is the interesting thing about William Williams, and this is what Lossing says.
• 46:10
  1781, Arnold the Traitor.
• 46:14
  I love that.
• 46:18
  Lossing says, Arnold the Traitor made an attack upon New London, Connecticut.
• 46:25
  Uh this would have been 14 miles from Norwich, which was the place where Arnold grew up.
• 46:34
  Uh on the expedition.
• 46:37
  He first attacked Fort Trumbull, which is named after the governor at the entrance of uh of the river there on which uh New London stands.
• 46:51
  The garrison evacuated the fort at its approach.
• 46:55
  And in imitation, Lusing says, of the infamous governor Tryon of New York, he referring to the traitor Arnold, proceeded to lay the town in ashes.
• 47:06
  Arnold's men were chiefly Tories on the same day Fort Griswold opposite was attacked, and after its surrender, all but about 40 of the garrison were butchered in cold blood.
• 47:19
  This this was the work of the British back in the day.
• 47:22
  But Williams uh held office of uh uh of colonel and and the Connecticut militia.
• 47:32
  And hearing of the event where Arnold the Traitor attacked New London, William Williams mounted his horse and rode 23 miles in three hours, uh, but arrived only in time to see the town wrapped in frame uh flames.
• 47:49
  Uh he so we didn't get there in time, but he rode.
• 47:52
  He rode all you know three hours.
• 47:54
  I mean, his horse was hoofing it to get there in time to see what he could do to participate in the in the defense of New London.
• 48:02
  He was a member, as I said, of the state convention uh of Connecticut and decided upon the adoption of the Constitution.
• 48:12
  So he was, of course, part of the assembly when they voted for the Constitution.
• 48:16
  And of course, Williams voted in in favor of it.
• 48:21
  Um his constituents were opposed to the Constitution itself, but it was it wasn't long before Williams was able to convince them that look, this was this was the route to go on.
• 48:38
  In 1804, he declined finally a re-election bid to the Connecticut Assembly, and just you know, retired entirely from public life.
• 48:49
  He just said, Look, I want to I gotta take a break here.
• 48:52
  His life and fortune, according to Lawson, uh, were both devoted to his country, and he went into domestic retirement with the love and veneration of his countrymen.
• 49:05
  Um he uh Lossing says that he was married to the daughter of Governor Trumbull.
• 49:14
  And in 1810, he lost his oldest son.
• 49:18
  This event uh powerfully shocked him, shocked his already infirm constitution.
• 49:24
  So he wasn't feeling well as it was, and then he never recovered from the death of his son and and gradually declined.
• 49:32
  Um then Lossing says a short time before his death, he was overcome with stupor.
• 49:40
  Having laid perfectly silent for four days, he suddenly called with a clear voice upon his departed son to attend his dying father to the world of spirits.
• 49:49
  And then he passed.
• 49:51
  He died on the second day of August 1811, at the ripe age of 81.
• 49:58
  81.
• 49:59
  Well,
• 50:00
  William Williams.
• 50:01
  Oliver Wolcott, the last of the signers here from Connecticut, right alongside of Williams and Huntington, he's elected in July of 75 to the Congress.
• 50:16
  He doesn't take his place until January of 1776.
• 50:22
  At this time, Connecticut instructions then were to resolve upon measures for defense, security, and preservation of the rights of liberties of the United Colonies.
• 50:36
  And writing to a member of the state assembly, Samuel Lyman on February 3rd, Walcott wrote that common sense operates pretty well, but all men have not common sense.
• 50:49
  I believe he was writing in reference to Payne's work, Common Sense, because it's at this time in early 1776 that this writing is being disseminated, and people are really getting on board.
• 51:02
  And he said common sense operates pretty well, but all men don't have it.
• 51:08
  This was the very day before a particular letter from one of the moderates in Congress wrote home to his father.
• 51:16
  We we've referred to this letter from Tilgman from time to time.
• 51:20
  In the letter, he indicated that delegate, uh delegates from Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Virginia hang very much together and are what we call violent.
• 51:33
  So Connecticut is listed here amongst the violence.
• 51:43
  By the way, uh, alongside of uh Sherman, Samuel Chase, John Adams, and George Wyfe, and Edward Rutledge.
• 51:52
  Walcott is one of the members who spoke out against a move that would publish a statement from Congress, in which Congress declared or would be declaring that the sentiment of Congress was to continue independency in Great Britain.
• 52:10
  And these guys were against that.
• 52:12
  They're like, no, Congress doesn't need to make that statement that we want to be dependent.
• 52:16
  Walcott, of course, has right alongside um Roger Sherman and uh John Adams here.
• 52:24
  A month later, Walcott wrote to Andrew Adams, stating that the world um the world we shall not covet, but so much of America as may be needful for us.
• 52:40
  I hope we shall enjoy without any earthly control.
• 52:45
  Some people will still please themselves with the uh delusive phantom of commissioners coming over, meaning that group that was supposed to come over from England that would have a treaty in mind.
• 52:58
  Uh that phantom of commissioners coming over with the proffers of peace.
• 53:03
  But I believe it is very certain they have nothing in their hands but pardons for rebels.
• 53:10
  Uh the British court mean only to have America under their feet.
• 53:14
  The important crisis, which must stamp the character of America, must be near, and I do not perceive that its approach produces but very few sad faces.
• 53:28
  Uh the few sad faces were very vigorous individuals in opposing you know John Adams and his government motion, which was finally passed on May 15th, which called for uh the the colonies to uh form new new governments.
• 53:48
  Walcott wrote about it the next day on the 16th.
• 53:51
  He said, the news is enclosed, a revolution in government.
• 53:56
  You will perceive it about to take effect.
• 54:00
  And uh the day the Lee motion was postponed until July, uh Walcott wrote that he felt that everything is tending to the lasting independency of these colonies.
• 54:11
  By the blessing of God, I enjoy health.
• 54:14
  Uh, but illness caused him to leave Congress the end of June.
• 54:19
  And on July 1st, he was in New York and reached its Connecticut home on the fourth.
• 54:25
  So he was not there for the vote.
• 54:28
  Uh, it would have been Williams and Roger Sherman and Samuel Huntington carrying the vote.
• 54:35
  Um during the celebration.
• 54:38
  This is this is the the funny part right here.
• 54:41
  During the celebration in New York, when the Declaration of Independence was announced, the equestrian statue of George III uh was melted down.
• 54:52
  Solid lead gilded with gold is what they they called it.
• 54:57
  Solid lead gilded with gold on bowling green.
• 55:00
  It's pulled down.
• 55:01
  And one of Wolcott's letters tells that the statue was broken in pieces and the metal transported to Lichfield as a place of safety.
• 55:11
  And in the rear of Walcott's house there, uh in Lichfield, the ladies of the village converted the lead into cartridges for the army.
• 55:21
  And what Wolcott's own family helped, and and Wolcott kept score.
• 55:27
  10,790 was the score for Mary Ann.
• 55:31
  That's his 11-year-old daughter.
• 55:33
  Uh, she later marries a senator, Chauncey Goodridge.
• 55:38
  And Frederick, his son, not yet nine, made 936 bullets.
• 55:44
  There seems to have been no official proclamation of the declaration in Connecticut in the minutes of the Council for Safety for July 11.
• 55:53
  William Williams, the delegate to Congress, recorded that Congress declaration of independence he received in a letter from Colonel Trumbull to me.
• 56:04
  And then a little later, Williams was chosen to get up there to Philadelphia because Walcott was uh was sick.
• 56:12
  So Williams actually was not uh there for the vote either.
• 56:16
  But he does get to sign the declaration, both he and Walcott signed the declaration.
• 56:20
  I think it's hilarious though, that Walcott, uh, while he's not in Congress, he's home melting down the solid lead gilded with gold statue of George III, and his kids are keeping score while they make bullets.
• 56:34
  All right, my friends, that is it.
• 56:36
  That is the delegates from Connecticut.
• 56:39
  We love history around here, and we love talking about the stalwarts.
• 56:43
  All right, thank you for joining me for history class.
• 56:46
  Encourage your friends and family to get on the dean's list.
• 56:49
  Let's unite to renovate the age.