On this day in 1776 (well, not really, but this post isn’t meant to be a History lesson) 56 brave men signed a formal declaration of treason. Not quite how the History books teach it, is it? From this side of history, it’s hard to see it that way. We celebrate today as the anniversary of the day we became a separate country. But, that’s not actually how it happened at all. The war was nowhere near over. America was nowhere near being its own country. At that point in history, the Declaration of Independence was essentially 56 men telling their own king to go fuck himself.

Consider if the American Revolution had gone differently. Consider if the Colonies had lost that war. Here were 56 men who signed a document calling their king a tyrant. And, remember that at the time that that document was written and signed he WAS still their king. They were still British citizens at that point. And had they lost the war, they would have stayed that way. Consider for a minute what would have happened to those men. It is hardly a stretch to think that they would have been formally charged with treason. And with their own signatures as evidence, they would have been convicted.

This may sound a bit far-fetched, but one of the crimes that were considered high treason was levying war against the king in his own realm. Considering that the Declaration of Independence was also a declaration of war (despite the war having already started, History is complicated), it certainly fit the definition. And, according to Wikipedia the penalty for high treason at that time was horrific. I won’t get into it. You’d probably lose your lunch if I did.

And they would have known that. They would have known what would happen to them if they lost.

Tonight, we’ll set off fireworks, and we’ll celebrate the anniversary of a date that isn’t actually as significant as we think. The war had started over a year ago, with the battles of Lexington and Concord. America wouldn’t actually become a separate country until September of 1783. Today isn’t even the anniversary of the day the American Revolution became a war of secession. That happened on July 2. Today is the day the Declaration itself was ratified.

So, while you’re setting off your fireworks, tonight. Remember that what we are celebrating tonight was an act of high treason, punishable by death. Remember those 56 men who were risking their lives just by signing that document. Remember that we are who we are because they were willing to die for what they believed in.

Remember them:

John Hancock (president of the Continental Congress), Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry, Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery, Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott, William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris, Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark, Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross, Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean, Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton, William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn, Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton, Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, and George Walton.