If Caesar Rodney Had Not Made His
Heroic Ride, Americans Might Not Now
Be Celebrating the Fourth of July!
By ELMO SCOTT WATSON
(Released by Western Newspaper Union.>
HANKS to the poets, the
story of the rides of Paul
* Revere and Gen. Phil
Sheridan are an imperish
able part of American tradi
tion, But, so far, no bard has
sung of the heroic ride of
Caesar Rodney—at least,
none has given us a poem
about it so familiar as those
of Henry W. Longfellow and
Thomas Buchanan Read.
Yet here is truly an epic
theme — the story of how
death rode in the saddle with
this heroic horseman and how
history might have been
changed if he had failed in his
mission. The events leading
up to Caesar Rodney’s ride
were these:
On June 7, 1776, a resolution
introduced by Richard Henry Lee
of Virginia in the Continental con
gress, declaring that ‘‘these Unit
ed Colonies are, and of right
ought to be, free and independ
ent States,” was accepted in a
committee of the whole by repre
sentatives of seven of the colo
nies—a bare m^ority of one. If
this revolutionary step of sever
ing the ties which bound the coi
onies to the Mother Country was
to be taken successfully, there
must be greater unanimity among
them. So the leaders in the move
for independence set about to win
over those who hesitated to take
such a radical step.
Jonathan D. Sargent hurried
across the Delaware river into
New Jersey where delegates
were being chosen and succeeded
in securing the election of men
pledged to independence. A few
days later the Maryland conven
tion, which had previously been
opposed to the idea of declaring
for independence, reversed its po
sition and adopted resolutions in
structing its delegates to vote for
the Lee resolution. Next South
Carolina was won over, as was
Pennsylvania, although its dele
gation was split on the issue. The
delegates from New York, though
personally in favor of independ
ence, could not vote for it until
receiving approval from the con
vention in their colony, though it
was certain that such approval
would be forthcoming.
A Divided Delegation.
There now remained only the
vote of Delaware to make the
decision of the Thirteen Colonies
unanimous. She had three dele
gates to the congress—Thomas
McKean, George Read and Cae
sar Rodney. McKean was one of
the most outspoken advocates of
independence but Read, influ
enced by John Dickinson of Penn
sylvania, was opposed to declar
ing for freedom at this time. This
left the deciding vote in the Del
aware delegation to Rodney, who
was also speaker of the Dela
ware assembly and had returned
to Dover to preside over it.
On July 1 the Lee resolution
came up for discussion and all
during that day and far into the
next the momentous decision was
the subject of a hot debate. Late
in the afternoon of July 2 it was
put to a vote. Eleven of the col
onies, by the votes of the ma
jority of their delegates, cast
their ballots in favor of independ
ence. The votes of two—New
York and Delaware—were not re
corded.
If such a decisive step were
to be taken, it must be unani
mous, else the results might be
disastrous. Meanwhile a com
mittee headed by Thomas Jeffer
son was drafting a Declaration
of Independence, and Thomas
McKean was making an impor
tant decision. He knew that Rod
ney was also in favor of inde
pendence and if he were brought
to Philadelphia he could break
the deadlock in the vote of the
Delaware delegation.
At his own expense he hired a
messenger and sent him speeding
to Dover to explain the situation
to Rodney and urge him to come j
to Philadelphia at once. It was
nearly midnight of July 1 when
the messenger started for Dover
80 miles away and he did not
arrive there until 24 hours later.
Rodney was at his home a few
miles further on, so it was not
until the early morning hours of
July 3 that he was aroused from
sleep and given McKean’s mes
sage. At daybreak, mounted on
the strongest horse in his stable,
Rodney was on his way to Phila
delphia.
For years Rodney had suffered
with a cancer on his face. Be
fore the opening of the Revolu
tion he had been urged to go to
England in search of relief from
the dread disease, but his sense
.of duty to his colony in the trou
bled times ahead kept him in
America. In a letter to his sis
ter he described his case as “tru
Jy dangerous, and what will be
the event God only knows; I still
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