It’s August 2, 1776, the day most delegates to the Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence that was adopted on July 4th.
Would you have signed?
In Independence Hall, John Hancock led with his bold signature. Eventually, 56 men affixed their names. Men of property, learning, and standing, they all knew the risks. High treason was punishable by hanging, drawing and quartering. The hall was solemn. Benjamin Franklin captured the moment: “We must indeed all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.”
Though the Declaration was drafted on July 4, the delegates did convene for signature until August 2, 1776. Getty Images
They were right to fear. The signers paid dearly. Five were captured by the British. Even wives and families faced imprisonment, torture, and death. Some fled, others lost their estates funding the war. A third — including all four from New York — saw their homes confiscated, pillaged, or burned to the ground. Long Island’s Francis Lewis was ruined financially and died poor; his wife endured brutal imprisonment and died soon after release.
Yet they signed in 1776, pledging their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor to the radical proposition that governments derive just powers from the consent of the governed.
Multiple schools in New York are named in honor of Francis Lewis, whose home was destroyed by the Brits after the Battle of Long Island in 1776. Sepia Times/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Two hundred fifty years later, as America250’s tall ships filled New York Harbor and record fireworks lit the skies, the question still echoes. 2024 Gallup International data show that only 41% of Americans say they’d be willing to fight for their country in war, down sharply from 68.5% in the 1981 World Values Survey. The share of Americans extremely proud of the country has similarly plummeted, from 70% in 2003 to recent lows of 33%.
What happened?
Too many today see America not as a precious endowment of liberties and rights worth defending, but as a vending machine dispensing entitlements and comforts, whose origins have been reframed through identity politics. The idea of America has been hijacked by cynics who exploit division and peddle free goodies to erode the covenant of self-government. People will die for a shining city on a hill. Who would die for an ATM?
Surveys predictably report that the young have the lowest pride in and willingness to fight for America. Shaped by failing schools and weakened families, many are more fragile, fearful, petulant, and dependent than past generations.
Benjamin Franklin conducted his kite experiment in 1752. It led to significant advances in our understanding of electricity. Bettmann Archive
But it’s not just the kids. An entire ecosystem of careerist politicians, experts, media elites, and nonprofits has created a lucrative business out of cultivating neediness, resentment, redistribution and bottomless entitlements.
Consider the math: Automatic Federal social entitlement spending now devours roughly 60% of the entire federal budget, up from just 26% in 1969. Local governments, the grievance and victimhood industries, and the social services and nonprofit industrial complexes have all expanded in tandem.
When a country is seen only as a provider of material benefits — rather than a guardian of enduring principles and a covenant among free, self-governing citizens — it will be abandoned the moment payouts slow.
What binds a nation? Many are bound by blood or land. America, though, was founded on abstract principles — self-government, equality under the law, individual rights, and merit. The Declaration’s vision, refined by the Constitution and successive generations, still draws people from every corner of the globe precisely because it transcends origin. What matters is embracing the responsibilities of freedom.
Chinese Americans served largely in integrated units, although members of the 14th Air Service Group — the “Flying Tigers” — were segregated. AP
Immigrants have repeatedly answered that call with blood. Irish Americans filled Union ranks in the Civil War, suffering horrific casualties to preserve their newly adopted homeland. In World War II, Japanese, German and Italian Americans served valiantly — even as some had relatives in domestic detention camps or relatives in the Axis powers.
Nearly 20% of the entire Chinese American population served bravely in the US military then, despite the Chinese Exclusion Act being in effect until 1943.
Their loyalty was forged from shared values and earned sacrifice, not government largesse. The same holds today. Immigrants arriving to embrace American ideals strengthen the nation.
Getty Images
Let us take decisive steps to renew our commitment to these principles. Teach the true history of hard-won freedom. Demand leaders who call us to responsibility, not resentment. Restore merit, high standards, individual rights, risk-taking, and the drive to build greatness. Above all, restore courage and honor.
The city on a hill exists only through our daily commitment—in our homes, schools, and communities. Each of us must ask: Would I have signed?
The signers risked everything so we wouldn’t have to. Let us prove worthy of their sacrifice.
Wai Wah Chin is the founding president of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance Greater New York and an adjunct fellow of the Manhattan Institute.
