Page 115 - JM Book 9/2020

his officers were standing. Alexander Hamilton reached up and handed Washington the Declaration.
Washington positioned Nelson in front of his army. His voice rang loud as he read America’s Declaration of Independence to the multitude of men.
A stunned silence continued after the reading. Suddenly, thousands of excited voices broke out in shouts of “HUZZAH! . . . HUZZAH! . . . HUZZAH! . . . HUZZAH!”
Washington proudly watched his men celebrate. “This Declaration of Independence,” he thought, “confirms what each man knows in his own heart and mind – that we are fighting for independence, for a new country, for our families and for our future. The Declaration of Independence justifies and vindicates all the sacrifices that have been made – all the lives that have been lost, and all the lives that will be lost before our final victory is won. Despite the sacrifices, these brave men know that our cause is just and necessary. They will continue to fight to make the words of the Declaration of Independence a reality.”
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Later that day, a small group of patriots destroyed a bronze statue of King George III. The statue was located on Bowling Green, New York City’s first public park. Erected in 1770, it showed the king mounted on a horse. The broken pieces of the statue were sent to Connecticut where munitions makers melted the fragments and made 42,000 musket balls.
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