Just days after the nation celebrates its 250th year, the Pensacola chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution will march in colonial period costume ringing bells and urging onlookers to follow them as they make their way to Plaza Ferdinand to read aloud the Declaration of Independence.
Jan Beck, regent of the Pensacola chapter, said the group hopes to “replicate the reading that happened 250 years ago in Philadelphia.” Similar readings probably took place in other towns and burgs, cities and hamlets in the freshly minted United States in 1776 as the new citizens of a new nation celebrated their independence.
Not in Florida though. Not in Pensacola, which was still enemy territory, controlled by the British from 1763 through 1781. Spanish forces, allied with the U.S. in fighting against the British during the American Revolutionary War, seized Pensacola from the British in 1781. The young United States would take control of Florida in 1821 and in 1845 Florida became the United States’ 27th state.
So no, there were probably some groans in Pensacola when the news of United States independence arrived in the city, which was firmly loyal to the British Crown.
“The news was probably not well received here,” Beck said. “In different places, people would be cheering, but here they were loyalists and were probably more worried than excited.”
She thought about it later, then added “You would have young men eager for a fight, grandmothers praying for everything to remain as it was; people who did business with the British against the Declaration. People taken advantage of by the British eager to see them pay for their abuse. I’ve found most people’s opinions are local. Not much different than today.”
The Declaration of Independence was adopted unanimously by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, in Philadelphia and was published in the Pennsylvania Evening Post on July 6, with the first formal public reading taking place on July 8 in three different cities, Philadelphia and Easton, both in Pennsylvania, and in Trenton, New Jersey.
Beck, a descendant of both American patriots and British loyalists, said she expects about 10 to 12 local women, all members of the Daughters of the American Revolution, to meet at Old Christ Church, 405 S. Adams St. across from Seville Square. Around 9:30 a.m., the women will march west on Church Street to Plaza Ferdinand, just a six-minute walk away. Along the way, chapter members will ring a bell and try to rally passersby to march with them to the plaza for the reading. Different members of the Daughters of the American Revolution chapter will recite different parts of the Declaration.
The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in 1890 in Washington, D.C., where the national headquarters remain today. Members are descendants of American Revolution heroes and patriots, some who served in military and militia roles, others who were simple farmers and business folk who assisted the Revolutionary cause. There are more than 200 members of the local chapter.
For more information on the local DAR chapter go to pensacoladar.org.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola to celebrate 250th with Declaration of Independence reading
Reporting by Troy Moon, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Troy Moon, Pensacola News Journal | USA TODAY Network
