“When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
Those words, penned by our nation’s forefathers in a Pennsylvania meeting hall 240 years ago, rang loud and clear Saturday afternoon through the fort at Sycamore Shoals State Historic Park.
When the Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia it marked the official beginning of the colonies’ revolt against English rule. But, here in what would later become Northeast Tennessee the settlers on the frontier were already rebelling against King George by the act of living on this side of the mountain range. They had already moved out of British territory in defiance of the Proclamation of 1763 which prohibited the settling of land west of the mountains and granted the authority to make land treaties with the Cherokee solely to the British government.
While the colonies banded together as a fledgling nation and declared their independence from the crown on July 4, 1776, Sycamore Shoals State Park Historic Interpreter Chad Bogart said it probably would have been sometime in August before word of the Declaration of Independence would reach the settlers of the Watauga Association. In the time in between — during the month of July 1776 — the settlers endured an eight-day long siege at the hand of approximately 300 Cherokee warriors. The settlers took refuge at the farm of Matthew Talbot, which had been fortified by constructing palisade walls between the farm buildings.
When word finally reached the settlers of the Declaration of Independence some rejoiced at the birth of a new nation, while others remained loyal to the British crown.
To celebrate Independence, Sycamore Shoals State Historic Park held a two-day event this year to pay tribute to the settlers who were living on the frontier when the United States was born.
The highlight of the celebration was a special reading of the Declaration of Independence on Saturday afternoon by Bogart. Dozens of park visitors and historic re-enactors with the Watauga Regiment of the North Carolina Militia gathered around Bogart in the center of the fort as he read aloud the words penned so many years ago. Members of the militia also provided free copies of the Declaration of Independence to park visitors.
Throughout the weekend, re-enactors, historic interpreters and park staff were on hand to provide a variety of programs and entertainment for park visitors — such as traditional arts and skills demonstrations, militia drills, colonial games and music.