Welcome to Neut's World Podcast on the IHeart Podcast Network.

For the 4th of July itself, I wanted to do something special and something which would bring together why we celebrate so deeply the signing of the Declaration of the Declaration

and I probably feel it a little more personally than some people because I was born

in Harrisburg and my relatives when I was young would routinely take me down to Philadelphia

and you'd be right there, and you would see

where these people had come together, the courage they'd had.

And frankly, even today, I'm astounded both at their universal wisdom and what they wrote and how they framed it, but also their

personal courage. These 56 people are getting together, knowing that they are about to take

on the most powerful empire in the world,

and, to paraphrase Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms,

they can do no other.

They have found themselves in a place where, given who they are

and what they believe.

They have to risk everything.

So join me in this extraordinary day of history.

Imagine Philadelphia, the summer of 1776. Hot, no air conditioning, of course. People are really worried about

what's going on. Inside the Pennsylvania State House, that's the plain brick building, the

we call Independence Hall. The windows are shut tight against eavesdroppers, even as the

heat turns the place into an oven. So they're sitting here sweating. There are flies swarming around

them. And of course, back then as a matter of style, they're wearing wool coats. Fifty-six delegates,

the Second Continental Congress, they're sitting there and they realize they are at a moment in history. This is a crossroads. If they do what they're

about to, they're in a new world,

...