And the We mutually pledge.

Americans, you remember the Cherry Tree story a long time after you forget the more earth-shaking history-making episodes in the life of George Washington. You have misplaced in your memory the details of Ben Franklin's

statesmanship, but you remember his flying a kite.

Joyce Kilmer was a great military hero, but the only thing you personally recall about him

is his poetic tribute to trees. Maybe of this current decade, that which will be best remembered will not be its wars and its jet

planes or its giants who lived and died. Maybe all that will survive to linger in the day-by-day

vocabulary of generations yet unborn will be a song about a

tenancy frontiersman or the incident at the window that night a speck of dust

blew in and penicillin was discovered. But for any 4th of July, I Paul Harvey do hereby bequeathe unto you something to remember.

You may not be able to quote one line from the Declaration of Independence at this moment.

Henceforth you will always be able to quote at least one line.

It's in the last paragraph where you will recall when I remind you, it says, we mutually

pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. You recognize those impressive words, but you don't understand them until you know the rest of the story.

So here goes.

In the Pennsylvania State House, what's now called Independence Hall in Philadelphia,

the best men from each of the

colonies sat down together. This was a fortunate hour in our nation's history, one of

those rare occasions in the lives of men when we had greatness to spare.

These were men of means, well educated.

24 were lawyers and jurists.

11 were merchants.

Nine were farmers and owners of large plantations.

...