HANG TOGETHER
Though some doubt has been cast on the authenticity of the following story, here’s the way it goes: At the signing of the first draft of the Declaration of Independence John Hancock, one of the signatories, observed, “We must be unanimous, we must all hang together.” Benjamin Franklin replied, “We must indeed all hang together — or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.” Authentic or not, the story certainly reflects a truth as our founding fathers faced great personal loss in committing themselves to the Declaration of Independence. Adapted from The Little Brown Book of Anecdotes, Clifton Fadiman, Ed.
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