Quick Ben, Gimme a Phrase!
Author: Donald L. Hafner	Date Published: Oct 2003
On June 11, 1776, the Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia appointed a five-man committee to draft the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman of Rhode Island, and Robert Livingston of New York were its members. The opening sentence of the Declaration they produced contains the assertion that Americans were claiming the independence “to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them.” A nice turn of phrase. Where did it come from? Well, consider this. In 1747, The Maryland Gazette carried the text of a speech identified as having been made before a magistrate in Connecticut by one Polly Baker, an unwed woman with five illegitimate children, each by a different man. When called to account for her behavior, Polly delivered her speech to the court, asserting that she was only obeying the “great command of Nature, and of Nature’s God.” The speech caused quite a literary sensation and was hailed as an early feminist proclamation. So what has all this to do with the Declaration of Independence? Well, Polly Baker’s speech was a hoax. The Gazette article had in fact been written by Benjamin Franklin. Perhaps, with a twinkle in his eye thirty years later, he suggested the phrase to Thomas Jefferson?
About the Author: Donald L. Hafner is Drum Major of the Lincoln Minute Men. When he is not serving as a fifer in the ranks of the Minute Men, he is a Professor of Political Science at Boston College. His scholarly work has been principally in the fields of arms control and U.S. foreign policy.