Common Man Determines History
Joan Nagy

The most underestimated element in history is the role played by the common man. The fate of a nation will always rest on the shoulders of the common man. It is the quality of the common man's character that will ultimately save or condemn his nation. The irony of the question "What can one person do?" needs to be examined.

When reading about our country's founding citizens, one cannot help notice how differently they wove the tapestry of their lives. Two hundred years ago common men pursued life with a selfless priority that lent itself to noble choices. They lived in physically harsher times that compelled a stronger reliance on God. They placed an equally high priority on knowledge and wisdom. They felt a sense of duty to their country and fellow citizens that was larger than their personal existence.

If happiness or good fortune happened to join them on their life's journey, well then all the better, but it never seemed to be the driving force behind the choices they made for their lives. Our founders wore the unique tapestry of rugged individualism and found satisfaction in enduring personal sacrifice while striving for a greater common good.

Modern man's driving force and top priority seems to be the pursuit of happiness and the avoidance of pain. Today's common man relies less on God and more on science and technology. He puts his faith in the certitude that freedom is an imperishable property, so he feels justified in putting himself and his personal comforts above what would be deemed best for the country. He then adopts a liberal, moral and political philosophy so he can imply a feeling of noblesse oblige toward his fellow man. Love, acceptance, and approval at all times, and from all quarters seems to be a necessity for the eggshell ego of modern man. Modern man wears the cotton-polyester washable fabric of virtue from off the rack, and he is happy to fall in line behind all the rest.

During our country's Revolutionary times, the citizens had the benefit of a group of uncommonly brave and wise leaders: Washington, Jefferson, Henry, Hamilton, Adams, Franklin, etc. However, a handful of the wisest leaders can only suggest a path the country should trod. It is always the common man who must rise to greatness and recognize the wisdom or the folly of their arguments. It is always the common man who provides the action and sacrifice needed for change.

One such common man in 1776 was John Morton. He was a member of the two-man delegation from Pennsylvania that voted for independence on July 2, 1776.

Morton's great-grandfather emigrated from Scandinavia in 1654. John Morton was born in Delaware County in 1724. Unlike many early arrivals to America, the Mortons did not prosper; and when John's father died when John was young, it left his family very poor. When John's mother remarried, his stepfather was a surveyor, and John learned this profession.

John Morton worked hard and was recognized as a young man of good common sense and firm convictions. He was selected to be a justice of the peace, a post of great prestige and authority most often held by a person of high social breeding. Morton rose steadily in society until he was appointed an associate justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. It was in a time when judges relied on their common sense and not a knowledge of the labyrinth of legal loopholes.

Morton lived in a section of the colony that remained strongly loyal to the British crown. Because of this he was pulled toward moderation in the Revolutionary controversy. His honors in life came through the support of the legitimate authority of law. So it was much more difficult for him to throw off his loyalty to Great Britain on a rebel cause that was supported by independently wealthy citizens with whom he had little in common.

Morton worked his way up the ranks of public service and was sent to the Second Continental Congress to vote in opposition to independence. However, He understood his role was to provide leadership for his constituencies. He attended the Congress, listened to the arguments and weighed their consequences.

He was deeply religious, and after an enormous struggle with his conscience he changed his vote. At great personal sacrifice to himself, Morton, on July 1, 1776, willingly voted to sign the Declaration, forever freeing America from a monarch's rule.

When he returned home he was ostracized by his family, friends and associates who remained loyal Tories. He was a sensitive and conscientious man who was deeply hurt by this rejection. Contemporary accounts attribute this rejection for the hastened failure of his health and the cause of his death after falling ill in early 1777. He was the first signer to die.

Morton's last words indicated that he still missed the family and friends who continued to reject him. "Tell them," he said, "Tell them that they will live to see the hour when they shall acknowledge it [the signing] to have been the most glorious service that I ever rendered to my country."

The collective importance of the common man still holds true; however, obtaining stoic leadership and sound judgment among common men during modern times may be, unfortunately, a rare find.