Our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor

Perhaps the most powerful words in the Declaration

Hawkeye1972

Sep 16, 2026

A painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence by John Trumbull — The Declaration of Independence by John Trumbull (1818)

Most of us can recite a phrase or two from the Declaration of Independence - “self-evident truths,” perhaps, or “all men created equal” and “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” But the sentence that may matter most today is the closing sentence we rarely think about:

“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”

It’s worth a ponder.

The 56 men who signed it - men, all of them, in 1776 - weren’t being rhetorical. Their signatures amounted to an arrest list if the rebellion failed. Their lives and fortunes were genuinely at risk. Their honor was one thing no one could take from them.

To borrow from another great composition from our history, “Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.” Of course, the Gettysburg Address.

It’s not a civil war yet, but the stakes are high.

We are asked occasionally why we’re spending so much time writing a free Substack about the enablers of the Trump administration. What about the risks, the friendships that may fray, the comments we endure from the Russian bots and MAGA faithful?

Well, it’s this: If this current move toward authoritarianism continues, we won’t have to tell our children that we watched and did nothing.

There were 27 grievances against King George listed in the Declaration. Consider this incomplete list of what’s in front of us right now:

Members of Congress talking about a third term for their leader and putting his face on the currency.
Cabinet members insisting, with straight faces, that USAID’s collapse carries no real consequences.
A Secretary of Defense mismanaging the country’s largest employer, squandering lives and treasure, trading readiness for performative bravado.
National Guard troops deployed against American cities over the objections of their own mayors and governors.
A Justice Department pursuing political opponents while gaslighting about “weaponization” of justice under prior administrations.
An administration found to have defied federal court orders dozens of times.
Threats to pull broadcast licenses from news networks whose coverage the President doesn’t like.
A movement using religion as a weapon against fellow citizens, from LGBTQ rights to abortion access.
A strategy of suppressing opposing votes instead of winning the argument.
The promotion of unqualified loyalists to positions of power, squandering both military readiness and public funds.
A Republican Congress content to look away.

56 men signed the Declaration of Independence. Here’s a question we might ask ourselves today: “Would we have signed, knowing it could become an arrest list?”

What are we each doing, day to day, to help end the madness?

Quislings@Substack is one of many efforts like it across Substack and elsewhere, and the risk any of us is taking is nothing next to that taken by those who signed the Declaration.

The appeal is a simple one. Voice your opinions - with courtesy and respect, even to people you expect will disagree with you. Share opinion and fact-based writing, from this Substack or any others you trust. And if the midterms are subverted, be prepared to show up in protest.

If you have an extra few minutes some days, that’s enough. Our pieces aren’t breaking news, so they hold up if you want to peruse the index later and pass a few along - and there are plenty of other sharp writers on Substack worth reading and sharing too.

Sharing costs practically nothing. But it still sends a message: that we’re part of the majority in America that is appalled by this slide toward authoritarianism.