T5626-We Must All Hang Together… - Benjamin Franklin

“We Must All Hang Together…”
At 70 years old, Benjamin Franklin was the oldest signer of the Declaration of Independence—and among the wisest. A printer, inventor, diplomat, and philosopher, Franklin had already shaped the colonies with his wit and brilliance long before 1776. He had flown a kite into a storm to unlock the secrets of electricity and built a printing empire that educated generations. But signing the Declaration was his boldest act. Fully aware it could mean the gallows, he famously quipped, “We must all hang together, or we shall most assuredly hang separately.” Franklin helped edit Jefferson’s prose, unify a divided Congress, and later secured France’s crucial support for the war. He knew revolutions required more than bold ideas—they demanded bold unity. His legacy is etched in every institution he touched. His warning still holds: what was hard-won remains fragile. Guard it well. His work is done—the future is yours.

Categories: American History