TOWARDS

INDEPENDENCE, 1776-1783

CHAPTER 1

THE DECLARATION: A HISTORY• NATIONS COME INTO EXISTENCE IN MANY WAYS – MILITARY REBELLION, CIVIL STRIFE,

ACTS OF HEROISM, ACTS OF TREACHERY, A THOUSAND GREATER AND LESSER CLASHES BETWEEN DEFENDERS OF THE OLD ORDER AND SUPPORTERS OF THE NEW.

• ALL OF THESE OCCURRENCES AND MORE HAVE MARKED THE EMERGENCES OF NEW NATIONS, LARGE AND SMALL.

• THE BIRTH OF OUR NATION INCLUDED THEM ALL.

• THAT BIRTH WAS UNIQUE, NOT ONLY IN THE EXTENT OF ITS LATER IMPACT ON THE COURSE OF WORLD HISTORY AND THE GROWTH OF DEMOCRACY, BUT ALSO BECAUSE SO MANY OF THE THREADS IN OUR NATIONAL HISTORY RUN BACK THROUGH TIME TO COME TOGETHER IN ONE PLACE, IN ONE TIME, AND IN ONE DOCUMENT: THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.

MOVING TOWARD INDEPENDENCE• THE CLEAREST CALL FOR INDEPENDENCE UP TO THE SUMMER OF 1776 CAME IN PHILADELPHIA ON

JUNE 7.

• ON THAT DATE IN SESSION IN THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE HOUSE (LATER INDEPENDENCE HALL), THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS HEARD RICHARD HENRY LEE OF VIRGINIA READ HIS RESOLUTION BEGINNING:

• “RESOLVED: THAT THESE UNITED COLONIES ARE, AND OF RIGHT OUGHT TO BE, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES, THAT THEY ARE ABSOLVED FROM ALL ALLEGIANCE TO THE BRITISH CROWN, AND THAT ALL POLITICAL CONNECTION BETWEEN THEM AND THE STATE OF GREAT BRITAIN IS, AND OUGHT TO BE, TOTALLY DISSOLVED.”

• THERE WERE STILL SOME DELEGATES, HOWEVER, WHO WISHED TO PURSUE THE PATH OF RECONCILIATION WITH BRITAIN.

INDEPENDENCE HALL

RICHARD HENRY LEE

INTERESTING FACTS• LEE WAS ELECTED THE SIXTH PRESIDENT OF

CONGRESS UNDER THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION (NOVEMBER 30,1784-NOVEMBER 23, 1785).

• HE LATER SERVED AS A UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM VIRGINIA DURING GEORGE WASHINGTON’S FIRST TERM AS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (MARCH 4, 1789-OCTOBER 8, 1792).

MOVING TOWARD INDEPENDENCE• ON JUNE 11, CONSIDERATION OF THE LEE RESOLUTION WAS POSTPONED BY

A VOTE OF SEVEN COLONIES TO FIVE, WITH NEW YORK ABSTAINING.

• CONGRESSED THEN RECESSED FOR THREE WEEKS.

• THE TONE OF THE DEBATE INDICATED THAT AT THE END OF THAT TIME, THE LEE RESOLUTION WOULD BE ADOPTED.

• BEFORE CONGRESS RECESSED, THEREFORE, A COMMITTEE OF FIVE WAS APPOINTED TO DRAFT A STATEMENT PRESENTING TO THE WORLD THE COLONIES’ CASE FOR INDEPENDENCE.

THE COMMITTEE OF FIVE

• THE COMMITTEE CONSISTED OF TWO NEW ENGLAND MEN, TWO MEN FROM THE MIDDLE COLONIES, AND ONE SOUTHERNER:

• JOHN ADAMS OF MASSACHUSETTS

• ROGER SHERMAN OF CONNECTICUT

• BENJAMIN FRANKLIN OF PENNSYLVANIA

• ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON OF NEW YORK

• THOMAS JEFFERSON OF VIRGINIA

THE COMMITTEE OF FIVE

THE COMMITTEE OF FIVE• IN 1823, JEFFERSON WROTE THAT THE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE:

• “UNANIMOUSLY PRESSED ON MYSELF ALONE TO UNDERTAKE THE DRAUGHT. I CONSENTED; I DREW IT; BUT BEFORE I REPORTED IT TO THE COMMITTEE I COMMUNICATED IT SEPARATELY TO DR. FRANKLIN AND MR. ADAMS REQUESTING THEIR CORRECTION… I THEN WROTE A FAIR COPY, REPORTED IT TO THE COMMITTEE, AND FROM THEM, UNALTERED TO THE CONGRESS.”

• JEFFERSON’S “FAIR COPY,” INCORPORATING THE CHANGES MADE BY FRANKLIN AND ADAMS, DID NOT SURVIVE.

• JEFFERSON’S ROUGH DRAFT, HOWEVER, WITH CHANGES MADE BY FRANKLIN AND ADAMS, AS WELL AS JEFFERSON’S OWN NOTES OF CHANGES BY THE CONGRESS, IS HOUSED AT THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.

“ORIGINAL ROUGH DRAUGHT”

THE COMMITTEE OF FIVE• ON JULY 1, CONGRESS RECONVENED AND ON THE FOLLOWING DAY, THE LEE RESOLUTION FOR

INDEPENDENCE WAS ADOPTED BY TWELVE OF THE THIRTEEN COLONIES, NEW YORK ABSTAINING ONCE AGAIN.

• IMMEDIATELY AFTERWARD, CONGRESS BEGAN TO CONSIDER THE DECLARATION.

• ADAMS AND FRANKLIN HAD MADE ONLY A FEW CHANGES BEFORE THE COMMITTEE SUBMITTED THE DOCUMENT.

• THE DISCUSSION IN CONGRESS RESULTED IN SOME ALTERATIONS AND DELETIONS, BUT THE BASIC DOCUMENT REMAINED JEFFERSON’S.

• THE PROCESS OF REVISION CONTINUED THROUGH ALL OF JULY 3 AND INTO THE LATE MORNING OF JULY 4 WHEN, AT LAST, CHURCH BELLS RANG OUT OVER PHILADELPHIA; THE DECLARATION HAD BEEN OFFICIALLY ADOPTED.

THE COMMITTEE OF FIVE• THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE IS MADE UP OF FIVE DISTINCT PARTS:

• THE INTRODUCTION – STATES THAT THIS DOCUMENT WILL “DECLARE” THE “CAUSES” THAT HAVE MADE IT NECESSARY FOR THE AMERICAN COLONIES TO LEAVE THE BRITISH EMPIRE.

• THE PREAMBLE – SETS OUT PRINCIPLES THAT WERE ALREADY RECOGNIZED TO BE “SELF-EVIDENT” BY MOST EIGHTEENTH CENTURY ENGLISHMEN.

• THE BODY, SECTION 1 – GIVES EVIDENCE OF THE “LONG TRAIN OF ABUSES AND USURPATIONS” HEAPED UPON THE COLONISTS BY GEORGE III.

• THE BODY, SECTION 2 – STATES THAT THE COLONISTS HAD APPEALED IN VAIN TO THEIR “BRITISH BRETHREN” FOR A REDRESS OF THEIR GRIEVANCES.

• THE CONCLUSION – OFFICIALLY ABSOLVES THE TIES BETWEEN BRITAIN AND THE COLONIES.

COMMITTEE OF FIVE

COMMITTEE OF FIVE

THE COMMITTEE OF FIVE• ALTHOUGH CONGRESS HAD ADOPTED THE DECLARATION SUBMITTED BY THE

COMMITTEE OF FIVE, THE COMMITTEE’S TASK WAS NOT YET COMPLETED.

• CONGRESS HAD ALSO DIRECTED THAT THE COMMITTEE SUPERVISE THE PRINTING OF THE ADOPTED DOCUMENT.

• THE FIRST PRINTED COPIES OF THE DECLARATION WERE TURNED OUT FROM THE SHOP OF JOHN DUNLAP, OFFICIAL PRINTER TO THE CONGRESS.

• AFTER THE DECLARATION HAD BEEN ADOPTED, THE COMMITTEE TOOK TO DUNLAP THE MANUSCRIPT DOCUMENT, POSSIBLY JEFFERSON’S “FAIR COPY” OF HIS ROUGH DRAFT.

JOHN DUNLAPINTERESTING FACTS

• DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR, DUNLAP WAS COMMISSIONED AS AN OFFICER IN THE FIRST TROOP PHILADELPHIA CITY CAVALRY AND SAW ACTION WITH GENERAL WASHINGTON AT THE BATTLES OF TRENTON AND PRINCETON.

• BY 1795, AT THE AGE OF FORTY-EIGHT, DUNLAP WAS ABLE TO RETIRE WITH A SIZABLE ESTATE; HOWEVER, HE BECAME A DRUNKARD AND DIED A FEW YEARS LATER.

DUNLAP BROADSIDE

THE COMMITTEE OF FIVE• ON THE MORNING OF JULY 5, COPIES WERE DISPATCHED BY MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO

VARIOUS ASSEMBLIES, CONVENTIONS, AND COMMITTEES OF SAFETY AS WELL AS TO THE COMMANDERS OF CONTINENTAL TROOPS.

• ADDITIONALLY, A COPY OF THE PRINTED VERSION OF THE APPROVED DECLARATION WAS INSERTED INTO THE “ROUGH JOURNAL” OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS FOR JULY 4.

• THE TEXT WAS FOLLOWED BY THE WORDS “SIGNED BY ORDER AND IN BEHALF OF THE CONGRESS, JOHN HANCOCK, PRESIDENT. ATTEST. CHARLES THOMSON, SECRETARY.”

• IT IS NOT KNOWN HOW MANY COPIES JOHN DUNLAP PRINTED ON HIS BUSY NIGHT OF JULY 4.

• THESE REPRODUCTIONS ARE COMMONLY REFERRED TO AS “THE DUNLAP BROADSIDES.”

THE ENGROSSED DECLARATION• ON JULY 9, THE ACTION OF CONGRESS WAS OFFICIALLY APPROVED BY THE NEW YORK

CONVENTION.

• ALL THIRTEEN COLONIES HAD NOW SIGNIFIED THEIR APPROVAL.

• ON JULY 19, THEREFORE, CONGRESS WAS ABLE TO ORDER THAT THE DECLARATION BE “FAIRLY ENGROSSED ON PARCHMENT, WITH THE TITLE AND STILE OF ‘THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION OF THE THIRTEEN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA’ AND THAT THE SAME, WHEN ENGROSSED, BE SIGNED BY EVERY MEMBER OF CONGRESS.”

• ENGROSSING IS THE PROCESS OF PREPARING AN OFFICIAL DOCUMENT IN A LARGE, CLEAR HAND.

• TIMOTHY MATLACK WAS PROBABLY THE ENGROSSER OF THE DECLARATION.

TIMOTHY MATLACKINTERESTING FACTS

• ONCE A STRONG CANDIDATE FOR THE QUAKER MINISTRY, MATLACK WAS DISOWNED FOR HIS SINFUL WAYS OF BREWING BEER AND HORSE RACING.

• MATLACK’S PENMANSHIP IN THE DECLARATION AND OTHER HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS OF THE TIME HAS INSPIRED A NUMBER OF MODERN TYPEFACES, OR FONTS, SUCH AS AMERICAN SCRIBE, DECLARATION SCRIPT, AND NATIONAL ARCHIVE.

THE ENGROSSED DECLARATION• MATLACK SET TO WORK WITH PEN, INK, PARCHMENT, AND PRACTICED HAND,

AND FINALLY, ON AUGUST 2, THE JOURNAL OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS RECORDS THAT “THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE BEING ENGROSSED AND COMPARED AT THE TABLE WAS SIGNED.”

• ONE OF THE MOST WIDELY HELD MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT THE DECLARATION IS THAT IT WAS SIGNED ON JULY 4, 1776, BY ALL THE DELEGATES IN ATTENDANCE.

• JOHN HANCOCK, THE PRESIDENT OF THE CONGRESS, WAS THE FIRST TO SIGN THE SHEET OF PARCHMENT MEASURING 24 ½ BY 29 ¾ INCHES.

• HE USED A BOLD SIGNATURE CENTERED BELOW THE TEXT.

JOHN HANCOCKINTERESTING FACTS

• UNLIKE THE PROMINENT FOUNDING FATHERS, LIKE JEFFERSON AND ADAMS, HANCOCK LEFT RELATIVELY FEW PERSONAL WRITINGS FOR HISTORIANS TO USE TO INTERPRET HIS LIFE; THEREFORE, NO FULL-LENGTH BIOGRAPHY APPEARED UNTIL THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.

• HANCOCK IS REMEMBERED FOR HIS LARGE AND STYLISH SIGNATURE ON THE DECLARATION, SO MUCH SO THAT THE TERM “JOHN HANCOCK” HAS BECOME, IN THE UNITED STATES, A SYNONYM FOR SIGNATURE.

THE ENGROSSED DECLARATION

THE ENGROSSED DECLARATION• IN ACCORDANCE WITH PREVAILING CUSTOM, THE OTHER DELEGATES BEGAN TO SIGN AT

THE RIGHT BELOW THE TEXT, THEIR SIGNATURES ARRANGED ACCORDING TO THE GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION OF THE STATES THEY REPRESENTED.

• NEW HAMPSHIRE, THE NORTHERNMOST STATE, BEGAN THE LIST, AND GEORGIA, THE SOUTHERNMOST, ENDED IT.

• A FEW DELEGATES WHO VOTED FOR ADOPTION OF THE DECLARATION ON JULY 4 WERE NEVER ABLE TO SIGN IN SPITE OF THE JULY 19 ORDER OF CONGRESS THAT THE ENGROSSED DOCUMENT “BE SIGNED BY EVERY MEMBER OF CONGRESS.”

• NONSIGNERS INCLUDED JOHN DICKINSON, WHO CLUNG TO THE IDEA OF RECONCILIATION WITH BRITAIN, AND ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON, WHO THOUGHT THE DECLARATION WAS PREMATURE.

10 THINGS YOU DID NOT KNOW ABOUT THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE…

DECLARATION FACT #1• THERE IS SOMETHING WRITTEN ON THE BACK OF THE ORIGINAL, SIGNED

DECLARATION, BUT IT IS NOT INVISIBLE NOR DOES IT INCLUDE A MAP, AS THE DISNEY FEATURE FILM, NATIONAL TREASURE, SUGGESTS.

• THE WRITING ON THE BACK READS “ORIGINAL DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, DATED 4TH JULY 1776” AND IT APPEARS ON THE BOTTOM OF THE DOCUMENT, UPSIDE DOWN.

• NO ONE KNOWS WHO WROTE THIS, BUT HISTORIANS BELIEVE THAT IT WAS ADDED AS A LABEL WHEN THE DOCUMENT WAS ROLLED UP FOR STORAGE MANY YEARS AGO.

DECLARATION FACT #2

• A HANDPRINT APPEARS IN THE BOTTOM LEFT CORNER OF THE DECLARATION.

• THE ORIGINS AND CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE HANDPRINT ARE UNKNOWN.

DECLARATION FACT #3

• OF THE SUPPOSED 200 COPIES PRINTED BY JOHN DUNLAP ON THE NIGHT OF JULY 4, THERE ARE ONLY TWENTY-SIX STILL IN EXISTENCE.

• THE MOST FASCINATING DISCOVERY WAS MADE IN 1989, WHEN A BROADSIDE WAS FOUND IN THE BACK OF A FRAMED PICTURE PURCHASED AT A YARD SALE IN ADAMSTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA FOR $4.00 – IT WAS SOLD IN 2000 FOR $8.14 MILLION.

DECLARATION FACT #4

• HAVING SIGNED THE DECLARATION, JOHN HANCOCK SUPPOSEDLY SAID TO CONGRESS, THAT THEY MUST NOW “ALL HANG TOGETHER;” BENJAMIN FRANKLIN REPLIED, “YES, WE MUST INDEED ALL HANG TOGETHER, OR MOST ASSUREDLY WE SHALL ALL HANG SEPARATELY.”

• HAVING PENNED THEIR NAMES TO THE DECLARATION, THE FOUNDERS WERE COMMITTING TREASON AGAINST THE BRITISH CROWN.

• THE PUNISHMENT FOR TREASON WAS TO FIRST BE HANGED THEN DECAPITATED, DRAWN, AND QUARTERED.

DECLARATION FACT #5

• JEFFERSON WAS ANGERED BY SOME OF THE ALTERATIONS AND DELETIONS MADE TO HIS ORIGINAL DRAFT OF THE DECLARATION.

• HE HAD ORIGINALLY INCLUDED LANGUAGE CONDEMNING THE BRITISH PROMOTION OF THE SLAVE TRADE IN AMERICA AND THROUGHOUT THE BRITISH EMPIRE.

DECLARATION FACT #6

• CAESAR RODNEY EMBARKED ON ONE OF THE MOST PERILOUS JOURNEYS THAT CHANGED THE COURSE OF HISTORY.

• THE DELAWARE DELEGATION WAS DEADLOCKED ON THEIR VOTE FOR INDEPENDENCE SO RODNEY RODE SEVENTY MILES TO PHILADELPHIA, BATTLING BAD WEATHER AND PHYSICAL HANDICAPS, TO VOTE IN FAVOR OF THE DECLARATION.

• RODNEY’S GREAT RIDE IS IMMORTALIZED ON THE BACK OF THE 1999 DELAWARE STATE QUARTER.

DECLARATION FACT #7

• HAVING SERVED ITS ORIGINAL PURPOSE, THE DECLARATION WAS INITIALLY NEGLECTED FOLLOWING THE REVOLUTION AND EARLY CELEBRATIONS LARGELY IGNORED THE DOCUMENT.

• THE DECLARATION WAS RARELY MENTIONED DURING THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION AND ITS LANGUAGE WAS NEVER INCORPORATED INTO THE CONSTITUTION.

• IT WAS NOT UNTIL THE CONCLUSION OF THE WAR OF 1812 DID THE DECLARATION REGAIN THE PROMINENCE THAT IT SO RIGHTLY DESERVED.

DECLARATION FACT #8

• THOMAS JEFFERSON LEFT THE PLANET ON JULY 4, 1826, THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DECLARATION.

• JOHN ADAMS PASSED JUST A FEW HOURS AFTERWARD – UNAWARE OF HIS FRIEND'S PASSINGS, HIS LAST WORDS WERE “INDEPENDENCE FOREVER” AND “THOMAS JEFFERSON SURVIVES.”

DECLARATION FACT #9

• TWO WEEKS AFTER THE JAPANESE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR, THE DECLARATION AND THE CONSTITUTION WERE TAKEN, BY MILITARY ESCORT, TO FORT KNOX IN KENTUCKY, WHERE THEY REMAINED UNTIL THE CONCLUSION OF THE WAR.

• ON DECEMBER 15, 1952, THE DECLARATION, ALONG WITH THE CONSTITUTION, WAS FORMALLY DELIVERED TO THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES IN WASHINGTON D.C.

DECLARATION FACT #10

• THE DECLARATION IS HOUSED IN A SPECIALLY SEALED ENCASEMENT CONTAINING THE INERT GAS ARGON WITH A CONTROLLED AMOUNT OF HUMIDITY TO KEEP THE PARCHMENT FLEXIBLE.

• THE ENCASEMENT IS CONSTRUCTED OF BALLISTICALLY RESISTANT MATERIALS AND IS CLOSELY GUARDED.