United States Declaration of Independence

Contrary to a widely held belief, Congress did not sign the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The Declaration was first published as a typeset broadside; the famous handwritten version was created after July 19, and was signed by most Congressional delegates on August 2. This copy, usually regarded as the Declaration of Independence, is now on display at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

Although celebrated upon publication, the Declaration was initially neglected following the American Revolution. Its symbolic stature grew over the years, and it eventually became renowned for both its justification of individual rights and its assertion of government by consent and the right to secede.

Background

Parliamentary sovereignty

By the time the Declaration of Independence was adopted in July 1776, the Thirteen Colonies and Great Britain had been at war for more than a year. Relations between the colonies and the mother country had been deteriorating since the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763. The war had plunged the British government deep into debt, and so Parliament enacted a series of measures to increase tax revenue from the colonies. Parliament believed that these acts, such as the Stamp Act of 1765 and the Townshend Acts of 1767, were a legitimate means of having the colonies pay their fair share of the costs of the empire.^[2]

Many colonists, however, had developed a different conception of the British Empire. Because the colonies were not directly represented in Parliament, they argued, the House of Commons and House of Lords had no right to levy taxes upon them, a view expressed by the slogan "No taxation without representation". After the Townshend Acts, some essayists began to question whether Parliament had any legitimate jurisdiction in the colonies at all.^[3] By 1774, American writers such as Samuel Adams, James Wilson, and Thomas Jefferson were arguing that Parliament was the legislature of Great Britain only, and that the colonies, which had their own legislatures, were connected to the rest of the Empire only through their allegiance to the Crown.^[4]

Congress convenes

In 1775, most colonists still hoped for reconciliation with Great Britain, even after fighting began in Massachusetts at Lexington and Concord in April. When the Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia in May 1775, some delegates hoped for eventual independence, but no one yet advocated declaring it.^[5] Although many colonists no longer believed that Parliament had any sovereignty over them, they still professed loyalty to King George, whom they hoped would intercede on their behalf. In late 1775, the king rejected Congress' second petition, issued a Proclamation of Rebellion, and announced before Parliament on 26 October that he was even considering "friendly offers of foreign assistance" to suppress the rebellion. When it became clear that the king was not inclined to act as a conciliator, colonial attachment to the Empire was weakened, and a movement towards declaring independence became a reality, especially after the publication of Thomas Paine's enormously popular pamphlet Common Sense on January 10, 1776. Paine not only argued in favor of independence; he introduced many to an alternative to monarchy: republicanism.^[6]

Towards independence

On May 15, the Virginia Convention, then meeting in Williamsburg, passed a motion instructing Virginia's congressional delegation "to propose to that respectable body to declare the United Colonies free and independent States, absolved from all allegiance to, or dependence upon, the Crown or Parliament of Great Britain".^[7] In accordance with those instructions, on June 7, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia presented a resolution of independence to Congress. The resolution, seconded by John Adams, read in part:

The resolution met with resistance in the ensuing debate. Moderate delegates, while conceding that reconciliation with Great Britain was no longer possible, argued that a resolution of independence was premature. Delegates from most of the middle colonies—Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, and New York—had not yet been authorized by their governments to vote for independence. Therefore, further discussion of Lee's resolution was postponed for three weeks.^[9] Until then, while support for independence was consolidated in the colonies, Congress decided that a committee should prepare a document announcing and explaining independence in the event that the resolution of independence was approved.

Draft and adoption

On June 11, 1776, Congress appointed a "Committee of Five", consisting of John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, Robert R. Livingston of New York, and Roger Sherman of Connecticut, to draft a declaration. Because the committee left no minutes, there is some uncertainty about how the drafting process proceeded—accounts written many years later by Jefferson and Adams, although frequently cited, are contradictory and not entirely reliable.^[10] What is certain is that the committee, after discussing the general outline that the document should follow, decided that Jefferson would write the first draft.^[11] Considering Congress' busy schedule, Jefferson probably had limited time for writing over the next 17 days, and likely wrote the draft quickly.^[12] He then consulted the others, made some changes, and then produced another copy incorporating these alterations. The committee presented this copy to the Congress on June 28, 1776. The title of the document was "A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled."^[13]

The committee's draft was set aside while Congress resumed debate on Lee's resolution of independence. John Dickinson made one last effort to delay the decision, but following a speech by John Adams, Congress approved the resolution on July 2. Twelve of the thirteen delegations voted in favor; the New York delegation abstained, since they had not yet been authorized to vote for independence, although they would be allowed to do so by the New York Provincial Congress a week later.^[14] With the passage of the resolution of independence, the colonies had officially severed political ties with Great Britain.^[15] In a now-famous letter written to his wife on the following day, John Adams predicted that July 2 would become a great American holiday.^[16]

After voting in favor of the resolution of independence, Congress turned its attention to the committee's draft of the declaration. Over several days of debate, Congress made a few changes in wording and deleted nearly a fourth of the text, most notably a passage critical of the slave trade, changes that Jefferson resented. On July 4, 1776, the wording of the Declaration of Independence was approved and sent to the printer for publication.

Text

The first sentence of the Declaration asserts as a matter of Natural Law the ability of a people to assume political independence, and acknowledges that the grounds for such independence must be reasonable, and therefore explicable, and ought to be explained.

The next section, the famous preamble, includes the ideas and ideals that were principles of the Declaration. It is also an assertion of what is known as the "right of revolution": that is, people have certain rights, and when a government violates these rights, the people have the right to "alter or abolish" that government.^[17]

The next section is a list of charges against King George which aim to demonstrate that he has violated the colonists' rights and is therefore unfit to be their ruler:

Many Americans still felt a kinship with the people of England, and had appealed in vain to the prominent among them, as well as to Parliament, to convince the King to relax his more objectionable policies toward the colonies.^[18] The next section represents disappointment that these attempts had been unsuccessful.

In the final section, the signers assert that there exist conditions under which people must change their government, that the British have produced such conditions, and by necessity the colonies must throw off political ties with the British Crown and become independent states. The conclusion incorporates language from the resolution of independence that had been passed on July 2.

Influences

Historians have often sought to identify the sources that most influenced the words of the Declaration of Independence. By Jefferson's own admission, the Declaration contained no original ideas, but was instead a statement of sentiments widely shared by supporters of the American Revolution. As he explained in 1825:

Jefferson's most immediate sources were two documents written in June 1776: his own draft of the preamble of the Constitution of Virginia, and George Mason's draft of the Virginia Declaration of Rights. Ideas and phrases from both of these documents appear in the Declaration of Independence. They were in turn directly influenced by the 1689 English Bill of Rights.^[20]

English political theorist John Locke has often been cited as a primary influence on the Declaration. As historian Carl L. Becker wrote in 1922, "Most Americans had absorbed Locke's works as a kind of political gospel; and the Declaration, in its form, in its phraseology, follows closely certain sentences in Locke's second treatise on government."^[21] The extent of Locke's influence on the American Revolution was questioned by subsequent scholars, however, who emphasized the influence of republicanism rather than Locke's classical liberalism.^[22]

Signing the document

One of the most enduring myths about the Declaration of Independence is that it was signed by Congress on July 4, 1776, immediately after it was adopted.^[25] This myth took root in part because, when the Journals of the Continental Congress were first published, the signers of the Declaration were listed in the entry for July 4, although the signed version was actually created at a later date. Decades later, even the elderly Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were misled by the published journal, and told correspondents that the Declaration had been signed on the fourth. One of the signers, Thomas McKean, was the first to correct the misconception, pointing out that some of the signers had not yet even been elected to Congress on July 4. McKean's version of the story was shown to be correct when the complete records of Congress, including the previously unprinted "Secret Journals," were published in 1821.^[26]

If a document was actually signed on July 4, it would have had just two signatures—John Hancock, president of Congress, and secretary Charles Thomson—because the first published version of the Declaration, the widely distributed Dunlap broadside, was issued over their typeset names. Hancock and Thomson may have signed the handwritten version that was sent to the printer, although historian Julian P. Boyd considered this to be unlikely and unnecessary, because the printer may have simply been told to print Hancock's and Thomson's names on the broadside.^[27]

On July 19, 1776, after the New York delegation had been given permission to approve the resolution of independence, making the decision unanimous, Congress ordered a copy of the Declaration to be written on parchment for the delegates to sign. The handwritten, engrossed copy, which was probably produced by Thomson's clerk Timothy Matlack, was given the new title of "The unanimous declaration of the thirteen United States of America".^[28] Most of the delegates who signed did so on August 2, 1776, although some signers were not present and had to sign later. The signed, engrossed copy is now on display at the National Archives.

The most famous signature on the engrossed copy is that of John Hancock, who as President of Congress signed above the other signatories. Hancock's large, flamboyant signature became iconic, and "John Hancock" emerged in the United States an informal synonym for "signature".^[29] Two future presidents, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, were among the signatories. Edward Rutledge (age 26) was the youngest signer, and Benjamin Franklin (age 70) was the oldest signer. Late signers were Elbridge Gerry, Oliver Wolcott, Lewis Morris, Thomas McKean, and Matthew Thornton (who, because of a lack of space, was unable to place his signature on the top right of the signing area with the other New Hampshire delegates, and had to place his signature on the lower right). As new delegates joined the Congress, they were also allowed to sign. A total of 56 delegates eventually signed.

Three delegates who were present during the debate never signed. Robert R. Livingston, a member of the original drafting committee, was present for the vote on July 2 but returned to New York before the August 2 signing. John Dickinson refused to sign, believing the Declaration premature. Thomas Lynch voted for the Declaration but could not sign it because of illness.

The fifty-six signers of the Declaration represented the new states as follows (from north to south):^[30]

Publication and effect

After its adoption by Congress on July 4, a handwritten draft was then sent a few blocks away to the printing shop of John Dunlap. Through the night between 150 and 200 copies were made, now known as "Dunlap broadsides". The first public reading of the document was by John Nixon in the yard of Independence Hall on July 8.^[31] One was sent to George Washington on July 6, who had it read to his troops in New York on July 9. A copy reached London on August 10.^{citation needed} The first German translation of the Declaration was published as a broadside around July 6, 1776 by the printing press of Steiner & Cist of Philadelphia.^[32]

On January 18, 1777, the Continental Congress ordered that the declaration be more widely distributed. The second printing was made by Mary Katharine Goddard. The first printing had included only the names John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Goddard's printing was the first to list all signatories.

History of the documents

Although the document signed by Congress and enshrined in the National Archives is usually regarded as the Declaration of Independence, historian Julian P. Boyd, editor of Jefferson's papers, argued that the Declaration of Independence, like Magna Carta, is not a single document. The version signed by Congress is, according to Boyd, "only the most notable of several copies legitimately entitled to be designated as official texts".^[33] By Boyd's count there were five "official" versions of the Declaration, in addition to unofficial drafts and copies.

Jefferson preserved a four-page draft that late in life he called the "original Rough draught".^[34] Known to historians as the Rough Draft, early students of the Declaration believed that this was a draft written alone by Jefferson and then presented to the Committee of Five. Scholars now believe that the Rough Draft was not actually an "original Rough draught", but was instead a revised version completed by Jefferson after consultation with the Committee.^[35] How many drafts Jefferson wrote prior to this one, and how much of the text was contributed by other committee members, is unknown. In 1947, Boyd discovered a fragment of an earlier draft in Jefferson's handwriting, the only known draft predating the Rough Draft.

Jefferson showed the Rough Draft to Adams and Franklin, and perhaps other committee members,^[36] who made a few more changes. Franklin, for example, may have been responsible for changing Jefferson's original phrase "We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable" to "We hold these truths to be self-evident".^[37] Jefferson incorporated these changes into a copy that was submitted to Congress in the name of the Committee. Jefferson kept the Rough Draft and made additional notes on it as Congress revised the text. He also made several copies of the Rough Draft without the changes made by Congress, which he sent to friends, including Richard Henry Lee and George Wythe, after July 4. At some point in the process, Adams also wrote out a copy.^[38]

The copy that was submitted to Congress by the Committee on June 28 is known as the Fair Copy. Presumably, the Fair Copy was marked up by secretary Charles Thomson while Congress debated and revised the text.^[39] This document was the one that Congress approved on July 4, making it the first "official" copy of the Declaration. The Fair Copy was sent to be printed under the title "A Declaration by the Representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in General Congress assembled". The Fair Copy has been lost, and was perhaps destroyed in the printing process.^[40]

The first published version of the Declaration was the Dunlap broadsides, which were issued over the printed names of John Hancock, president of Congress, and secretary Charles Thomson. The broadsides were printed on the night of July 4, 1776, by John Dunlap of Philadelphia. It is unknown exactly how many broadsides were originally printed, but the number is estimated at about 200, of which 25 are known to survive. One broadside was pasted into Congress' journal, making it what Boyd called the "second official version" of the Declaration.^[41] Boyd considered the engrossed copy to be the third official version, and the Goddard Broadside to be the fourth.

What Boyd called the "fifth offical version" was created in 1823, when printer William J. Stone was commissioned by Secretary of State John Quincy Adams to create an engraving essentially identical to the engrossed copy.^[42] Stone's copy was made using a wet-ink transfer process, where the surface of the document was moistened, and some of the original ink transferred to the surface of a copper plate which was then etched so that copies could be run off the plate on a press.^[43] Because of poor conservation of the 1776 engrossed version through the 19th century, Stone's engraving, rather than the original, has become the basis of most modern reproductions.^[44]

Gustafson (2004) traces the paths taken by the original manuscript copies of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights prior to being placed permanently in the National Archives. From 1776 to 1921 the Declaration moved from one city to another and to different public buildings until placed in the Department of State library. The Constitution was never exhibited, and the Bill of Rights' provenance up to 1938 is largely unknown. From 1921 to 1952 the Declaration and the Constitution were at the Library of Congress, and the National Archives held the Bill of Rights.

In 1952, the librarian of Congress and the US archivist agreed on moving the Declaration and the Constitution to the National Archives. Since 1953 the three documents have been called the Charters of Freedom. Encased in 1951, by the early 1980s the documents were nonetheless threatened by further deterioration. In 2001, using the latest in preservation technology, conservators treated the documents and re-encased them in encasements made of titanium and aluminum, filled with inert Argon gas.^[45] They were put on display again with the opening of the remodeled National Archives Rotunda in 2003.

Legacy

Although celebrated upon publication, the Declaration was initially neglected following the American Revolution. Its symbolic stature grew over the years, most notably through the influence of Abraham Lincoln, who viewed the Declaration as an ideal for which the nation should strive. In his Gettysburg Address, Lincoln noted: "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." His speech was given in 1863, "four score and seven years" (87 years) after 1776, the year the Declaration of Independence was adopted.

The Declaration has also been influential outside of the United States.^[46]^vague

In fiction, the adoption of the Declaration of Independence was dramatized in the 1969 Tony Award-winning musical play 1776, and the 1972 movie of the same name, as well as in the 2008 television miniseries John Adams. The engrossed copy of the Declaration is central to the 2004 Hollywood film National Treasure, in which the main character steals the document because he believes it has secret clues to a treasure hidden by some of the Founding Fathers of the United States.

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