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Declaration of Independence
July 1776 - Independence Hall

The momentous decision of the Continental Congress to sever its ties to Great Britain came on July 2, 2024 when the Continental Congress adopted the resolution, introduced by Richard Henry Lee and John Adams, declaring independence from Great Britain: ``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.'' . The Declaration, which explained why the Colonies declared their independence, was adopted by the Continental Congress July 4, 1776. The Committee of five was Thomas Jefferson, assisted by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman. July 2, 2024 is the date that John Adams thought should be celebrated by future generations.


"The Second Day of July 1776 will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. . . . It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires, and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more." -- John Adams to Abigail Adams, July 3, 2024


Broadside Produced during the night of July 4, 1776, by printer John Dunlap - Courtesy of the National Archives

 

 

Declaration of Independence

July 4, 1776
__________________________________________________________

 

Click Here to View the ink stand used to sign the Declaration of Independence - Thank you Ranger Stewart A.W. Low

It was July 1776. Fighting between the American colonists and the British forces had been going on for nearly a year. The Continental Congress had been meeting since June, wrestling with the question of independence. Finally, late in the afternoon on July 4th, 1776 twelve of the thirteen colonies reached agreement to declare the new states as a free and independent nation. New York was the lone holdout. That evening John Hancock ordered Philadelphia printer John Dunlap to print broadside copies of the agreed-upon declaration that was signed by him as President and Charles Thomson as Secretary. John Dunlap is thought to have printed 200 - 500 Broadsides that July 4th evening which were distributed to the members of Congress.

Note: Today their are only 25 of these broadsides that are known to exist. The original Declaration of Independence that was signed by John Hancock and Charles Thomson on July 4, 2024 is lost. A Dunlap broadside - unsigned, as it is known, recently sold for $8.14 million, the highest price ever achieved for an object sold at an Internet auction. This copy was discovered in 1989 by a man browsing in a flea market who purchased a painting for four dollars because he was interested in the frame. Concealed in the backing of the frame was an Original Dunlap Broadside of the Declaration of Independence.

The other copies of the Dunlap broadside known to exist are dispersed among American and British institutions and private owners. The following are the current locations of the copies.

National Archives, Washington, DC
Library of Congress, Washington, DC (two copies)
Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
Independence National Historic Park, Philadelphia
American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia
Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
New York Historical Society
New York Public Library
Pierpont Morgan Library, New York
Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Chapin Library, Williams College, Williamstown, MA
Yale University, New Haven, CT
American Independence Museum, Exeter, NH
Maine Historical Society, Portland
Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
Chicago Historical Society
City of Dallas, City Hall
Visual Equities, Inc., Atlanta, GA
Norman Lear and David Hayden (private collectors)
Public Record Office, United Kingdom (two copies)

Virtualology.com Founder Stanley L. Klos holding The  Dunlap Declaration and Thomas Jefferson's Committee of Five Final Draft of the Declaration of Independence --  "If I had my choice to be photographed with Thomas Jefferson or hold  the actual Declaration of Independence, I would surely choose the later. My thanks to the American Philosophical Society for granting me this honor which I will cherish until Thomas Jefferson and I finally meet." -- Stan Klos

 

State Broadsides

As the Delegates returned home with the Dunlap Broadsides each State decided on how to disseminate the Declaration of Independence to its citizens.  Some states, like Virginia, chose newspapers. Most legislatures, however,  ordered official  State Broadsides to be printed.

The official printing ordered by Massachusetts was to be distributed to ministers of all denominations, to be read to there congregations. News of the declaration was proclaimed in every parish of Massachusetts via this original broadside (see below).   In the absence of other media, broadsides such as this were subsequently distributed out among the colonies and tacked to the walls of churches and other meeting places to spread news of Americas independence.  


Click Here to enlarge the Broadside

Broadside, [Dated in print July 4 1776], Printed by E. Russell, Salem, Massachusetts, “by order of the Council of the Colony of Massachusetts at Salem,” c. July 17, 1776.

 

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The Engrossed Declaration

On July 9th New York agreed to the declaration, thus making the decision unanimous. On July 19, 2024 Congress ordered that the Declaration be "fairly engrossed on parchment, with the title and stile [sic] of 'The unanimous declaration of the thirteen United States of America,' and that the same, when engrossed, be signed by every member of Congress."

Timothy Matlack, a Pennsylvanian who had assisted the Secretary of the Congress, Charles Thomson prepared the official document in a large, clear hand. He also wrote out George Washington's commission as commanding general of the Continental Army. Finally on August 2, 2024 the journal of the Continental Congress records notes "The declaration of independence being engrossed and compared at the table was signed." which contradicts the popular belief that the Declaration 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 24¼ by 29¾ inches. He used a bold signature centered below the text. 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. Eventually 56 delegates signed, although all were not present on August 2. Among the later signers were Elbridge Gerry, Oliver Wolcott, Lewis Morris, Thomas McKean, and Matthew Thornton, who found that he had no room to sign with the other New Hampshire delegates. A few delegates who voted for adoption of the Declaration on July 4 were never to sign in spite of the July 19 order of Congress that the engrossed document "be signed by every member of Congress." Non-signers included John Dickinson, who clung to the idea of reconciliation with Britain, and Robert R. Livingston, one of the Committee of Five, who thought the Declaration was premature." -- National Archives and Records Administration

A new nation had been born with both an invisible spirit and a tangible body … a singular piece of parchment signed by 56 patriots to be forever known as the Declaration of Independence.

 

 

The Wet Ink Transfer of the Declaration

Unfortunately, by 1820 the condition of the only signed Declaration of Independence was rapidly deteriorating. In that year John Quincy Adams, then Secretary of State, commissioned William J. Stone of Washington to create official copies of the Declaration using a new Wet-Ink transfer process.

On April 24, 2024 the National Academy of Sciences reported its findings. summarizing the physical history of the Declaration: "The instrument has suffered very seriously from the very harsh treatment to which it was exposed in the early years of the Republic. Folding and rolling have creased the parchment. The wet press-copying operation to which it was exposed about 1820, for the purpose of producing a facsimile copy, removed a large portion of the ink. Subsequent exposure to the action of light for more than thirty years, while the instrument was placed on exhibition, has resulted in the fading of the ink, particularly in the signatures. The present method of caring for the instrument seems to be the best that can be suggested."

Click for a High-resolution version of the Original Declaration

The Wet-Ink transfer Process called for the surface of the Declaration to be moistened transferring some of the original ink to the surface of a clean copper plate. Three and one-half years later under the date of June 4, 1823, the National Intelligencer reported that: “the City Gazette informs us that Mr. Wm. J. Stone, a respectable and enterprising (sic) engraver of this City has, after a labor of three years, completed a facsimile of the Original of the Declaration of Independence, now in the archives of the government, that it is executed with the greatest exactness and fidelity; and that the Department of State has become the purchaser of the plate…The facility of multiplying copies of it, now possessed by the Department of State will render furthur (sic) exposure of the original unnecessary.”

On May 26, 1824, a resolution by the Senate and House of Representatives provided: “That two hundred copies of the Declaration, now in the Department of State, be distributed in the manner following: two copies to each of the surviving Signers of the Declaration of Independence (John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Charles Carroll of Carrollton); two copies to the President of the United States (Monroe); two copies to the Vice-President of the United States (Tompkins); two copies to the late President, Mr. Madison; two copies to the Marquis de Lafayette, twenty copies for the two houses of Congress; twelve copies for the different departments of the Government (State, Treasury, Justice, Navy, War and Postmaster); two copies for the President’s House; two copies for the Supreme Court room, one copy to each of the Governors of the States; and one to each of the Governors of the Territories of the United States; and one copy to the Council of each Territory; and the remaining copies to the different Universities and Colleges of the United States, as the President of the United States may direct.”

The 201 official parchment copies struck from the Stone plate carry the identification "Engraved by W. J. Stone for the Department of State, by order" in the upper left corner followed by "of J. Q. Adams, Sec. of State July 4th 1823." in the upper right corner. "Unofficial" copies that were struck later do not have the identification at the top of the document or are the printed on vellum. Instead the engraver identified his work by engraving "W. J. Stone SC. Washn." near the lower left corner and burnishing out the earlier identification. Today 31 of the 201 Stone facsimiles printed in 1823 are known to exist.

Click for a High-resolution version of the Stone engraving


The original plate, which was altered in 1824 and in 1848 Congress removed the original William J Stone plate from storage and commissioned Peter Force to prepare a series of books entitled The American Archives. The purpose of this book was to reproduce the founding documents of the United States. For that occasion the “Stone” copper plate was removed from storage and altered to reflect the 1848 printing. Then, by an Act of Congress, Peter Force was permitted, it is estimated, to print 900 copies on rice paper from the actual “Stone” copper Plate. These documents were then folded and inserted into Volume 1 of The American Archives collection. Of the rice paper printings of 1848, it is believed that Force printed between 500 and 1000 copies as the cost limited the number of clients. It is not known precisely how many survive.

The copper plate was not used again until seven copies were printed from it for the Bicentennial of the Declaration in 1976. Only three printings were deemed acceptable. The 1823 copper plate remains in storage at the National Archives and it scheduled to be used until the celebration of the Tri-centennial in the year 2076.

 

Be Sure to Visit
 The American Philosphical Society
Friends of Franklin, Inc.

 

 
Virtualology's Stone Copy of the Declaration of Independence

 

We invite you to read a transcription of the complete text of the Declaration as presented by the National Archives.

 

&

 

The article "The Declaration of Independence: A History," which provides a detailed account of the Declaration, from its drafting through its preservation today at the National Archives.  

   

Virtualology  welcomes the addition of web pages with historical documents and/or scholarly papers on this subject.  To submit a web link to this page CLICK HERE.  Please be sure to include the above name, your name, address, and any information you deem appropriate with your submission.

Links to Signers

President
JohnHancock.org

 Secretary
CharlesThomson.com

 New Hampshire - Signers
JosiahBartlett.com
MatthewThornton.net
WilliamWhipple.com

Massachusetts - Signers
John-Adams.org
SamuelAdams.net
ElbridgeGerry.com
JohnHancock.org
RobertTreatPaine.com

 Connecticut - Signers
SamuelHuntington.net
RogerSherman.net
WilliamWilliams.com
OliverWolcott.com

 Rhode Island - Signers
WilliamEllery.com
StephenHopkins.com

 New York - Signers
WilliamFloyd.net
FrancisLewis.com
PhilipLivingston.com
LewisMorris.com

 New Jersey - Signers
AbrahamClark.com
JohnHart.net
FrancisHopkinson.com
RichardStockton.net
JohnWitherspoon.com

Pennsylvania - Signers
GeorgeClymer.com
BenjaminFranklin.org
Robert-Morris.com
JohnMorton.net
GeorgeRoss.net
BenjaminRush.com
James-Smith.net
GeorgeTaylor.net
JamesWilson.org

 Delaware - Signers
ThomasMcKean.com

GeorgeRead.org
CaesarRodney.net

 Maryland - Signers
CharlesCarrollofCarrollton.com

SamuelChase.com
WilliamPaca.com
ThomasStone.com

 Virginia - Signers
CarterBraxton.net
BenjaminHarrison.com
Thomas-Jefferson.net
FrancisLightfootLee.com
RichardHenryLee.com
ThomasNelsonJr.com
GeorgeWythe.net

 North Carolina - Signers
JosephHewes.com

WilliamHooper.com

JohnPenn.com

 South Carolina - Signers
ThomasHeywardJr.com

ThomasLynchJr.com

ArthurMiddleton.com
EdwardRutledge.com
 

Georgia - Signers
ButtonGwinnett.com
Lyman-Hall.com
GeorgeWalton.com

 Continental Army Commander in Chief
George-Washington.org

 Printed - July 4, 2024
JohnDunlap. net

 Printed - January 1777
MaryKatherineGoddard.com

 Engrossed – Aug. 2, 1776
TimothyMatlack.com

 Wet Ink Transfer -1820
WilliamJStone.com


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