Interesting facts about Decloration Of Independence..?

Question

gracias! =]

Answer 1

THE WRITING

* not considered THE important event or date at the time -- the July 2nd vote for Richard Henry Lee's resolution was the key (and that is the date John Adams expected to be celebrated); the Declaration was almost an afterthought, done in part to allow more time to line up support for the resolution

* it was almost an accident that Jefferson did the main writing. As Committee chair he would be expected to take a lead role, and it WAS considered important, even necessary that a VIRGINIAN should take the lead, to gain conservative Southern support (from delegates who had little respect for those from Massachusetts). BUT Richard Henry Lee had offered the resolution and would presumably have been the chair, except that his wife took ill and he had to leave. If Jefferson had NOT drafted it,most likely John Adams or perhaps Franklin (though far less likely) would have. (As it was, these two did provide a number of suggestions and edits... and may even have offered more instructions on the basic form and content BEFORE the draft was begun.)


THE FORM & CONTENT, EDITING

* Though Jefferson is responsible for most of the choices of words, phrasing, etc., most of the CONTENT is unoriginal - based first on well-established British forms (esp. the "English Bill of Rights of 1689" in which Parliament had listed James II's violations of rights, justifying their deposing him in favor of William and Mary, and various STATE declarations of independence that preceded the national one)
-see English Bill of Rights (1689) http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/england.htm

* the three-fold list of "inalienable rights" likewise was not Jefferson's idea. It was based on a common formula, going back esp. to John Locke; "the pursuit of happiness" was an alternative for the more common"property", but even this expression is found in Locke, et.al. and esp. in the "Virginia Declaration of Rights" penned by George Mason just before the Declaration, which reads as follows:
"That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety."
http://odur.let.rug.nl/%7Eusa/D/1776-1800/independence/virdor.htm

* most of the strongest religious references in the Declaration were added by other committee members or by Congress as a whole. Ironically, the ONE use of "Christian" was in Jefferson's charge concerning the slave trade - the most significant section to be STRUCK from the Declaration by Congress (at the insistence of South Carolina and Georgia)

* contrary to the mythology, Jefferson did not passively accept the edits by Congress, but was upset with many of them (though he typically did not express his anger in public)


THE VOTE(RS) - note that the vote was actually for the RESOLUTION (on July 2nd)

* the decision was made that the vote for independence MUST be unanimous. This meant that it needed majority support from each delegation, NOT the vote of every single delegate In fact, the key state of Pennsylvania was only able to gain a majority when two members opposed (more to the TIMING than anything else, thinking it a bit premature) agreed to abstain; and Caesar Rodney of Delaware was summoned to make a last-minute ride to break the 1-1 tie in that state's vote. (Note: generally, even those who VOTED against the resolution joined in SIGNING the Declaration.)

* by the 4th of July only TWELVE of the colonies had voted for it; New York abstained because of restrictions in instructions they were sent... though later in July they were able to vote for it (see on John Jay below)


PRINTING, SIGNING, SIGNERS

* the original document was signed on July 4th by TWO people - Hancock, as President of Congress, in behalf of all, and Charles Thomson, the Secretary (his post through the entire period of the Second Continental Congress), officially attesting Hancock's signature; the signing by others could only begin after a formal copy was 'engrossed' by the printer and returned to Congress on August 2nd (Most signed on that day, some not there did so later in the month, a few later in the year...)
http://www.lewismicropublishing.com/DeclarationIndependence/

* the printer who engrossed the Declaration, Thomas Matlack, HAD been a member of the Society of Friends, but this group remained pacifist during the War; Matlack was one of an independent group of "Fighting Quakers" who split off at the beginning of the Revolution
http://www.virtualology.com/declarationofindependence/TimothyMatlack.com/

* there is some confusion about the LAST signature (even whose it was!) of the 56 signers. Some say it was Thomas McKean, because his name does not appear on the official version released in January 1777, but it's possible that was a printer's error, and McKean claimed to have signed it much earlier; in that case Matthew Thornton of New Hampshire would be the last to have signed it, in November 1776
http://research.history.org/pf/signers/signatures.cfm
http://research.history.org/pf/signers/bio_mckean.cfm
http://research.history.org/pf/signers/index.cfm

* the arrangement of the signatures - Hancock's name, as President was centered at the top; then, following a custom at the time, the rest were ordered by geography, North to South, one delegation at a time (New Hampshire delegates signed first, at the top right, Georgia last). BUT (compare previous point) Matthew Thornton did not have enough room to add his name under New Hampshire, so signed at the bottom
http://bensguide.gpo.gov/6-8/documents/declaration/signers.html

* John Jay of New York - some mistakenly claim he avoided coming to Congress that year because he did not favor independence.. BUT in fact
he had more vital work to do in New York's provincial congress at that time... INCLUDING drafting the resolution that authorized New York's delegates to the Continental Congress to finally vote for the Declaration later in July, and so to sign it
http://www.nndb.com/people/374/000049227/

* the most famous non-signer - John Dickinson of Pennsylvania- was, at the very same time carrying out Congress's charge to draft "Articles of Confederation"... and this original form was much stronger and more centralized than the final form adopted in 1777

* it is usually stated that ALL the members kept the pledge (on their 'lives, fortunes and sacred honor'), and there are some impressive stories about how many did so. But there is some question about Richard Stockton of New Jersey, captured by the British later in the year and pressured to renounce the Revolution. It is unclear and debated whether he effectively did so.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hlaw:@field(DOCID+@lit(dg006427))
http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1975/4/1975_4_22.shtml
biographies of the signers - http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/signers/index.htm

* for more about the later preservation of the Declaration, see
http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/declaration_history.html


LATER EVENTS

* Trumbull's painting of the presentation of the Declaration -- there are some debates about what exactly Trumbull was presenting, and how accurate it was (if he is just showing the Committee of Five presenting the document, and NOT the signing of it by all, no problem). One interesting tidbit... some claim that Jefferson is stepping on Adams's toes in the picture. I'm not so sure of that, but in light of the fact that Adams had worked hard for a year to get support and bring it all to a vote, and Jefferson ended up with all the credit for writing the document (well-written but not original, and done in a matter of days), I'm not sure I'd blame him!
see the picture: http://www.archives.gov/research/american-revolution/pictures/images/revolutionary-war-022.jpg
(compare http://experts.about.com/q/General-History-674/John-Trumball-Declaration-Independance.htm

* three Presidents died on the date of the celebration of this document - the first two happened to be the critical members of the Committee (Jefferson and Adams) and died on the same day, the 50th anniversary; Monroe, the last member of that generation to serve as President, died five years later

* Lincoln (with others) argued that this document was THE key enunciation of , the (moral) foundation for the country (with the Constitution as an attempt to set up a framework of government to realize these principles as fully as possible under the circumstances); Lincoln's best-known statement of this, in the Gettysburg Address was conveniently 'set up' in that the 4th of July (1863) was the date on which Lee's army left Gettysburg, defeated (not to mention that Grant's critical victory at Vicksburg was accomplished on the same day); another related happenstance -- the Theodore Parker sermon that probably suggested Lincoln's closing line ("government of the people, by the people, for the people") was delivered five years before on July 4

see also Paula Maier, *American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence* for:
- declaration form and study of the list of grievances
- influences, sources
- subsequent history (how the document gains importance, is reapplied to slavery debate, etc)

Answer 2

Originally, Ben Franklin was asked to write the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress. He refused, believing his words and ideas would be altered by the Continental Congress. The next person asked was Thomas Jefferson, and the rest is history.

Answer 3

The Decleration of Independance was actually avaliable to the public in German before it was in English.

Answer 4

On the back is a treasure map for 10 billion dollars worth of Egyptian treasure

Answer 5

Samuel Adams composed an April 16, 1776 letter from Philadelphia to James Warren, referring to the British:

Their designs still are as they ever have been to subjugate us. Our unalterable resolution should be to be free. They have attempted to subdue us by force, but God be praised! in vain. Their arts may be more dangerous than their arms. Let us then renounce all treaty with them upon any score but that of total separation, and under God trust our cause to our swords.

Nathanael Greene, the Quaker revolutionary, wrote a January 4, 1776 letter from the camp on Prospect Hill to Samuel Ward, a Congressman from Rhode Island:

Permit me, then, to recommend from the sincerity of my heart, ready at all times to bleed in my country’s cause, a declaration of independence; and call upon the world, and the great God who governs it, to witness the necessity, propriety and rectitude thereof.

Joseph Hawley addressed a May 1, 1776 letter from Watertown to Elbridge Gerry, saying:

[W]ithout a real continental government our army will overrun us, and people will by and by sooner than you may be aware of, call for their old constitutions and as they did in England after Cromwell’s death, call in Charles the Second. For God’s sake let there be a full revolution, or all has been done in vain. Independence and a well planned continental government will save us. God bless you. Amen and amen.

He continued:

Nay, to repine that in our day, America is dissolved from the British state, is impiously to question the unerring wisdom of Providence. The Almighty setteth up, and he casteth down: He breaks the scepter, and transfers the dominion: He has made choice of the present generation to erect the American empire. Thankful as we are, and ought to be, for an appointment of the king, the most illustrious that ever was, let each individual exert himself in this important operation directed by Jehovah himself. From a short retrospect, it is evident the work was not the present design of man.

On May 27, 1776, the town of Malden, Massachusetts unanimously voted in support of independence and ended their statement of independence by declaring ,”we are confirmed in the opinion that the present age would be deficient in their duty to God, their posterity and themselves, if they do not establish an American republic. This is the only form of government which we wish to see established; for we can never be willingly subject to any other King than he who, being possessed of infinite wisdom, goodness and rectitude, is alone fit to possess unlimited power.”

The committee to draft the Declaration of Independence included John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, Robert R. Livingston and Thomas Jefferson. According to an August 6, 1822 letter from John Adams to Timothy Pickering, Jefferson at first thought Adams should draft the Declaration, but Adams thought Jefferson was better suited. However an August 30, 1823 letter from Jefferson’s villa at Monticello, addressed to James Madison, does not confirm the claim Adams made.

Thomas Jefferson's original draft of the Declaration had the following section that was cut out:

He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distance people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. This piratical warfare, the opprobrium of INFIDEL powers, is the warfare of the CHRISTIAN King of Great Britain. Determined to keep open a market where MEN should be bought & sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or restrain this execrable commerce. And that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished die, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, by murdering the people on whom he also obtruded them: thus paying off former crimes committed against the LIBERTIES of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the LIVES of another.

Jefferson’s draft ended:

And for the support of this declaration, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, & our sacred Honor.

The final version read:

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, & our sacred Honor.

Ben Franklin and John Adams were insistent on adding "firm reliance on the protection of divine providence" to the declaration.

The Reverend John Witherspoon was the only clergyman who signed the Declaration of Independence

The actual signing took place on August 2nd, when the Declaration was writing beautifully on a large parchment by Timothy Matlack, a Quaker