Show U a ly if A 2 0 W aft IF A cj 4 T K az jw r by ay ELMO SCOTT WATSON sn the average american what took place on july 4 1771 1770 and he with a somewhat u vague recollection of wint what m he once learned in the his y tory books at school and a U sli similar nilar remembrance of what W h he e saw in the painting signing the declaration of inde aco ace by jolin john trumbull hlll ill answer you in something so of asclon liy 7 that was wn the day that we ed cd our freedom from england thomas jefferson the author of clar atlon of independence wrote immortal document in which he hat bat all men are born tree free and after ho he had written it ho he it to the continental congress ohn II il ancock signed it in that handwriting and wrItIng which the king of ad d could road read without spectacles the mew members Jers of congress wash and franklin and john adams adama I 1 the others signed it after that read end it to the people outside hall and tile the patriots d and rushed away to ring the j y bell until it was cracked t of course la Is it rather free reo alon of a composite america AmerI cap kut the historic events which n 3 our greatest national holida holiday Y e hundred fifty first anniversary eb Is being celebrated all over auntry on july 4 1927 like so eo other composite ideas usually berhel terl zed as popular beliefs it i a composite of fiction and fact 0 all that has been written the declaration of independence tio 0 signing thereof few amer unless they be professional tits his I 1 have a clear cut idea of just alil id tal tale take e place on that day and mong the professional his historians i Is 3 some come disagreement caused by nee in the lie interpretation of and phrases here tire lire a few and nd 0 a bit of chronology which sake ake tho the matter clearer ard henry lee certainly has claim to share the title of r of the declaration of inde ice ce with his fellow virginian I 1 jefferson for on june 7 1770 rented to ilie alie continental con ls Is resolution which begins j ivoal id that these united Co colonies lonien I a of ii to he be free and ana states that they are re at ab all ai q larica to the brit wn n and th that t all political con boti between veen them and the state britain Is in and nd to bo b As M one hist historian orlan has pointed I 1 ft a pure declaration of inde ce e it was promptly seconded adams adaina of massachusetts but OW powdered dered by a com committee commett mitt of wi ho action was taken upon UFO e some of the members felt 0 colonies were not yet ready it a step on june julie 10 3 voted to postpone final action resolution until july 1 on 1 a committee committed composed coropo flod of jefferson benjamin franklin dams ams roger sherman and it n Living stoll was waa to ft formell declaration of indes nd ind havo have it ready in case it totted nt it the time of the postpone action on a resolution of in that franklin uttered one most famous sayings when wag ivas proposed in give certain dele deleBa gatch tew time le c instructions front their colto what their attitude toward roce oce should be and to matte roaldo tile the necessary of oil matter frankian Fran kirn re fe artly aly wo we must all hang to gether or assuredly wo we shall all hang bang 11 when the committee came to decide who was to write the declaration tl it was ana anally agreed that Jef jefferson fermon should do it it Is said bald that jefferson explained to franklin the reason why lie he ns as their senior benlor en lor was not asked to write it ans that it was feared lie he could not resist the temptation tempt atlon to put a joke into it nod and tho the declaration was serious business I 1 although stories dlf dif for fer on the manner of selecting tile the writer the fact remains that jefferson did write the first draft and the desk upon which lie he wrote it shown above Is still preserved it li Is interesting to noto note that this desk was for it a long time in the possession of a man named coolidge john coolidge of boston and at tits his death by his will wih it passed into the custody of congress this first draft of the declaration which Is IB often reproduced shows also the handwriting of franklin and adams who made a few minor corrections in it jefferson later gave it to It Ichard henry leo lee and in 1825 hla his grandson presented it to the american philosophical society of philadelphia which later entrusted it to the custody of the patent office in washington after franklin and adams had made their changes chahee s on the first draft jefferson wrote a second copy incorporating their amendments and presented it to the committee which reported it unchanged to congress on july 1 the tha date set by congress for considering a declaration of independence tho the original resolutions offered by richard henry lee lea first came up for consideration before congress acting as it committee of the whole the formal vote was taken the next day july 2 and the resolutions were approved by a two thirds vote delegates from delaware pennsyl vanla and south carolina carolan a voted in the negative and those from now new york having no instructions from their colonies did not vote so bo under one interpretation terp july 2 should be independence pen dence day for it was on that flint date that the colon lev declared their independence pen dence and the declaration of independence pen dence which they adopted through their represent representatives a fives was that written by richard henry lee instead of thomas jefferson and was not the document so BO revered by americana nt din in fact if the tha suggestion ot of john adams abaroa had been followed we would now 11 ow be celebrating on july 2 instead of july 4 in commenting upon the momentous act of adopting loes lees independence depend dependence enco resolution adams said bald tho the second day of july 1770 will be the most memorable apochn in the history of america it ought to be commemorated its a a day of do liverance by solemn acts of devotion to god Alt it ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade with shows games sports guns bells and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this tim alna 3 forward forevermore july 8 3 and 4 were r spent pont by enri congress gress in discussing the tha draft of the declaration of independence presented by jefferson acting actlis tor for the committee there was a lively debate which ended in the striking out of et the paragraph accusing king george of piratical warfare 1 and a few other ampara lively unimportant lines then on july 4 the delegates from 12 colonies who had been authorized to vote for independence pen dence agreed upon the final draft lifter after the amendment ment had been incorporated po rated which WEIS to be printed eliat alu t night in the form forin of a poster liy by john dunlap it a printer for public distribution the significant feature of tills this poster accord ti 1 to 10 one historian lies lu in the fact act that franklin changed the binell u in united to a capital malting making the new nation cation the united states of american instead of the united states of america As ag to the signing of the declaration of independence there la Is where the popular belief la Is most at fault this declaration adopted on july 4 1770 was signed by just two men john II 11 ancock president of congress and charles thomson secretary charles charle thomson Tho nison no nover vcr heard of mint the average american would say yet tor for till all that lie he Is neglected by history he Is nn an important character ile he was secretary of both lath the first and second continental congresses and it was he h who first read the declaration to a group of patriots according to one story this took place on july jul 4 when lie ho stopped stepped outside the as soon as ho he and II 11 aucock had signed the document and rend read it to a handful of citizens who stood around and who made no extraordinary demonstration thereat according to another account this did not occur untie july 8 after congress had bad sent copies of th the declaration la to the various colonies pennsylvania of course got her copy first drat and at noon on an july 8 thomson stood on a wooden platform an the th statehouse yard it had been placed there incidentally in 1700 1709 to enable an astronomer one david rittenhouse to observe a transit of venus and rend read the declaration to a vast crowd of citizens these citizens cheered the reading then sped away to pull down the royal arms in the courtroom and to ring the liberty bell As for the fiction of rinsing ringing the liberty bell until it cracked that mishap 4 however did not occur until 1835 when it was being tolled for the death of chief justice john marshall now for the actual signing of the declaration of independence after it had been adopted on july 4 an en grossed copy on parchment for all the delegates to sign was ordered the tha man who held the pen biad formed the tha letters on this copy tho the one which Is 1 preserved today in the national sarina in the library of congress was waa timothy matlack the best penman in the omee office of charles thomson secretary of the continental congress it was completed by august 2 and on that date was signed by 64 54 delegates two others signed later they th ey were thomas mckean of deleware who was absent with hla his regiment in tile tha continental army at the time of the signing on august 2 and matthew thornton of new hampshire thorn ton was waa not elected to congress until tile the autumn ut uran but la in november he be was wan permitted to sign and thus made the tha total of the 00 50 signers of tho the declara tion alon of independence As AD for the other errors in the state went of the average ave raffe quoted at the beginning of this article the th phrase all men era are born free and equal does doea not occur in the declara Dectar it tion that phrase Is often confused with the state statement luent all men art are created equal which does loc appear in the th famous document the born free and equal wording la Is in tho the constitution of framed in ili 1779 1770 and n no doubt inspired by the statement in th tho declaration george washington of course was wn not ia a algner of the declaration of independence at the th time tile the CoutIn continental congress WM was la IA philadelphia declaring he was ln cambridge mass welding together that continental army which was to make good tile declaration lie ile was a signer of tho the constitution after tile the revolution and the fact no doubt that his name appears on till immortal document leads to tho the idea that lie was ulso a signer of the earlier important lorrant lor tant document |