While it is often said that the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776,
this isn't actually correct.
In fact, nobody signed it on the 4th.
This is contradictory to Thomas Jefferson’s, John Adams’, and Benjamin Franklin’s account
of events.
On top of their accounts, the public congressional record of events back their story.
So how do we know it didn't happen this way?
To begin with, the Secret Journals of Congress that were eventually made public in 1821 paint
a different story.
They contain an entry stating, on August 2nd: “The declaration of independence being engrossed
& compared at the table was signed by the Members.”
Now if this was the only evidence, one might lean towards a typo in the journal and believing
the aforementioned three individuals and public congressional record.
However, one of the other signers of the declaration, Thomas McKean, denied the July 4th signing
date and backed it up by illustrating a glaring flaw in Jefferson’s, Adams’, and Franklin’s
argument- namely, that most of the signers were not members of congress on July 4th and
thus wouldn’t have been there to sign it.
It was literally impossible.
As McKean said in 1796: “No person signed it on that day nor for many days after."
Further evidence comes from the interesting fact that the parchment version of the Declaration
of Independence that is on display and kept in the United States National Archives wasn’t
actually written until July 19th; this being a copy of the approved text that was announced
to the world on July 4th, with about 150-200 copies being made on paper and distributed
on that date (26 of which are still around today, thus pre-dating what is now generally
thought of by most as the “original”).
This little tidbit also came from the Secret Journals of Congress which has an entry on
July 19th stating: “Resolved that the Declaration passed on the 4th be fairly engrossed on parchment
with the title and stile of 'The unanimous declaration of the thirteen united states
of America' & that the same when engrossed be signed by every member of Congress.”
So, in the end, this signed document probably would have been copied by Timothy Matlack,
Jefferson’s clerk, rather than penned by Jefferson himself, and certainly couldn’t
have been signed on July 4th.
It's also interesting to note that John Adams thought that July 2nd, not July 4th, would
be celebrated in the future in the United States.
On July 3, 1776, in a letter to his wife, Abigail, Adams noted:
“The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America.
I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary
festival.
It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to
God Almighty.
It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires,
and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever
more.”
So why did he think July 2nd would be Independence Day and how did July 4th end up getting the
nod instead?
Because July 2nd is when the Second Continental Congress voted to approved a resolution of
independence.
Although nobody voted on or signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, that was the
date the Declaration was announced to the world, and why it was ultimately chosen as
Independence Day.
Another little talked about matter was how Britain initially responded to the announcement.
Rather than give a formal response to the declaration, the British instead secretly
commissioned John Lind to write a response entitled "Answer to the Declaration of the
American Congress".
One of the main thrusts of the response was criticizing one of the colonists' statements
and the blatant hypocrisy it demonstrated: "all men are created equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness".
All the while the same drafters of the declaration and the colonists were slave owners, denying
their slaves rights and certainly rarely granting liberty or the opportunity for the slaves
to pursue their own happiness.
This criticism was obviously valid and had been something that had been discussed heatedly
by the Continental Congress.
The original declaration even included a section concerning slavery, blaming the British for
their part in the original slave trade and listing this as a reason the colonists no
longer wanted to be part of Great Britain.
From this and other evidence, it is generally thought that many in the congress would have
liked to see the end of slavery with the birth of the nation; they were quite aware of the
hypocrisy of "all men are created equal..." and the injustice of slavery.
However, this would have devastated certain of the colonies economically which could have
crippled the burgeoning nation; thus, tragically, the issue was pushed aside for a later generation
to address.
In any event, following the announcement of the Declaration and the eventual parchment
version being signed, the document itself was neglected after the revolution.
Even early celebrations of Independence Day ignored the original statement of that independence.
It was the act that was thought important, not the text.
Indeed, even while drafting the constitution, the document itself wasn't used as a source,
in terms of ideals, for how it should be drawn up.
Even the French Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen in 1789 borrowed from George Mason's
Declaration of Rights instead of the Declaration of Independence's view on this, even though
Jefferson himself was in Paris and was consulted on the French Declaration.
It wasn't until political parties formed that anyone really thought anything of the actual
text.
Once that happened, Jefferson's supporters used the fact that he was the primary author
to their political advantage.
This created heated back and forth over the document's authorship itself and eventually
resulted in it being more prominently thought of in terms of importance of the text.
However, even then, it wasn't until the 1850s that the document itself became important
for more than historical reasons.
Once again centering around the "all men are created equal..." paragraph, now being used
to proclaim worker's, women's, and once again, slave's rights.
The latter usage of the text was taken up by Abraham Lincoln in 1854.
He felt that the founding fathers expected that slavery would be a dying institution
in the new United States.
He also felt that the Declaration of Independence was one of the founding documents of the nation
and not just a simple statement declaring secession from Britain.
He used this view frequently in his arguments against slavery:
"Nearly eighty years ago we began by declaring that all men are created equal; but now from
that beginning we have run down to the other declaration, that for some men to enslave
others is a 'sacred right of self-government.'
... Our republican robe is soiled and trailed in the dust.
Let us repurify it.
... Let us re-adopt the Declaration of Independence, and with it, the practices, and policy, which
harmonize with it.
... If we do this, we shall not only have saved the Union: but we shall have saved it,
as to make, and keep it, forever worthy of the saving."
Lincoln's view that the Declaration was one of the founding documents in terms of defining
the nation eventually became the nation's view, even though it was not predominately
so before him.
This was an extremely important development in America's history in terms of interpreting
the constitution.
Many things in the constitution were previously seen one way, but in the light of the text
in the Declaration of Independence being now considered important, were now seen another
way.
Bonus Fact: Legend has it that Thomas Jefferson was chosen
to write the Declaration of Independence over the much more qualified and skilled writer
Ben Franklin, because Franklin was known to put very subtle satire in just about everything
he wrote and, quite often, nobody but he was smart enough to comprehend it until much later.
Knowing this document would likely be examined closely by the nations of the world at that
time, it is claimed they chose to avoid the issue by having the much less gifted writer,
Jefferson, write it instead, with Franklin and three others to help Jefferson draft it.
The drafters were known as the "Committee of Five", consisting of John Adams, Roger
Sherman, Ben Franklin, Robert Livingston, and Thomas Jefferson.
So is this true?
Well, we personally could find no primary document to support this, so only have the
word of Ormand Seavey, editor of Oxford's edition of Ben Franklin's autobiography saying
it is.
Unfortunately, Seavey, while seemingly an extremely credible source, does not say where
he got this information.
Whatever the case, ironically given the whole point was to declare independence from Britain,
Jefferson and the other four delegates charged with drafting the Declaration of Independence
leaned heavily on the English Declaration of Rights as a model for
their own declaration.