-- A Clarification: The "Real" Declaration of Independence . . . (yeah, there's more to the story than simply July 4th) --

[Scott T. Shier]

~  Happy 4th of July! Wait, scratch that. We mean: Happy 2nd of July!

Hold on, that's still not right: Happy 2nd of August, 1776!  ~

" John Adams thought that future generations of Americans should celebrate Independence Day "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." Adams omitted the burgers, hot dogs, and beer kegs, but his heart was in the right place. Oddly, when he wrote these words to his wife, Abigail, on July 3, 1776, he wasn't talking about the Fourth of July. He was speaking of what he considered to be the nation's true birthday: July 2, 1776.

The events leading up to that date were as follows: On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposed that the colonies break with England. Though the citizenry had debated this point for years, the thought of finally doing the deed shook the delegates [of the Second Continental Congress]. To calm themselves, they did what any political body would do: They postponed the vote for a month. During that time, a Committee of Five (congressmen) --Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman-- was appointed to write the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson ended up doing most of the heavy lifting, with some editorial suggestions from Adams and Franklin.

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Tensions were running high by July 1st, the day of an "unofficial" vote. Only 9 colonies supported the break. South Carolina and Pennsylvania voted "NO", Delaware was deadlocked, and New York abstained. But when the official vote came on July 2nd, twelve of the 13 colonies voted 'in favor'. New York abstained again; they were waiting for permission that was --allegedly-- held up in 'Ye Olde Trafficke, but promised they would vote 'yea' in a few days. It wasn't exactly unanimous, but Congress went with it anyway. The motion carried. A new nation was born!

For the next 2 days, Congress "polished" -[read: mangled & changed]- the language of the Declaration, and the document was officially adopted on July 4th. But only 2 men --President of Congress John Hancock and his secretary, Charles Thomson-- actually signed the document on that day! Shortly after, a local printer named John Dunlap set the words into type, and about 200-qty. copies were distributed throughout the new 13 States. When Americans saw the July 4th date emblazoned at the top of Dunlap's broadside, they mistook the date of adoption for the day of the momentous vote itself. In fact, it wasn't until August 2, 1776, that the majority of the Signers affixed their signatures to a fancier version of the "unanimous" Declaration -- the one displayed today at the National Archives, in Washington, D.C.

By August 1776, thousands of colonists were already regarding the July 4th date as the most significant day in their fledgling nation's history. To avoid 'upsetting' this pleasant fiction, Congress sneakily back-dated some official records to show that ALL 56 men had signed on 4-July-1776. Of course, this introduced a bizarre anachronism into the final record: The men who were present in Philadelphia and who actually voted for independence on July 2nd, were not the same group of men who signed on August 2nd! By the time August 2nd rolled around, some of the original voters were out of town, fighting in the war, helping their States write new constitutions -- or, they had been replaced by entirely new delegates. Moreover, not all the delegates could make it to the big affair on August 2nd, and thus they signed when they could get around to it -- one gentleman signed as late as 1781, wow.

But that doesn't make for a tidy story, does it? No wonder we've wished each other a Happy Fourth of July ever since. "

More to come . . . 

    ~ Scott S.