Unsung Patriots: The Printing of the Declaration of Independence

Happy Independence Day!

Something special happened over two centuries ago...

Thomas Jefferson first submitted his draft of the 
Declaration of Independence to 
John Adams and Benjamin Franklin because 
he especially valued their judgment.
(Picture taken from the HBO series  "John Adams")

I cannot think of another document more important to the United States of America than the Declaration of Independence.  No,  I haven't forgotten about the Constitution.  But without the Declaration there would be no Constitution.
This is why I try to actively celebrate and write about it,  in some form or another,  annually,  for the Declaration is  our liberty.  As is written in the context:  “We hold these truths to be self-evident,  that 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."  And, a number of years later,  in 1783,  Benjamin Franklin wrote:  "Where liberty dwells,  there is my country." 
This is why I have two framed copies of the Declaration of Independence hanging in my house:  one in my living room and one in my period parlor - one a printed copy from mid-July,  1776,  and the other a handwritten copy from later that month.
Two differing copies of the same thing...
So this year I thought I would write a post about the Declaration from a slightly different angle;  I want to give a little kudos to the men who originally printed out the broadsides to be sent out right off the presses for public reading back in that summer of 1776,  for they put their lives on the line as treasonists nearly as much as the signers did.

Let's begin with a quick overview of events leading up to the writing of the Declaration:
On June 7,  1776,  Richard Henry Lee,  a delegate to the Second Continental Congress,  presented a draft of a resolution that called for the Congress to declare a separation from British rule.
Understandably,  there was much hesitation;  should Congress again attempt some sort of reconciliation with the Mother Country,  or should they declare nationhood and risk the increased wrath of the British monarchy?
They were divided on the issue and discussion ensued.  It was three days later when they voted to postpone consideration of  Lee's resolution until July 1st,  1776.  On that date,  Congress would reopen the debate on the issue of independence.  Meanwhile,  a committee would be formed to draft a proposed declaration of independence.

The Committee of Five

It was a committee of five - Benjamin Franklin,  John Adams,  and Thomas Jefferson,  along with Robert Livingston and Roger Sherman - who had drafted the formal declaration to be ready when Congress voted.

Thomas Jefferson,  as the main writer of the document,  never claimed originality for the philosophy he embodied in what he had written.  It was an expression of the mind of the American patriots of that age and he was among the first of these.  In explaining his involvement, Jefferson said he was asked by the others in this committee to write the draft.  There appears to have been several meetings of the committee,  discussing the general character and form of the document,  including the idea of a government by consent based upon rights derived from natural law,  which was an ancient one.  But this theory of government in the Declaration of Independence was the first example in history in which a new nation erected its government  "of the people,  by the people and for the people."

Jefferson first submitted his draft to Adams and Franklin because he especially valued their judgment.  Suggestions of theirs were written in,  and the document was accepted by the full committee. 

The approval of this resolution for independence from Britain was passed on July 2 at the Second Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia with no opposing vote cast.  And it was on that same day that the Pennsylvania Evening Post published this:  “This day the Continental Congress declared the United Colonies Free and Independent States.”
From that point,  we now considered ourselves to be a new nation.

Page 1 of John Adams' letter to Abigail

Page 2 of John Adams' letter to Abigail

The next day,  July 3,  John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail:  "The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha,  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 Act of Devotion to God Almighty.  It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade with shews,  Games,  Sports,  Guns,  Bells,  Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of the Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more."    

So why do we celebrate July 4th as Independence Day and not July 2nd as John Adams noted?
We do so because the Declaration of Independence itself was adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4,  1776,  making it  "official."

Should we vote for independence or not?
(Picture taken from the HBO series  "John Adams")

Eighty six alterations were made to the draft of the Declaration before Congress approved the document on July 4^th,  1776.  Once approved,  the manuscript,  possibly Thomas Jefferson's  "fair copy"  of his rough draft,  was taken to printer John Dunlap that very afternoon to typeset and print copies.  John Dunlap,  the  "official printer to the Continental Congress,"  was born in Strabane,  Northern Ireland in 1746 and came to the American Colonies as a boy of ten.  He was apprenticed to his uncle William Dunlap,  a printer in Philadelphia,  whose shop was located near the corner of 2nd and Market Streets,  just blocks away from the State House  (Independence Hall),  and he took the business over from his uncle in 1766.  By 1771,  he printed a weekly newspaper,  "The Pennsylvania Packet or The General Advertiser."  
It was in 1776 that Dunlap was named printer to The Continental Congress.

An original version printed by John
Dunlap on the night of July 4,  1776.

And so it was on that historical day and date of the 4th of July in 1776 when Dunlap was commissioned to produce the first printed versions of the Declaration of Independence in that same Philadelphia shop once belonging to his uncle.  For the time he printed that day and well into the evening,  he was supervised by the drafting committee.  Dunlap continued working feverishly throughout the night,  printing approximately 200 broadsides so they could be posted,  read aloud,  and distributed to the thirteen states and elsewhere by couriers on July 5th to alert the citizenry of this momentous event in time.  As John Adams later wrote,  "We were all in haste."
A copy of the printed version of the approved Declaration was also inserted into the  "rough journal"  of the Continental Congress for the previous day.  The text was followed by the words  "Signed by Order and in Behalf of the Congress,  John Hancock,  President.  Attest.  Charles Thomson,  Secretary."

The first reading of the Declaration...July 5th, 1776 in Philadelphia.
(from the HBO miniseries  "John Adams")

Copies were also dispatched by members of Congress to various assemblies,  conventions,  and committees of safety as well as to the commanders of Continental Army.  In fact,  it was one of these Dunlap broadsides that was delivered to George Washington in New York to be read aloud to the troops:

"George Washington,  General Orders,  July 9,  1776~

The Hon.  The Continental Congress,  impelled by the dictates of duty,  policy and necessity,  having been pleased to dissolve the Connection which subsisted between this Country,  and Great Britain,  and to declare the United Colonies of North America,  free and independent States:  The several brigades are to be drawn up this evening on their respective Parades,  at Six O'Clock,  when the declaration of Congress,  shewing the grounds and reasons of this measure,  is to be read with an audible voice. 

The General hopes this important Event will serve as a fresh incentive to every officer,  and soldier,  to act with Fidelity and Courage,  as knowing that now the peace and safety of his Country depends  (under God)  solely on the success of our arms:  And that he is now in the service of a State,  possessed of sufficient power to reward his merit,  and advance him to the highest Honors of a free Country."

Painting by Mort Kunstler

As Washington's soldiers stood ready for the brigadiers and colonels of their regiments to read the Declaration of Independence,  they first heard the words written above by their commander followed by Jefferson's stirring words explaining that all men were created equal and endowed by their Creator with the inalienable rights of life,  liberty,  and the pursuit of happiness.

Down with King George!

The words were so moving that citizens who had heard the Declaration raced down Broadway toward a large statue of George III.  They toppled and decapitated it,   much in the same manner as you see in the picture to the left here,  and then later melting down the body for bullets that would be much needed in the coming battles to defend New York and the new nation that lay beyond it.

Of the many  "Dunlap broadsides”  of the Declaration that were printed on that most important of nights,  only twenty-five copies are known to exist today:  20 owned by American institutions,  including one which is currently housed at Independence National Historic Park in Philadelphia that was donated to the park by the heirs of Colonel John Nixon,  the man appointed by the sheriff of Philadelphia to read the Declaration aloud in the State House yard on July 8,  1776.  Two others are now owned by British institutions,  and three by private individuals.
By setting the world-changing document in type,  John Dunlap placed himself in harm’s way as much as any delegate.

A modified Mort Kunstler painting 
to depict what it may have looked like while the 
Declaration of Independence was being printed.

It is romantic to think that Benjamin Franklin,  the greatest printer of his day,  was there in Dunlap’s shop to supervise,  and that Jefferson,  the nervous author,  was also close at hand.  If so,  the Declaration was not only written by the founders,  but perhaps set into type and printed by them as well.  In every way they could,  these ink-splattered geniuses willed the document — and by extension the republic — into existence.  We’ll never know for sure.  But as Franklin might have appreciated:  print the legend.

Over the next two days,  the Dunlap broadsides were sent around the colonies — now states — and to dignitaries like George Washington,  who ordered the Declaration read to his troops.  A copy was also sent,  as it had to be,  to England,  where the news was received with considerably less enthusiasm.  These first printings may look less dramatic than the manuscript we know and love,  but they were created closer to the germinal moment than anything known to exist.
(From the New York Times)

Okay...yes...this is me at an ancient printing press.  I am not sure 
just how ancient,  but considering it is a printing press inside 
historic Greenfield Village pretty much says it's old.

The Dunlap copies,  by the way,  do not carry the same title of unanimity as the original engrossed copy due to New York's abstention until July 9th.  Instead,  the Dunlap copies carry the title  "In Congress July 4,  1776,  A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America in General Congress Assembled."

Here we see the opening of the original printing of the Declaration,  originally stamped as 
a broadside by printer John Dunlap on July 4,  1776 under Jefferson's supervision.  These 
broadsides were not signed,  though John Hancock's name was large in print.
The full engrossed copy so well known seen below was made later and was the version 
famously signed by the delegates.

Note the opening lines of the two versions differ.

We are now unanimous!
This is the print of which was signed  (mostly)  on 
August 2,  1776

(handwriting courtesy of  John Matlack)

When the Dunlap copy of the Declaration arrived in Boston about July 15,  printer John Gill,  a patriot and publisher who was also a leading advocate of American colonial independence from Britain,  set it in type the following day and had it ready for distribution on the 18th,  where it was was read from the balcony of the Old State House for the first time.  Large crowds gathered to hear the address.

Only three copies from this John Gill edition have survived. 

Partners in printing,  John Gill and Benjamin Edes were who I consider part of that large group of unsung patriots.  Known for the increasingly anti-British,  pro-independence stance of their publications as well as for their Boston Gazette weekly paper,  Gill and Edes were for some time official printers to the colonial government of Massachusetts.  However,  their propaganda activities cost them the appointment;  Edes helped to form the Sons of Liberty and,  through the Boston Gazette,  agitated against the Stamp Act,  the Townshend Acts and the tea tax.  The newspaper broke news about tax disputes,  the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party:  on Dec. 16,  1773,  Benjamin Edes hosted a group of men in the print shop before they set out for the three ships in the harbor called the Dartmouth,  the Eleanor,  and the Beaver,  to participate in what became known as the Boston Tea Party.
His son,  Peter,  who would turn 17 the next day,  saw some of what happened.  In a letter to his own grandson in 1836,  Peter Edes recounted what he remembered of that event:
"I knew but little about it,  as I was not admitted into their presence,  for fear,  I suppose,  of their being known,"  he wrote.
In 1775 Edes left Boston.

The type is set for the Boston edition
of the Declaration
(Pictures courtesy of the
 Printing Office of Edes and Gill)

John Gill stayed on,  and he was arrested by the British and charged with publishing  “treason,  sedition,  and rebellion.”  After the Declaration of Independence,  Gill resumed publishing a newspaper alone,  under the title Continental Journal and Weekly Advertiser.  This,  however,  was but a pale shadow of the radical and rambunctious Gazette.  He also was restored as official printer,  this time to the state.

Now,  as for Boston's  first printing of the Declaration of Independence,  we find only one original copy of the Gill version still exists and was located in the collection of the Bostonian Society by Gary Gregory, founder and Shop Master of the recreated Edes & Gill printing shop as well as the company known as The History List.  Gary then had all 9.000 characters of type meticulously cast in lead to match the original document.

This true recreation was then printed by hand at the historic Printing Office of Edes and Gill on July 3^rd  2012,  on the ancient Wooden Common Press using 100%  Cotton Linen,  Very-Fine Crane Laid paper,  marking the first time since July 1776  that anyone had printed the Boston Broadside of the Declaration of Independence. 
Opening its doors to the public in 2011,  the new version of the Printing Office of Edes & Gill is considered Boston’s only printer still doing the job in the old colonial ways,  and is located in the historic Clough House,  built in 1712,  and is part of the Old North Church Historic Site in Boston.

An exact replication of the Gill version of the Declaration.

(The new Printing Office of Edes & Gill,  by the way,  is non-profit 50(c)3 corporation funded entirely by donations,  gifts,  and the sale of materials printed on their historic press)  

A little bit on colonial printers and their occupation:

The folks who lived in the later colonial period were more remarkably informed than many give them credit for.  Like the tavern from that time,  the printing office was a center of local and imperial communications.  The broadsides and newspapers provided a way to exchange information and events between the thirteen colonies,  keeping people informed of major events,  influenced public opinion,  and,  as you have just read,  played a significant part in the decision to declare independence from Great Britain. 

Printers,  in many cases,  had to make their own paper - not an easy process - and though the paper production took several months,  the result was a quality that can last for five hundred years.

Many printers by mid-century used a popular typeface  (font)  called Caslon.  William Caslon I was an English gunsmith and designer of typefaces.  Around 1720 he created an extended set of serif typefaces known as Caslon. Benjamin Franklin,  who,  as you know,  was a printer himself,  liked the Caslon fonts so much that he hardly ever used any other typeface.  Ironically,  most of the type used by John Dunlap to compose the Declaration of Independence was likely from the Caslon type foundry – a British company,  and later  “letter-founder to the King.”  In fact,  the 1785 Caslon specimen book was even dedicated to King George III – the same King that the American colonists were declaring independence from!

It was also in the colonial period where we find that confusing  "long S"  - you know...the  's'  that looks like an  'f'?

See the long S?

Let's be honest - unless one is used to reading 250 year old documents,  American colonial handwriting and printing can look strange to many.  But if you want to understand or imitate colonial handwriting,  then using those long S's correctly is the most obvious thing to understand.  In colonial printing  'fonts,'  one can easily tell the  "s"  from a printed  "f"  by the little cross-bar being only on the left-hand side,  or may not be there at all.  In colonial handwriting,  the  "long s"  is written like an  "f,"  except the bottom loop is written clockwise instead of counter-clockwise. 

By the way,  the  "long s"  wasn't used randomly.  

Here are the rules for when to use it or help to understand how it's used in colonial handwriting:
Use the  "long s"  at the beginning and middle of words,  but use the regular  "s"  for the last letter of a word.
If there are two s's together,  use the  "long s"  for the first one and the regular  "s"  for the second one.  Use the regular  "s"  before and after the letter  "f"  (the real letter "f"!)
Use the regular  "S"  whenever the  "S"  is uppercase,  like at the beginning of a sentence.
Here is an original example of the colonial style of writing:
It's really not too difficult.  It just takes a little getting used to.
So,  for an idea of how a colonial printer's shop,  such as the ones owned by Dunlap or Gill,  worked to prepare to print,  the following,  taken from the Colonial Williamsburg pamphlet  "The Apprentice,"  explains what it was like in an easy and concise manner:

The compositor  (one who sets the type for printing)  took one letter  (or character)  at a time from the cases in which the type was stored to create the words & sentences on a composing stick.  When a paragraph was completed,  he transferred it to a wooden tray called a galley.  The type would then be slid onto a flat,  marble stone and secured the type in an iron frame called a chase.  The prepared type would then be carefully carried to the printing press.  If he accidentally dropped the chase,  many hours of work would be lost.

One of the printers being used to recreate authentic replications of 
Gill's Boston edition of the Declaration of Independence.
(Picture courtesy of the Printing Office of Edes and Gill)

A worker called the beater would then rub two leather-covered balls with ink made of linseed oil,  pine resin,  and soot.  The puller would then give a good, strong smooth yank on the bar of the press to force the paper onto the inked type below. 

Working together,  the beater and the puller could print 
200 sheets in an hour.
(Picture courtesy of the Printing Office of Edes and Gill)

It was painstakingly setting the type that took the longest for the printer.

I can only imagine what the colonial printer would think of our printing process today.

I was so impressed that copies of the Declaration were bring 
printed individually on a period printing press, 
that I naturally purchased a copy for myself.
(Above picture courtesy of the Printing Office of Edes and Gill)

It now hangs framed in my parlor...

...where everyone can see it!

By the way,  The History List/Printing Office of Edes and Gill has a fine video showing the printing of the Declaration on the old press just as would have been done in July of 1776.
To see it,  please click HERE.

And finally,  let's talk a little about Timothy Matlack,  of Pennsylvania,  for there is a consensus that it was  “probably”  he,  an appointed clerk to the secretary of the Second Continental Congress,  who hand wrote the most famous signed copy of the Declaration of Independence on parchment paper later in July to be signed by members of Congress.  Incidentally,  Matlack also wrote George Washington’s 1775 commission.

Tim Matlack’s document is usually referred to as the  “engrossed”  copy.  If you’ve never heard the term,  it is commonly used to describe official,  often legal,  documents such as deeds and commissions.  More specifically,  it denotes a document written in a clear,  formal hand,  meant to be the authoritative copy.  And authoritative the engrossed Declaration is.

This is the handwritten version we see most frequently,  with the signatures of the 56  "treasonous"  men across the bottom. 

The John Matlack  "engrossed"  copy,  hand-written and signed -
the most famous version of the Declaration of Independence. 

One of the very cool things we,  as living historians,  get to do is read the Declaration of Independence as if it were recently hand-delivered via a courier...all the while wearing our period clothing in doing so:

I,  along with a couple other Patriots,  had the privilege of reading 
the Declaration at a reenactment in Fort Wayne,  Indiana.
It was an honor. 

I annually try to post something to do with the anniversary of the birth of our nation either on or around July 4th,  for it is such an important and great holiday for all Americans.
Yeah...my patriotic pride is showing...but I have always been patriotic - even as a young child.  Now as an adult I research and study deep and intense the life and times of our founding generation.  Oh,  I do find discrepancies here and there,  and it's then I will attempt to look at the whole picture rather than what the current trend may be  (I try not to use modern politics or thought in making my decisions).

Time to settle down and read about this Independence thing...
(My own little vignette I set up at my desk)

Anyhow,  I hope you enjoyed today's post,  and if maybe you learned something new,  as I did while researching it,  then all the better.

Until next time,  see you in time.

Other related postings of mine you might like:

The 18th Century Printing Trade...and Just What The Heck Is That Long "S" About Anyhow?
With Liberty & Justice For All
Paul Revere
Life in Colonial Times
Boston Massacre
Battle of Lexington & Concord
Declaring Independence
Turn: The Original Culper Spy Ring

Some of the sources for this posting came from a few respected internet links,  including George Washington's Mount Vernon, World Digital Library,  and The History List.   Also,  I gleaned other bits from a variety of books on my shelf,  including the Colonial Williamsburg pamphlet  "The Apprentice."
The source for the type of typeface used in printing the Declaration came from HERE

And,  for one of the best filmed versions of the founding of our nation ever made,  please click HERE

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The Great Declaration of July 4th, 1776: Reactions From Those Who Were There

Often we remember seeing or hearing important events when they occurred for the first time;  the moon landing,  Kennedy's death,  9-11,  or,  for our elderly, the bombing of Pearl Harbor,  etc.  Maybe even something lighter like when the Beatles first came to America or when Woodstock happened.  So,  I would imagine hearing something as important and newsworthy as Britain's American colonies declaring Independence would have to had been the ultimate news item,  as far as America is concerned,  right?
Now,  naturally,  all from that era of 1776 are far gone - 200 years gone for most - so to hear their stories would be impossible.
Or is it?

~   ~   ~

~  ~

~

.

We in our modern day have venerated the Declaration of Independence to a level of mythical proportions;  we hold it in the highest regard of  any of our historical documents.  It is sort of the Alpha & Omega of the United States of America,  followed closely by our Constitution.
Let's explore this a bit further and maybe understand why...

Here is the first time we see
"The United States of America!"

Independence Day is my 2nd favorite holiday.  Christmas is the toppermost for me,  but our country's birthday is a close second.  I've always loved this most celebrated summer holiday - it is the epitome of birthday parties.  I remember the Bicentennial of 1976 when everything you saw or heard had something to do with the Revolutionary War.  I was in my glory!  The 4th of July fireworks that year were the best ever,  without question.  But then it soon all faded away,  and by the early-1980s,  the excitement was hardly a ripple.
But I never lost my passion for the Revolutionary era.  And I never lost my love for our country - my patriotism has always stood strong,  even through adversity.
So now I reenact the time of the founding generation,  and with the coming of the sestercentennial  (250th anniversary),  it is the perfect time to reinvigorate and re-familiarize ourselves with this most important period in our history.
Each July 4th since 2015 I have made a special effort to publish a blog post celebrating,  in some way or another,  a story about our fight for independence.  And this is the 3rd year in a row that my Independence Day post has something to do with the Great Declaration.  I have tried to do each from a little bit of a different angle...with a more personal  you are there  feel,  to help garner excitement and understanding for our rich past.
Oh---and since 2011,  I have celebrated our country's birthday by wearing period clothing and attempting to  'live'  history for the short moment.
So let's take you back to that hot summer of  '76 - 1776 - so you,  too,  can experience what it was like to hear of this declaration that seemed to be on everyone's lips:

The Pennsylvania Evening Post
July 6,  1776

As you should hopefully know,  the 2nd Continental Congress had voted for independence on July 2.  Two days later,  on July 4,  this declaration,  explaining the reasons for this separation from England,  and was largely written by Thomas Jefferson  (with help and suggestions from Benjamin Franklin,  John Adams,  Robert Livingston,  and Roger Sherman),  was finally adopted.  Hence, the date of July 4 and not July 2.
The colonies are claiming INDEPENDENCE! 
Immediately,  the words of the document were typeset and printed onto broadsides where they were delivered by couriers throughout the British colonies and set on ships to be seen in far-off  France and...England.
Besides being distributed as a broadside,  the Declaration of Independence was published on the front page of the Pennsylvania Evening Post on July 6, 1776 - the first newspaper to do so.  Other newspapers picked up the story and printers elsewhere produced additional broadsides.
This was news;  just imagine these backwoods country folk declaring independence from the world's greatest super power!
And it certainly did cause a stir throughout the land,  as you shall soon see.
Now place yourself into the mindset of those who were around in July of 1776;  your awareness of the future is gone...this is the best way to understand the excitement  (by 18th century definition)  that it caused.

Evening has come to pass...

time to write a letter.

You may recall the famous letter John Adams wrote to his wife,  Abigail,  dated July 3rd,  noting his exuberance upon the approval of this resolution for independence from Britain when it was passed on July 2.  This took place at the Second Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia with no opposing vote cast.  In the letter Adams wrote,   "The Second Day of July 1776,  will be the most memorable Epocha,  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 Act of Devotion to God Almighty.  It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade with shews,  Games,  Sports,  Guns,  Bells,  Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of the Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more."
On Sunday, July 14,  Abigail Adams replied to her husband in this manner:
"By yesterdays post I received two Letters dated 3 and 4 of July and tho your Letters never fail to give me pleasure,  be the subject what it will,  yet it was greatly heightened by the prospect of the future happiness and glory of our Country;  nor am I a little Gratified when I reflect that a person so nearly connected with me has had the Honour of being a principal actor,  in laying a foundation for its future Greatness.  May the foundation of our new constitution,  be justice,  Truth and Righteousness.  Like the wise Mans house may it be founded upon those Rocks and then neither storms or temptests will overthrow it."
How exciting for Mrs.  Adams to bear witness to what her husband had helped to accomplish  (with her help,  I have no doubt).

Now,  we have been told that the first public reading of the Declaration occurred on July 8 of that grand year of  '76.  However,  it seems there was an earlier public reading.  The following comes from  Chris Coelho in his article published in the Journal of the American Revolution site:

Broadside announcement.

In 1992,  the legal scholar Wilfred J.  Ritz presented evidence of a public reading on July 4,  1776.  Although Ritz originally thought that a  “leaked”  copy was read that day,  it was,  in fact,  an official copy in the hands of a staff member.  One eyewitness was Charles Biddle,  later Vice President of Pennsylvania’s Supreme Executive Council.  He wrote,  “On the memorable Fourth of July,  1776,  I was at the Old State-House yard when the Declaration of Independence was read. There were very few respectable citizens present.”

Another spectator,  Quaker Deborah Norris Logan,  was fourteen in the summer of 1776.  In a diary she started many years later,  she described what she saw and heard on July 4:

It is now a matter of doubt as what hour,  or how, the Declaration was given to the people.  Perhaps few now remain that heard it read on that day.  But of the few I am one: being in the lot adjoining to our old mansion house in Chestnut Street,  that then extended to 5th Street,  I distinctly heard the words of that Instrument read to the people  (I believe from the State House steps,  for I did not see the reader)  a low building on 5th Street  (later the location of City Hall)  which prevented my sight and I think it was Charles Thomson’s voice.  It took place a little after twelve at noon and they then proceeded down the street,  (I understood)  to read it at the Court House.  It was a time of fearful doubt and great anxiety with the people,  many of whom were appalled at the boldness of the measure,  and the first audience was neither very numerous,  nor composed of the most respectable class of citizens.

As Logan orients us,  the Norris property bordered the State House on the south side of Chestnut Street.  Standing in her own yard,  she could see the crowd on the street and hear the speaker,  but due to an obstructed view,  she could not see him. 

You gotta love deeper research!

Now let's imagine being at the very first,  what we might say,  "official"  public reading of the Declaration,  which took place in Philadelphia on July 8,  1776 to a much larger crowd than read to on the 4th.  Word of the Declaration by that point had gotten out and,  I would venture to guess,  there were some mighty interested folk who wanted to hear it  "official."  

Most of what you are about to read comes directly from the book,  The Declaration of Independence by Rod Gragg  (see link at the bottom of this post):
At noon on July 8,  1776 - a hot day in Philadelphia - several hundred people crowded onto the State House courtyard to hear a public reading of the Declaration of Independence.  Colonel John Nixon,  of the Philadelphia Committee of safety,  climbed atop an odd makeshift stage---a circular platform used for astronomy studies...

The reading of the Great Declaration at the 
State House in Philadelphia on July 8, 1776
(from the John Adams HBO mini-series)

There,  elevated above the crowd,  he began to read.  
In Congress,  July 4,  1776.
A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America
In General Congress Assembled.
When in the Course of Human Events...
When he finished,  resounding cheers rose from the courtyard.  Nine men selected for the honor then proceeded to the front of the State House,  where the king's coat of arms was mounted above the entrance.  Every day of both sessions of the Continental Congress,  the delegates had walked under this symbol of Royal authority on the way to deliberations.  Now it was pried from the wall and carried triumphantly to the London Coffee House.  In the street outside that evening---after a parade and thirteen gun salute---it was ceremoniously tossed onto a bonfire.  Church bells rang into the night,  and Philadelphians everywhere lit candles in their windows.

Bells,  cannon,  and musketry all commemorated the new United States of America!
(from the John Adams HBO miniseries)

And John Adams,  in a letter to Samuel Chase from Philadelphia dated 9 July,  1776, wrote: 
"You will see by this post that the river is passed,  and the bridge cut away.  The Declaration was yesterday published and proclaimed from that awful stage in the State-house yard,  by whom,  do you think?  By the Committee of Safety,  the Committee of Inspection,  and a great crowd of people.  Three cheers rended the welkin.  The battalions paraded on the Commons,  and gave us the feu de joie  (bonfire),  notwithstanding the scarcity of powder.  The bells rang all day and almost all night.  Even the chimers chimed away.  The election for the city was carried on,  amidst all this flurry,  with the utmost decency and order."


General George Washington received official notification when a letter dated July 6 arrived from John Hancock,  the president of the Continental Congress,  along with a copy of the declaration.  Hancock explained that Congress had struggled with American independence for some time,  and even after making this momentous decision many members were worried about its consequences.  He concluded that Americans would have to rely on the  "Being who controls both Causes and Events to bring about his own determination,"  a sentiment which Washington shared.  For the commander-in-chief,  who needed to lead his untrained army against Great Britain,  the decision for independence came as welcome news,  especially since his men would now fight not merely in defense of their colonies but for the birth of a new nation.  The Revolutionaries were intently aware of this immediate value of the Declaration.  As the report that appeared in the London Chronicle of September 26,  1776,  makes clear,  when the Declaration was officially read on July 9,  it had the desired effect.
The following is a combination of different source material that I had spliced together to give a more cohesive reading of the occurrences when George Washington had gathered his troops to hear this Declaration for the first time  (my sources are listed at the bottom of this post):

A Mort Kunstler painting of the reading of 
the Declaration of Independence to 
Washington's men.

On the evening of July 9,  1776,  thousands of Continental soldiers who had come from Boston to defend New York City from the British marched to the parade grounds in Lower Manhattan.  General George Washington had ordered them to assemble promptly at six o'clock to hear a declaration approved by the Continental Congress calling for American independence from Great Britain.
Washington,  like many others in the army,  had been waiting for this declaration for some time.  He had grown impatient with representatives who hoped for reconciliation with the mother country.  To those who believed peace commissioners were on their way to the colonies to effect this reconciliation,  Washington responded that the only people heading to the colonies were Hessian mercenaries.  Even as his men waited to hear the proclamation read aloud to them,  Washington knew that thousands of Hessians and even more redcoats were landing on Staten Island,  preparing for an attack on New York.

An actual newspaper/broadside
write up.  It says it was extracted
from a letter written on July 6,  but
history tells us it was first read
on July 8th.  
I don't understand...but here is the 
write up.

Washington rode into the middle of a hollow square formed by New York and Connecticut regiments while a chirp throng of civilians ringed the greensward.  As Washington's soldiers stood ready for the brigadiers and colonels of their regiments to read the Declaration of Independence,  they first heard words written by their commander.  Washington explained that Congress had   "dissolved the connection"  between  "this country"  and Great Britain and declared the  "United Colonies of North America"  to be  "free and independent states."  A uniformed aid spurred his horse forward;  the crowd hushed as he unfolded his script and began to read:  "In Congress,  July 4,  1776."  Even the most unlettered private recognized that something majestic was in the air.
Next came Jefferson's stirring words explaining that all men were created equal and endowed by their Creator with the inalienable rights of life,  liberty,  and the pursuit of happiness.  Since George III had trampled on these rights,  as Jefferson argued in a long list of complaints against him,  the people of the United States of America had the right to break the political bands that tied them to Great Britain and form a new government where the people would rule themselves.

The reader finished his oration,  a bit hoarse now,  by proclaiming all political ties with Britain  "to be totally dissolved"  and the colonies to be  "free and independent states."   A chaplain recited Psalm 80 v3:  "Turn us again,  O God,  and cause thy face to shine;  and we shall be saved."   Loud cheers washed over the commons,  and Thomas Mifflin,  the adjutant general reportedly climbed onto a cannon and shouted,   "My lads,  the Rubicon is crossed!"
Washington trotted back to his headquarters.  "The whole choir of our officers went to a public house to testify our joy at the happy news of Independence.  We spent the afternoon merrily,"   recorded Isaac Bangs.  The rambunctious crowd of listeners meandered south on Broadway.  Here,  George III,  identified that very evening in the Declaration as a tyrant  "unfit to be the ruler of a free people,"  sat atop his gilt horse on Bowling Green.  Whooping vandals broke through the iron fence surrounding the statue,  clambered onto the marble pedestal,  and lassoed the equestrian figure.  Scores of soldiers and civilians tugged on the ropes until the two-ton statue capsized with a tremendous crash---"leveled with ye dust,"   a witness reported.  The baying crowd decapitated the king,  whacked off his nose,  and clipped the laurels from his brow.  Someone fired a musket ball into the head,  and more balls punctured the torso.  Others scraped away the ten ounces of gold leaf that covered rider and mount.  With fife and drums playing  "The Rogues March,"  the severed head was first wheeled in a barrow to the Mortier house, then impaled on a spike outside the Blue Bell Tavern.  To one spectator the scene evoked the fallen angel Lucifer,  as described by poet John Milton:  "O how fallen!  How changed!"

Artist Johannes A. S. Oertel,  working in the mid-nineteenth century,  provides an imagined depiction of the destruction of George III's statue in Bowling Green,  the first victim of New Yorkers'  reaction to hearing news of the Declaration of Independence.  Oertel places women,  children,  and Native Americans among what eyewitnesses recorded as a rowdy crowd of soldiers and civilians

The head would be recovered by British Army engineer John Montresor and shipped to England to further illustrate the  "disposition of the ungrateful people."   The headless rider and horse were carted in fragments to a Connecticut foundry,  where patriot women melted the lead,  ladled it into molds,  and soon sent the army 42,088 bullets.  "It is hoped,"   the surgeon Isaac Bangs told his journal,  "that the emanations of the leaden George will make as deep impressions in the bodies of some of his red-coated and Tory subjects."
Exuberant demonstrations erupted throughout the thirteen new states as word of the Declaration spread.  Savanna held a sham burial of King George,  accompanied by muffled drums.  Other towns staged mock trials and executions.  A Long Island village fashioned an effigy of the king with a wooden crown and feathers,  wrapped it in a union jack packed with gun powder,  then blew it up on a gallows.  In Dover,  Delaware, rebels tossed George's portrait into a bonfire.  "Thus,"   they announced,  "we destroy even the shadow of that king who refused to reign over a free people."   In New Hampshire,  mobs smashed tavern signs depicting a crown or the king's arms;  some merchants refused coins with the king's likeness.

When a courier arrived in Boston around July 15 with one of the John Dunlap copies of the Declaration,  local printer John Gill,  a patriot and publisher who was also a leading advocate of American colonial independence from Britain,  set it in type the following day and had it ready for distribution on the 18th,  where it was read from the balcony of that city's Old State House for the first time.  Large crowds gathered to hear the address.

A sketch of the Declaration being read at the State House
in Boston on July 18,  1776.
Abigail Adams was among the crowd,  as you shall read:

In my opinion,  one of the most descriptive accounts of the reading of the Declaration comes from Abigail Adams.  As she wrote her husband, John,  on July 21,  1776 in Boston:

~Laura Linney as Abigail Adams 
from the HBO miniseries  "John Adams."

Yes, she not only very much looks the part,

but presents herself as I would imagine 
the real Mrs. Adams might have.

"Last Thursday after hearing a very good sermon I went with the Multitude into Kings Street to hear the proclamation for independence read and proclaimed.  Some Field pieces with the Train were brought there.  The troops appeared under Arms and all the inhabitants assembled there  (the small pox prevented many thousand from the Country).  When Col Crafts read from the Belcona of the State House the Proclamation,  great attention was given to every word.  As soon as he ended,  the cry from the Belcona,  was God save our American States and then 3 cheers which rended the air.  The Bells rang the privateers fired the forts and Batteries,  the cannon were discharged the platoons followed and every face appeared joyfull.   Mr.  Bowdoin then gave a Sentiment,  Stability and perpetuity to American independence.  After dinner the kings arms were taken down from the State House and every vestage of him from every place in which it appeared and burnt in king street.  Thus ends royall Authority in this state,  and all the people shall say Amen."

In the south:

~A reading of the Declaration of Independence at the 
Capitol at Colonial Williamsburg~ 

"Yesterday afternoon,"  Williamsburg's  Virginia Gazette  reported on July 26,  1776,  "agreeable to an order of the Hon.  Privy Council,  the Declaration of Independence was solemnly proclaimed at the Capitol,  the Courthouse,  and the palace,  amidst the acclamation of the people,  accompanied by firing of cannon and musketry,  the several regiments of continental troops having been paraded on that solemnity."

Photo courtesy of David M from the Colonial Williamsburg web site

One of my proudest moments was reading the Declaration at Old Fort Wayne in Fort Wayne,  Indiana.
We hold these truths to be self-evident,  that 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.

It wasn't until August of 1776 that the Declaration finally made it to England and was published on the front page of the London Chronicle.  The news reinforced King George's determination to subdue the Americans by warfare.  "Blows must decide if they are to be subjects to this Country or independent."
However,  I would imagine it was a bit of an understatement when the London Chronicle wrote that,   "everywhere  (the Declaration)  was received with loud huzzas, and the utmost demonstrations of joy."

Not since the spring of 1775 had spirits been so high, though the exuberance of the moment would soon be dashed, for the Regular Army would quickly create what would be the lowest point in George Washington's military career during the entire War.  Through a series of American defeats,  the British would soon overtake New York.  According to the Mount Vernon site:

"The results were catastrophic for the American forces whose defense rapidly evaporated in the face of the swiftly moving British forces.  The Americans had retreated to their defensive works on the Brooklyn heights."  (For more information on this campaign,  please click HERE)
By the end of August,  Washington decided to leave Long Island and focus on the defense of Manhattan.  The British planned to attack Manhattan by landing at Kip’s Bay.   On September 15,  the British opened fire from their ships and proceeded to land ashore.  Many of the Continental soldiers and militiamen panicked and deserted their posts.  Washington managed to galvanize troops the next day on Harlem Heights,  forcing back three battalions of British light infantry.  The small victory was tactically unimportant, but went a long way towards reinvigorating the Continental Army’s morale."

Not every colonist was pleased,  however.  On July 9th,  recent immigrant diarist Nicholas Cresswell,  a young English gentry farmer living in Virginia,  wrote:  "At Mr. Kirks.  News that the Sanhedrim had declared that the thirteen united Colonies,  Free and Independent States.  That this was intended by the Northern Colonies from the first I am well convinced..."
Cresswell then presents two letters from 1775  (that were written by John Adams)  which fell into British hands when the currier was captured in Rhode Island.  In them Adams speaks of the military build up of the Continentals to go against the British Army, among other items.

Francis Lewis

New York Declaration signers William Floyd,  Philip Livingston,  Lewis Morris,  and Francis Lewis were proscribed by the British authorities and had a price set upon their heads.  Very soon after they were in possession of Long Island,  Captain Birtch was sent to the home of Francis Lewis with a troop of light horse  "to seize the lady and destroy the property."
Lewis' wife,  Elizabeth,  remained calm as the soldiers advanced and a British warship opened fire on the house.  A soldier tore the glittering buckles from her shoes that looked to him like gold but were really just pinchbeck.  “All that glitters is not gold,”  she remarked to the disheartened young man.  The soldiers destroyed books from Lewis'  valuable library,  papers,  and pictures,  and ruthlessly broke up furniture.  After thoroughly pillaging the house they took Elizabeth captive and threw her into prison without a bed or a change of clothing,  and with scant food.  When this was brought to the attention of General Washington,  he ordered the arrest of Mrs. Barren,  wife of the British Paymaster-General,  and Mrs. Kempe,  wife of the Attorney-General of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.  He made it known that his captives would receive the same treatment as Mrs.  Lewis unless an exchange was made.  The exchange was arranged,  but Elizabeth’s health was seriously impaired by her captivity and imprisonment.  She joined Francis in Philadelphia in broken health and died in June 1779 with Francis at her side.
But more devastation was to befell other signers:

William Floyd

Philip Livingston and Lewis Morris flee'd their homes, and the home of William Floyd was also looted.  Thomas Jefferson and his family were also forced to leave their Virginia plantation.  John Hart's house in New Jersey was sacked as he was relentlessly pursued.  George Clymer,  from Pennsylvania,  had his home looted and his family driven away.  Thomas McKean of Delaware had to move his family no less than five times.  North Carolina's William Hooper suffered severe losses;  William Ellery of Rhode Island had his house burned;  and Georgia's Lyman Hall lost two houses.

And there were more instances like these.  'Twas a very tough break for many of the signers to now have their names immortalized.

After the  "high"  of hearing the Declaration of Independence,  the rest of 1776 did not go nearly as well as hoped.  And the War itself continued on until 1783,  ultimately  (and fortunately)  with the Americans winning.  Why the bedraggled farmers continued the fight with the hell they went through,  I honestly couldn't say,  but I do believe the thought of being a free and independent nation must have played a large role.
If you are like me and are interested in the lives of the common Revolutionary War soldier and civilian,  you would do yourself well by checking out the following books:
The Last Muster:  Images of the Revolutionary War Generation
and
The Last Muster:  Images of the American Revolution Vol. 2
both by Maureen Taylor
(Or,  for a quick overview of the above books,  click HERE)
Learning about the men who fought to give us a new nation is the best homage we can pay to them

......................

As I mentioned,  this is the third 4th of July that I've posted about the Declaration of Independence,  and each from a different angle.  If all three postings were read together  (see links below),  a nice cohesive overview of  this most important document can be found and easily understood.
Those that know me know I am a patriotic person.  I always have been.  And I hope that some of my patriotism might rub off on others, for that seems to be lacking, and has been for over a decade.
Well, time to bring it back!
Happy Independence Day! 

Until next time,  see you in time.

Now Before you leave,  you may want to read two more postings I put together to give you a better understanding of our nation's most famous document.

Begin with THIS one, for it will give you a background on the Declaration itself as well as a list of all 56 signers.

Next,  go to THIS post, for it speaks of the printers and the printing of the Declaration and  the delivery of this so-important broadside to the colonies.

To read about some of the cool Revolutionary War artifacts that tell the story of our fight for Independence,  click HERE
And to read about the everyday lives for people who lived in the time of the signing of the Declaration, please click HERE

A fantastic movie/mini-series about our founding generation - and one particular founding father & mother in general,  is the John Adams mini-series.  Click HERE to purchase it.  And if you don't already have it,  you should seriously consider buying it.


Sources:
Lives of the Signers by Benson Lossing
Declaration of Independence by Rod Gragg
Reporting the Revolutionary War by Todd Andrlik
1776: The Illustrated Edition by David McCullough
My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams
The Spirit of Seventy-Six by Henry Steele Commager & Richard B.  Morris
The description of George Washington's aid reading the Declaration and the occurrences afterward were taken verbatim as written from the Mount Vernon website as well as from the book by Rick Atkinson,  "The British Are Coming,"  and "The Decraration of Independence" by Rod Gragg.  Yes, I do this as sort of a Reader's Digest condensed version every-so-often, for two reasons:
1) because usually the descriptions take the reader right to the spot where it all took place
and
2) in hopes that the snippets will entice the reader to search out the source and dig deeper to expand even further into the subject.

............................

Now, if you've read this far,  then here are a few Independence Day  "funnies"  for you to enjoy:

My sister and Ben Franklin could be  (but aren't)  related

Yep---I've had this happen.

Heh heh heh

Wouldn't that be a hoot if she really did ask?

Kind of the way John Adams wanted the celebration to be.

Love it!

As one who portrays Paul Revere,  I can assure you he did not ride around giving out presents to everyone.  He only gave them to the Patriots.

Have a Happy and Safe Independence Day!!

Until next time,  see you in time.

~   ~   ~