The Declaration of Independence - The Mystery of The Lost Original

The Declaration of Independence: The Mystery of the Lost Original
Author(s): Julian P. Boyd

Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 100, No. 4 (Oct., 1976), pp.
438-467
Published by: Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20091099
Accessed: 12-12-2015 00:05 UTC
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The Declaration
of Independence:
(?Mystery of the Lost Original
The
two centuries
the past
miscon
many
legends, myths,
errors
have
and
clustered
about
the
ceptions,
palpable
of
which
Declaration
title,
Independence?a
incidentally,
Over
it never
these
bore.1 Among
all but
is the
universal
belief
that
the
in the National
enshrined
copy on parchment
signed
engrossed,
text of what
its author
called "this
is the sole, authentic
Archives
our
union."2
document
that exalted
Beyond
question,
holy bond of
of the
in the affections
its primacy
and always will retain
should
American
people.
character
nor
its
symbolic
appeal
powerful
a
of
the
truth
that,
recognition
by
are set forth in more
its fundamental
principles
Neither
its
can be
lessened
unique
like Magna
Carta,
than one form. Unrivalled
only
the most
notable
as official
designated
in the
of
texts.
public
esteem,
it is nevertheless
entitled
several
copies
legitimately
of these was brought
for a particular
purpose
to be
into existence
at a particular
Each
of government
by authority
the signed and engrossed
time. All of them,
copy, share in
including
of the prototype
which
common
the fact that they are derivatives
on
of
which
was adopted
the
and
4,
evening
July
1776,
by Congress
at
moment
of its
from
almost
the
history
disappeared
unhappily
to
to
that
of
article
describe
this
It is the purpose
creation.
attempt
its several
and to identify
document
missing
as having
status.
official
be regarded
which
derivatives
may
1
"There
Timothy
1Charles
no
is certainly
Pickering
Warren,
"Fourth
secret
declared
of July Myths,"
1946), 237-272.
(July,
2
to Dr.
John Mease,
Jefferson
in P. L. Ford, ed., Writings
printed
in
regard
to
the
in 1811, "for it must
Sept.
26,
of Thomas
William
1825,
and Mary
Jefferson
Jefferson
Papers,
(New York,
declaration,"
be a public
Quarterly,
Library
1899),
3rd
Ser.,
of Congress;
346.
438
II
the
1976
now
document
among
assumption.
plausible
ardent
critics of both
have
This
nothing
is surprising,
it was
whether
had
ample
incentive
all his works.
and
439
This was a
Congress."3
of the first and most
to
and its author,
appears
the Declaration
for he
also had a powerful
independence
the papers of the Old

one
But Pickering,
to ascertain
done
Jefferson
of
declaration
As
in fact.
grounded
to do so and he
opportunity
in his abiding hatred of Thomas

of
Secretary
from
State
to
1795
1800, he had had official custody of the papers of the Continental

from 1803
States
Senator
his terms as a United
During
Congress.
two
to 1811, he had begun an effort that would
last almost
decades
to show how
for
deserved
little
credit
the
Jefferson
composing
inWashington,
In 1805, while
the
Declaration.
he had been shown
of
originals
enclosed
Jefferson's
text
holograph
framed."4
originally
accuracy
of State.
ments
of
the
Instead,
and made
He
to Richard
Lee
and of the
Henry
to
"as agreed
and also, as
by the House,
to verify
could
have
the
easily
sought
letter
text
the
by examining
a scrupulously
he made
comment
the following
in the Department
copy of both docu
records
exact
upon
:5
them
The preceeding Copy of the Declaration

of Independence
has this day
been examined by me; and on a careful comparison with the original copy
in the hand-writing
of Thomas
of the United
Jefferson, now the President
it is an exact tran
States, I find that in every word, letter, and point ...
...
as mentioned
in Mr. Jefferson's
letter. . . . The
script of that copy
are
to
of
the
and
made
letter
declaration
Mr. Jefferson's
copies
conformably
. . . and a
as
sentences
with
small
such
letters
beginning
peculiarities;
departure from the standard spelling of some words.
In
addition,
documents.
to make
allowed
others
Pickering
also counted
the precise
He
number
draft
Jefferson's
gress, arriving
and of course
and
in the deletions
at the conclusion
improved?by
that
these
and
the
copies of
of words
text had
two
both
in
by Con
shortened?
made
additions
alterations.
the
been
But
of his
in spite
3
to Henry
His
3, 1811, Pickering
Pickering
Timothy
Lee, May
Papers, Massachusetts
torical Society.
4
to Richard
et al., eds., The Papers
Jefferson
Henry
Lee, July 8, 1776, Julian P. Boyd,
of
I (Princeton,
As suggested
Thomas
have
1950), 455-456.
Jefferson must
Jefferson,
below,
enclosed
with his manuscript
broadsides
the Declaration
copy one of the Dunlap
showing
"as agreed to by the House."
5
Pickering's
meticulously
memorandum
accompanying
exact
dated
are in the Pickering

transcripts
at Washington,
Feb. 26, 1805.
Papers
along
with
the
440
P. BOYD
JULIAN
October
to every detail,
to ascertain
he never
sought
sent to
of Congress
whether
the draft Jefferson
to by the House."
It is to
Lee coincided
with
the text "as agreed
on any other occasion
ever
whether
be doubted
Pickering
accepted
so
for whom
made
he
any assertion
by the man
unquestioningly
an
such
entertained
hostility.
implacable
meticulous
from
attention
records
the
But
if he himself
archives,
a Fourth
the answer
to seek
failed
be
he may
of July
with
credited
at Salem
address
the government
among
to do so. At
others
stimulating
to a
in 1823, Pickering
brought
and to
Jefferson's
authorship
in the prin
could be discerned
demonstrate
little originality
or
of
the
Declaration.6
The
the
arguments
address,
though
ciples
to the dignity
in an allusion
and even polite
restrained
surprisingly
nerves.
In his
sensitive
of Jefferson's
touched
nevertheless
style,
to
for facts about
had appealed
the authorship,
search
Pickering
climax
his
long
how
as
Adams
John
the
only
authority
capable
of
them.
providing
quoting his own letter of inquiry in the address, he did
Without
include Adams'
his
to denigrate
effort
feelings
response.
in a lengthy
saw the result, he revealed

Jefferson
to James Madison
comment
:7
When
and prejudices,
If his principles
gave us no reason
personal and political,
to doubt whether he had truly quoted the information he alledges to have
I should then say that, in some of the par
received from Mr. Adams,
ticulars
Mr.
Adams's
memory
has
led
him
into
unquestionable
error.
. . .
the better for having a fourth of it ex

thinks the instrument
Timothy
punged. He would have thought it still better had the other three fourths
gone out also, all but the single sentiment
(the only one he approves)
to
his
dear
she is willing
which recommends
England, whenever
friendship
as being
to be at peace with us. . . . In other words,
that the Declaration,
a libel on the government
in times of passion,
of England,
composed
should now be buried in utter oblivion to spare the feelings of our English
them that
fellow citizens. But it is not to wound
friends and Angloman
we wish to keep it in mind; but to cherish the principles of the instrument
...
to Mr.
In opposition
however
in the bosoms of our own citizens.
I
be
that
these
God
eternal.
pray
Pickering,
principles may
6 Col.
to Reading
the Declaration
Observations
of Independence
Introductory
Pickerings
is in the Pickering
of the Observations
Papers.
(Salem,
1823). The manuscript
7
to John Adams,
Massachusetts
2, 1822, Adams
Family
Aug.
Manuscripts,
Pickering
to James
to Pickering,
Adams
Historical
Papers;
Jefferson
Aug.
6, 1822, Pickering
Society;
in Ford, ed., Writings,
X, 266-269.
printed
Aug. 30, 1823, Jefferson Papers,
Madison,
THE
1976
The
expression
because
quoted
OF INDEPENDENCE
DECLARATION
of doubt
of
as to whether
Adams
was
hostility
political
the severe
criticisms
had
44I
been
accurately
but
the
harsh,
in Pickering's
unduly
between
difference
expressed
tone of the address
of
and
the
Adams
moderate
private
inquiry
to the national
of the orator
mood
both to the sensitiveness
testified
of
of Jefferson's
the
and to the accuracy
real
motive.
perception
as it was,
was
Fourth
of July
address
Restrained
Pickering's
some feeling even among
in the press, arousing
those
noticed
widely
could not be properly
political
principles
Herald
of the Shenandoah
The
editors
whose
sonian.
of John Quincy
Adams
supporters
the
that
the
original
by
charge
and that much
wholly engrossed"
as Jeffer
ardent
described
in Virginia,
were
for the presidency,
text
of
had
been
offended
was
the Declaration
"not
deleted.
any
Disclaiming
to defend
he came from their state,
because
its author
they
a letter to Adams,
of State,
if one
then Secretary
addressed
asking
a copy of the original
of the departmental
could prepare
clerks
intent
so
instrument
This
seems
that
to have
inform
their
they might
the earliest
been
attempt
the exact
of
readers
made
nature
the
facts.
to
by anyone
of the Declara
from the records of Congress

verify
No evidence
has been found
tion as originally
by Congress.
adopted
or that their
was
to indicate
with
that the editors'
complied
request
letter was even acknowledged.8
The
next
to
check
came
of Congress
the American
Philosophical
the
files
shortly
On August
19, 1825,
Society
as a gift the originals
of Jefferson's
letter to Lee and the
received
so carefully
that Pickering
of the Declaration
had
draft
copied
document
latter
bore an endorsement
years earlier. The
twenty
by
a member
the text as the one "reported
of the Lee family defining
impulse
thereafter.
attribution
to Congress."
fixed in the official
became
This erroneous
the highly
records of the Society when
gift was recorded
appreciated
as being "The Draught
of the Declaration
of Independence
originally
to Congress."9
Librarian
of the
When
John Vaughan,
presented
sought
Society,
8 Smoot
& Foster
Manuscripts.
9 Donation
"A Note
pendence,"
from
Jefferson
to John Quincy
Adams,
any
particulars
Woodstock,
Va.,
he might
July
be able
19, 1823, Adams
to
Family
text in I. Minis Hays,

19, 1825, American
Society;
Philosophical
Book, Aug.
of the Declaration
of Inde
of the Jefferson Manuscript
the History
Draught
XXXVII
1898), 88.
(Philadelphia,
Proceedings,
on
442
give
told
the
P. BOYD
JULIAN
or copy"
the "original
of "original"
the meaning
as reported
document
should
about
that
was
that
be
October
had been donated,

one of definition
found
the
among
copy sent
he was
and
that
of
records
to Lee might
To this Jefferson
added
that the
Congress.
to show on its face whether
it had been made
be expected
"after
. . . with
of the instrument
of Con
the passage
the amendments
document
would
gress."10 The
it contained
ceived
by Lee,
seems not
Vaughan
Congress.
indeed
none
of
to have
have
confirmed
the
amendments
realized
this. As
re
made
by
but
this,
Jefferson's
him to inquire whether
the text as submitted
prompted
in the files of Congress.
found
The
that it was
discovery
on the
to confirm
seemed
the endorsement
however,
only
suggestion
could be
missing,
Lee
copy
and its acceptance

an able
librarian
Vaughan,
in the official
who
of
records
the Society.
the
increase
to
had done much
a formal
statement
later made
in which
he
collections,
Society's
since "the
has not been
concluded
that,
form
proposed
originally
. . . the Document
in possession
of the Society
has with
found
the
become
sole
had
original
Draught."11
Vaughan
good
propriety
to a librarian's
reason
to succumb
to cherish
natural
tendency
most
his
institution's
Lee's
grandson
to the Society.
After
Jefferson
own
to present
possessions.
these and
It was
other
he who
important
sent Vaughan
had
inadvertently
a
was
to elapse
before
century
road, half
answer
in the files of Congress.
the correct
taken
sought
Chamberlain
had
persuaded
manuscripts
down
this mis
another
inquirer
1884 Mellen
in a different
form:
In
it by putting
the question
of the Declaration,
and adopted
after being amended
on July
on
"forthwith
and thereupon
sub
paper
engrossed
4th,
then present
scribed
Both
except Dickinson?"
by all the members
was
found
the draft
and Thomas
JohnAdams
Journal,
erroneous
ing his
had
declared
and
inquiries
Jefferson,
that it was.
relying upon
Chamberlain
themisleadingprinted
the Journal
proved
so. In the process,

equally
to the Department
of State,
he learned
the two statesmen
address
that
the
10
to John Vaughan,
of Congress.
Jefferson
Sept.
16, 1825, Jefferson Papers,
Library
Ford,
to the Declaration
includes
that part of the letter pertaining
ed., Writings,
X,
345-346,
of the text is omitted.
without
that the remainder
indicating
11 "Note
to the Original
of the Declaration,"
and prepared
Draught
signed by Vaughan
for the Prince de Joinville
in 1841, Hays,
in the original.
97-99,
"Note,"
emphasis
THE
1976
DECLARATION
text of the Declaration
earliest
OF INDEPENDENCE
as adopted
443
on that date
was
inserted
in the Secret Journal in the form of a printed broadside bearing the

of John Dunlap.
that: he was
Not
that no
informed
only
on
as
text
28
of the document
submitted
June
by the
manuscript
of Five?Thomas
Committee
John Adams,
Jefferson,
Benjamin
to be
R. Livingston?was
and Robert
Sherman,
Franklin,
Roger
imprint
a new
in the departmental
files. This
should have prompted
answer
intent upon gaining
the
line of inquiry. But Chamberlain,
to a footnote
to his query
as he had framed
this part
it, relegated
found
of the remarkably full and detailed information supplied him by

Theodore F. Dwight, Chief of the Bureau of Rolls and Library of
of State. Having
achieved
his purpose,
he regretted
the Department
erroneous
Journal
with
its
under
that
the
entry
July 4
only
printed
that the "declaration
stand for all time as indicating
would
was, by
on
and signed by the . . .members"
order of Congress,
engrossed,
that day.12
moved
that if the resolutions
did note
by Richard
on
not
for
"had
been pre
independence
Henry
June 7 calling
never
have known
their authentic
served
the files, we should
form from any public
But
the more
record."13
report
important
Chamberlain
Lee
on
submitted
the public
form. This
more
of Five had not been

by the Committee
its entire
record therefore
could not reveal
and
preserved
and authentic
all the
gap in the files should have appeared
to
of the tribute paid
Charles
Thomson
by
to Chamberlain:
"To him we owe
communication
astonishing
because
puzzling
in his
Dwight
of all the records
the preservation
not only the Journals,
but all those
of
the Continental
Congress?
now so precious,
e.g.,
fragments
of committees,
the small odds and
of history."14
The
tribute was fully
the original motions,

the reports
are the small bones
ends, which
in history
deserved.
had
Never
before
from the moment
it occurred,
recorded
the origin of a nation

been
much
less by such an im
12Mellen
of the Declaration
of Independence,"
"The Authentication
Massa
Chamberlain,
Historical
2d. Ser., I (Boston,
modestly
1885), 273. Chamberlain
Society, Proceedings,
that his paper presented
had given
disclaimed
yet no one previously
any new discovery,
or
so
case
of
the
in
the entry
in
such a thorough
facts
the
had
conclusively
proved
analysis
chusetts
under
the printed Journal
13
Ibid., 294.
14Theodore
F. Dwight
July
4,
to Mellen
1776 to be erroneous.
Chamberlain,
Dec.
23,
1884,
ibid.,
289-291,
n.
444
P. BOYD
JULIAN
October
on every aspect
of documentary
evidence
to the most
from the most
of policy
critical decisions
of accounting.
Never
before
had a single man
been
mense
mass
of recording
such
privilege
could have met
any other
greater
fidelity,
to the
brought
owes him
an event.
and
a debt
trivial
the
to imagine
that
and understanding
this prodigious
accomplishment
of gratitude
it has never
sufficiently
were
of history
there is missing
as approved
Congress
by
document
that
body,
assembled."
the nation
recognized.
in
preserved
carefully
from it the first official
which,
bore the
of the UNITED
details
accorded
with
responsibility
than Charles Thomson
industry,
task. For
by the Representatives
in General
is it easy
a demanding
such
the small bones

while
Yet,
this great body of records,
text of the world-shattering
gress
Nor
of its creation
as reported
to Con
"A
title
Declaration
STATES OF AMERICA,
the
Surely
responsibility
for
its
absence from the files could not justly be placed upon the faithful
of Congress.
Secretary
ii
to pose
in the face of this incongruous
But
loss, we are obliged
and Chamberlain
which Vaughan
did not ask. What
the questions
re
was
of Five
which
the Committee
the form of the document
ported ?Why did it disappear ?How did its unique character become
?The answers
into a printer's
broadside
lost while being transformed
even though,
must
to the questions
in the absence
of the
be sought
no
con
exact
of
it
is
But
document
itself,
possible.
description
instrument
that
the
historian
reconstruction,
indispensable
jectural
to employ when
the documentary
evidence
is lacking,
is a
is obliged
It is also dangerously
instrument.
often
double-edged,
legitimate
more
of
and unfortunately
misused
upon
inflicting
capable
damage
In this instance,
the careless wielder.
the truth than upon
however,
the
gap
conspicuous
Thomson
is surrounded
putable
virtually
the report
in
so
records
such a number
the
by
as to render
authenticity
risk. In addition,
without
of
the Committee
their own
make
by Congress
of its nature.
standing
the
the
of Five
significant
was
faithfully
of related
reliance
preserved
by
texts of indis
upon
circumstances
received
contribution
conjecture
under which
and
acted upon
to our under
THE
1976
OF INDEPENDENCE
DECLARATION
445
to be taken
and by far the most
circumstance
important
on the first of
is that involving
the action by Congress
these United
resolutions?"That
Colonies
are, and of right
to be, free and independent
that they are absolved
States,
The
first
into account
Lee's
ought
to the British
from all allegiance
and
Crown,
nection
them and the State of Great
between
con
all political
and
is,
ought
on
had been made
that
Britain
to be,
This
crucial decision
totally dissolved."15
as lasting nine
later described
July 2 after a debate which
Jefferson
hours without
all the powers
which
pause or refreshment,
"during
of the soul had been distended
of
the
the object."16
by
magnitude
Compared
discussion
with
the debate
over
the
which
decided
which
document
this
great
question,
and
sought
around
revolving
a secondary
order,
justify
nature
of the arguments
of presentation
and the mode
to
assent
at
once
win
lated
home
and abroad.
Second,
the
resolution
event
had
urgently
was
of
been
preoccupied
for developing
alliances,
Congress
adopted,
naturally
than ever with measures
for
a plan
of
for obtaining
army,
to independence.
form
The
to
be
related
recognized
integrally
its appeal
gained
approval
by
whose
aid was
to
the
best
calcu
the
fateful
more
became
securing
foreign
for supplying
confederation,
and for
finances,
Washington's
commitment
course
the
announced
of
the
sustaining
was of
the Declaration
to these
the American
for unless
objects,
and
people
the result
by
the
be
powers
European
being
might
sought,
were carried
it should be noted
failure. Finally,
that the proceedings
on in secret. This
was a revolutionary
is understandable,
for Congress
who
all
of
and
those
had
their
and
body
lives, their fortunes,
pledged
to support
their sacred honor
the resolution
for independence
could
have
been
for overt
arraigned
acts
of
treason
if the
to arms
resort
had failed.
It was
in these
circumstances
that
of
of Five which
the Committee
had
on
all
presented
June 28. "We were
wrote,
"Congress
was
impatient,
and
Congress
lain on
took
the
up the report
table since being
later
John Adams
in haste,"
Instrument
the
was
reported,
15 Lee's
from the Papers

resolutions
of the Continental
Record
Congress,
Group
are reproduced
in facsimile
in Julian P. Boyd,
The Declaration
Archives,
of the Text (Princeton,
pendence: The Evolution
1945).
16
to the editor of Journal de Paris,
Jefferson
Aug. 29, 1787, Papers, XII,
6^.
tional
59, Na
of Inde
P. BOYD
October
446
JULIAN
as I believe,
in Jefferson's
no
about
doubt
could be
handwriting
the prevailing
haste,
there
be any
of urgency.
Nor,
was
as submitted
could
indeed,
in Jefferson's
it. That
drafted
it had
course
in the
"Whenever,
as he first
it."17 There
drew
that
question
sense
and
impatience,
the
text
as he first
not
handwriting?though
several
is clear.
stages
through
a copy became
over
of the composition,
evolved
to be read with amendments,"

wrote
and difficult
Jefferson
it fair, and when
"I copied
that also was crouded with other
fair copy was made &c. These
another
amendments,
rough draughts
to know what was pass
to
I sent
distant
friends who were anxious
charged,
in 1825,
both
ing."18 This
overstated
to
case
the
and
of
the
confused
it. It also
violated
his
charge
having
Jefferson
a composition
if indeed he had revealed
either
secrecy
had acted. But the important
fair copy before Congress
to various
it had done
friends
after
so, he sent copies
posed
show
text
the
"as
afford
copies
quent
submitted
document
fact
is that,
to
in order
to Congress.
subse
These
reported"
of the nature
of the
reliable
evidence
to Congress
after numerous
deletions
which,
on
adoption
official
the first
from
this
their
authority
in American
documents
is the one which
document
of
pledge
draft or a
originally
the most
became
and substitutions,
derive
Declaration.
They
one of the most
interesting
That
ex
text
of
the
relationship
to
history.19
in old
age, mistakenly
as the "original Rough
to him
it
because
seemed
described
draught"
to be scored and scratched
like a schoolboy's
exercise.
It was not
a fair copy of
been originally
that much
having
disfigured,
quite
to
not
some prior composition
have
survived.
draft which
appears
made
But
and
it does bear on its face a few alterations
by Adams
Franklin
own
Jefferson,
correc
it embodies
some
suggested
himself,
including
possibly
by Jefferson
of the Committee
of Five.
members
during
Subsequently,
in their
handwriting.
In addition,
tions made
by other
or after
the
debates
in Congress,
he
indicated
on
it the principal
17
to Timothy
Aug. 6, 1822, Adams
Pickering,
Family Manuscripts.
John Adams
to John Vaughan,
See note 10.
Sept.
16, 1825, Jefferson Papers.
Jefferson
19 It is known that
sent fair copies to Richard Henry
Edmund
Lee, Philip Mazzei,
Jefferson
of all that are known
also to John Page. Facsimiles
and George Wythe,
perhaps
Pendleton,
as taken from the text incorporated
to survive,
for James Madison
the copy made
including
18
notes of debates
in Jefferson's
see Papers,
I, 315-319.
in Congress,
are reproduced
in facsimile
in Boyd,
Declaration;
1976
THE
DECLARATION
OF INDEPENDENCE
amendments
made
by that body.
the corrections
or
for determining
made
their
its approximate
in it. For
changes
or
almost
all,
every stage of
in its evolution
took a
nately
with
became
overlaid
all,
at
additions
added
that were
to end. At an early point
from beginning
its progress
it to John Adams,
who
submitted
fortu
Jefferson
fair copy of it in his own handwriting
and thus estab
of
lished
a criterion
before
he and Franklin
the
fair
July
447
It thus
text
as
it stood
the same
reason,
and sent to his friends
after
by Jefferson
for removing
from "the original
Rough
of amendments
made
overlay
by Congress.
copies executed
are touchstones
the additional
draught"
As Jefferson
himself
and as the texts prove,
declared
they were
from that complicated
In their original
transcribed
draft.20
state,
no
with
of
three exceptions,
the
contained
indication
amend
they
or proposed
ments made
which
have
These
by Congress.
exceptions,
not
are
been discussed
and
elsewhere
need
im
be detailed
here,
as indicating
executed
copies?were
portant
of Five
had
been
that
at least
sometime
and
submitted
in Congress.21
Such
immediacy
as
to their authority
weight
two of them?the
after
and Lee
Wythe
the report of the Committee
were made
other alterations
before
at a critical
authentic
moment
reflections
in history
adds
the earliest
of
text of the Declaration.

stage of the first official
are known
of these contemporaneous
to survive?
Three
copies
two
an
to
sent
re
the
and another
unidentified
just mentioned
for minor
of punctuation,
details
cipient.22 Except
capitalization,
and
the variant
use
of
for the conjunction,

their
ampersand
sent to George Wythe
was
the first to
to the public,
be made
known
in the Richmond
appeared
having
a
after Wythe's
death
and being widely
Enquirer
only
fortnight
other
It
also
bears
of having
been
evidence
newspapers.
copied by
texts to be executed
the first of the surviving
This
by Jefferson.23
texts
are
identical.
The
the
one
20
to John Vaughan,
Jefferson
Sept.
16, 1825. See note 10.
21 These
are discussed
see note 25 below. The "original Rough
in Boyd, Declaration,
40-46;
has been reproduced
first
in a faithfully-executed
many
draught"
times, being
published
facsimile
in Thomas
and Miscel
engraving
Jefferson Randolph,
ed., Memoirs,
Correspondence,
the Papers
IV (Charlottesville,
lanies from
of Thomas Jefferson,
22 The Lee
is in the American
copy
Philosophical
Society.
p. 532.
1829), following
The
copy in the New York
as the one sent to Wythe.
im
The
is identified
in Boyd, Declaration,
43-45,
Library
Historical
perfect copy in the Massachusetts
Society may have been sent
23 The texts of these three
copies have been collated with other texts
The Declaration
0] Independence
(New York,
1906), 306-342.
Public
or Page.
in John H. Hazelton,
to Pendleton
44?
JULIAN
P. BOYD
October
from Philadel
departed
of Five,
the Committee
days
phia
constitution
bearing with him the final draft of Jefferson's
proposed
served as part of the composition
for Virginia,
the first form of which
have
would
been
two
of
draft
appropriate.
Wythe
the appointment
after
the Declaration.
Always
mittee
very
assignments,
Jefferson
before his departure
the form
would
approved
Wythe
surely have
him
had
of
in discharging
his
have discussed
likely would
that that document
should
prompt
the
substance
if not
com
with
take.
the
form
of Jefferson's impassioned indictment of George III for disallowing

laws
trade. Having
the slave
been guided
by Wythe
studies
and looking up to
range of legal and other
can easily be
of the greatest men of the age," Jefferson
abolishing
a wide
through
as "one
him
to
and presenting
imagined
taking counsel with his revered mentor
him the first copy of the final composition.24
of
That
text, stripped
or
as
be
made
relied
later additions
may
upon
others,
by Wythe
of
with
document
identical
the
the
pre
wording
being virtually
on June 28.25
to Congress
sented
The
with
other
less
characteristics
Could
certainty.
"original Rough
draught"
can be established
of the missing
original
been
that document
indeed have
the
from which
Jefferson
copied
it? This
so highly
1825, with
that we may
it was not.
implausible
safely conclude
In
that text before
asserted
that after
him, Jefferson
two or three merely
and Franklin
verbal
had made
altera
Adams
a fair copy, reported
it to the Committee,
tions in it, he "then wrote
to Congress."26
so
That
them unaltered
the text was
and from
seems
slightly
altered
accept
Jefferson's
fair copy of the
latter
had
as to make
must
be doubted,
assurance
that
but
the
for
several
document
reasons
handed
we may
a
in was
In
the first place,

the
Rough
"original
draught."
so heavily
in the course of its evolution
become
corrected
it unpresentable.
Jefferson
also
retained
it in his personal
files, something he could not have done if it had been handed
in.
24
to Ralph
372.
Jefferson
Izard, July 17, 1788, Papers,
XIII,
25 The copy sent to
in facsimile
is reproduced
in Boyd, Declaration.
In the second
Wythe
is underlined
in the Wythe
line of the title the word "General"
copy, in the copy in Jefferson's
in Congress
of Proceedings
Notes
and is both bracketed
and underlined
I, 309-327),
{Papers,
in the Madison
copy,
or that
in the "original
such marking
the Lee
appears
copy. No
Rough
draught,"
Historical
It is for this reason
that the Wythe
in the Massachusetts
Society.
copy is assigned
precedence.
chronological
26
to John Vaughan,
Sept.
16, 1825. See note
Jefferson
10.
THE
1976
OF INDEPENDENCE
DECLARATION
449
it would
have
Congress,
of docketings,
additions,
in the hand
of Charles
In
and amendments
Thomson.
excisions,
a
was
fair copy, Jeffer
that the instrument
reported
1825, knowing
or anyone
son had far better
reason
than Timothy
else to
Pickering
it been
Had
borne
the document
evidence
of
that
it "should
assume
the
its disappearance
of its form.
knowledge
assume
also plausibly
may
before
actually
in the
form
be among
the records of the old Congress."27
us of some
from the files need not deprive
was
in Jefferson's
It
hand.
beyond
question
But
We
fact
its prototype
and the con
it was a four-page
and Lee,
a watermark
the appropri
bearing
of
jQiberlate. Since The Declaration
like
that,
for Wythe
made
temporaneous
copies
on paper with
written
document
ate device Pro Patriae
Eiusque
Independence painted by John Trumbull was based in large part

upon information given to him by Thomas Jefferson in Paris, it is
not without
interest
that
he
report on behalf of the Committee

hands
ment
what
is obviously
which
disappeared
report
was
being
laid
act
of Five,
of presenting
the
grasping with
both
a folded,
four-page manuscript?the
from history
thereafter.
immediately
in a single
the
because
undoubtedly
on the table
had not yet
pendence
in the
is shown
presented
that day
been acted upon.
From
on
copy
resolution
then until
docu
The
28,
June
of inde
its adoption
on July 4 it was available for inspection by members.
Judging by
of subsequent
amendments
made
during
on July
in the Committee
of the Whole
the debates
2, 3, and 4,
some of the delegates
must have subjected
it to rather close scrutiny.
was made
another
in the text, we may
As one alteration
after
the number
assume
and
that
the detail
Charles
Thomson
recorded
himself
just as Jefferson
with his
copy of its model.
of the 4th, Benjamin
On the afternoon
document
itself,
retained
of
Committee
to a Declaration
the Whole,
reported
which
he delivered
these on
was doing
the
face
of
the
simultaneously
chairman
of the
Harrison,
the members
had "agreed
in." We may
be quite
certain
that
in which Congress
situation
found
that, in the urgent
itself, Charles
a fair copy of the text as amended.
Thomson
had no time to make
he done so, the original would
Had
have been preserved
assuredly
27
Jefferson
the excisions
himself
had
and additions
assumed
made
that
this document
by Congress.
would
show
on
its face evidence
Ibid.
of
45o
P. BOYD
JULIAN
of Lee's
first resolution
the manuscript
of time forbade his
the pressure
Indeed,
the files, along with

text it incorporated.
among
whose
October
it even
An indication
in the Secret Journal.
of the pre
of urgency
is to be found following
the entry Thomson
its deliberations,
in the Secret Journal
after Congress
resumed
Hancock
"The
Declaration
being
presiding:
again read
John
transcribing
sense
vailing
made
with
to as follows."
At this point Thomson
agreed
half of the page blank,
well
that
knowing
an
be
order that the Declaration
taken would
was
left most
the next
lower
be
of
the
action
to
be authenticated
of Five
that the Committee
and correct
and printed;
"superintend
state assemblies,
the press";
and that copies be sent to the various
to the commanding
of safety
and
and committees
conventions,
so
in
that it could be "proclaimed
officers of the continental
troops
states
of the united
each
at the head
and
folded,
printed
copies, properly
to the blank
space left by Thomson
to the Committee
this directive
given
to dispose
ceeded
faithful
It
pressing
by wafers
in the Secret
Having
Journal.
of Five,
then pro
Congress
matters
of business
and the
its actions.
recording
to suppose
to by the
that the text agreed
on
of the Whole
and read again
the 4th was the one that
a fair copy but was now perhaps
even more
as
presented
Secretary
is thus reasonable
been
and
scratched
But
other
of the
One
continued
Committee
had
of
of the army."28
be attached
later
would
scored
it bear
did
the
like a schoolboy's
of John
signature
than its prototype.

exercise
Hancock
authenticating
it as ordered
by Congress
it
?
attesting
of those most
the four-page
format
to it and also bore a heavy
of docketings
and
related
overlay
closely
not
for
official
been
these
there
would
have
space
adding
alterations,
of course could have been written
upon a separate
They
signatures.
or
to the printer.
to
sent with
the document
scrap of paper affixed
and
This
But
have
that
of Charles
Thomson
If
is doubtful.
this would
not
it followed
been
have
and
the authentication
necessary.
attestation
to state officials
and
be dispatched
to
Congress,
John Dunlap,
printer
the
requirement
it.
ordered
28 Secret
duction
in print
III, ^,
Journal,
in Boyd, Declaration.
Record
merely
Group
The
on
commanding
have
would
by
360,
being
Item
point was to
that would
copies
officers. The official
essential
those
told
1, National
known
that
how
to meet
Congress
Archives;
facsimile
had
repro
THE
1976
DECLARATION
As
for the related
intend
and correct
reason
than
other
of more
presence
Sherman
tion
and
one
and Livingston
it is not likely
that
more
than
and probably
a printing
around
described
Jefferson
of
with
independence
an important
been won.
event?he
He
had
So far as the records

person.
show,
taken no part in preparing
the Declara
have manifested
any more
they would
Franklin,
assignment.
of the
by the standards
the most
famous
time an aged man,

his age he had no
At
twice as old as Jefferson.
no desire
to spend most
of the night hanging
seems
whom
It
that
John Adams,
unlikely
shop.
on
as "our Colossus
the floor" while
the question
in
the
would
have
bothered
himself
balance,
hung
task after the great
but undemanding
so
with
enthusiasm
indeed
transported
was
it as the greatest
described
a greater
in America,
and
men"29?as
among
perhaps
was
not
Thomson
Charles
lesser
was
in America,
printer
being
need
for
451
of Five "super
order, did the entire Committee
if for no
the press"? This we may
surely doubt,
not have
the
its execution
that
would
required
than
enthusiasm
OF INDEPENDENCE
had
battle
over
the
. . . debated
"ever
or will
be decided
question
never was
perhaps
to
him for mere proofreading.
disqualify
a member
of the Committee
of Five.
was
in
he was still busily
approved,
engaged
text
taken
that
the
that
recording
day. But, knowing
as printed would
in the Secret
in the space he
be inserted
Journal
aware
for
bear his name
also that it would
had left
it, and being
he must
that
its authenticity,
his duty
attesting
surely have met
we
assume
with
with
usual
his
So, too, may
fidelity.
night
equally
After
the Declaration
other
that
good reason
of the Committee
actions
Jefferson,
of Five,
as author
have
of the document
and as head
at the printery.
would
been present
still busy
and time
that, with Thomson
imagine
to
himself
transmitted
the
Jefferson
pressing,
manuscript
Dunlap.
to the world
one of the most
this proclamation
announcing
Surely
events
not have
to an
in history
would
decisive
been
entrusted
We
may
easily
to
when
the charge had been specifically
messenger
ordinary
given
a committee
a
was head. He,
of which
too, had
Jefferson
deep and
no
sense
of
of
American
the
duty. Also,
abiding
public
day, not
was so aware of the power of the printing
even Franklin,
press or so
29
to Abigail
July 3, 1776, Adams Family Manuscripts.
John Adams
Adams,
in L. H. Butterfield,
has been printed many
times, most
authoritatively
II (Cambridge,
Adams Family
Correspondence,
1963), 27-28.
letter
This
famous
et al.,
eds.,
452
P. BOYD
JULIAN
new
in the
interested
It would
have
forms
been
October
of typography
then being developed.
of him to have borne
characteristic
the
quite
to the Market
Street
four blocks
printing
shop of Dunlap
a
as he would
take delight
few years
to learn more
of Paris
their new
about
document
from
the State House,

just
in visiting
the printers
It would
methods.30
also have
later
been
characteristic
of Thomson
to
to meet
in the evening
the special responsibility
that
join
known
each
other
had
since
lay upon him. They
they
1764 when
trust and respect.31
It
formed a lifelong
based on mutual
friendship
him
later
to imagine
for the printers
them in Dunlap's
is pleasant
shop waiting
no
to do their work.
in
others
involved
the
transaction
Perhaps
or
so
so
well
of
could have
grasped
symbolized
fully the meaning
to come from the press and carry its
the document
that was about
message
But
we
document
the world.
throughout
not
need
rely upon
approved
drawn
by Jefferson
bore marks
that had
this
was
conclusion
to conclude
the
that
conjecture
was
and sent to the printer
by Congress
actually
not hitherto
and that, for purposes
it
examined,
for him
significance
related
Rough
"original
which
also marks
on being wafered
text
to
known
the earliest
the Secret
that
as were
prototype
he
made
from
copies
the missing
or the
draught"
into
Evidence
supporting
in Dunlap's
night
was
from the
obliterated
turn to a document
as im
produced
inadvertently
shop and then, quite properly,

printing
we must
final result. For this evidence
mediately
alone.
stage
Journal,
of
Jefferson's
it. It is one
the broadside
became
the second
which,
official
of the Declaration.
in
That
document
as an apparently
fortunately,
from
spects
30
31
as first
See,
pulled
copy
of Dunlap's
half remains.
of Pennsylvania
un
of which,
broadside,
re
in several
It differs
Society
and from all other

Journal
copies
an
It is indeed
of
uncorrected
the
broad
proof
or whoever
to Jefferson,
and shown
Thomson,
for example,
X,
Papers,
to Charles Thomson,
Jefferson
in the Historical
unique
the upper
in the Secret
to be extant.
known
side
only
that
survives
318-326.
Jan.
9, 1916, Ford, Writings,
X,
5-7.
THE
1976
was
OF INDEPENDENCE
DECLARATION
453
the press. While

its true character
had been previ
was
not
it
until recently
that this was established
ously recognized,
an
doubt
sponsored
beyond
study
through
extraordinary
by the
of
for
this
This
purpose.
Congress
Library
specific
investigation,
overseeing
carried out by Frederick R. Goff, benefited both from his biblio

graphical
the part
side.
expertise
of private
of
Seventeen
the
an unprecedented
owners
institutional
from
and
and
the
twenty-one
uncorrected
effort on
cooperative
of copies of the broad
to exist,
including
at the Library
of
the largest number
copies known
were
assembled
Society's
proof,
inMay
Congress
1975. This was unquestionably
ever brought
in Dun
since the night
together
they were produced
its
Besides
Goff
the
achieving
lap's shop.
primary
study
object,
of the sense
of urgency
in the
revealed
indications
prevailing
In all copies
to be
that night.
the chain
lines were
found
printery
not
quite
form was
to the printed
in the
askew
parallel
it apparent
that the
text, making
was also
coffin of the press. Haste
of the copies,
folded before
being
slightly
suggested
by the fact that many
to contain
the ink was dry, were
found
offset
impressions.
was
the discovery
of the
the position
important
through
that
at least
two distinct
established
being
The
proof
unique
through
copy,
came
states
evidence
by
from
the press,
furnished
by
definition,
takes
their
damaged
precedence
More
imprint
priority
letters.
over
all
others.32
to dispatch
copies
the
have
commanding
officers,
printers must
as
with
additional
batches
the need arose. John
Congress
supplied
Hancock
did send off copies by express
riders on July 5th and 6th.
were
un
It is not known
how many
but
it is extremely
printed,
This
to state
suggests
officials
that,
and
because
of the urgent
need
to be distributed
that such an epochal manifesto,
destined
likely
to Georgia,
from New Hampshire
would
in less
have been
issued
or
one
two
than
of Congress
hundred
would
copies.33 Members
32 Frederick
R. Goff, "A Report

A Bibliographical
on the John Dunlap
of the Declaration
Broadside
Printing
1975 (mimeographed
copy). The Goff
facsimiles
of the surviving
is scheduled
including
Report,
copies of the Dunlap
broadsides,
of Congress
in 1976. Titled
for publication
The John Dunlap
The
Broadside:
by the Library
First Printing
it will contain
facsimiles
of all known copies
of the Declaration
of Independence,
of
Independence:
Study,"
August
of the broadside
the Historical
of Pennsylvania's
including
Society
proof copy.
33 A few weeks
of the Pennsylvania
constitutional
later, by direction
John
convention,
for public
consideration?an
400 copies of its draft constitution
printed
Dunlap
important
454
P. BOYD
JULIAN
certainly
was more
desired
have
interested
copies
in doing
to send
this
October
to their
constituents.34
than
himself.
one
No
It
is not
Jefferson
to Wythe,
in sending
so
and others
copies
Lee,
as
as
text
the
with
that
compare
they might
reported
adopted,
he would
the laborious
have
effort of copying
the
gone
through
texts
were
hand
when
broadside
available.
printed
by
Always
clerical chores whenever
life
avoiding
possible,
Jefferson
throughout
as
and
such
the
devices
adopted
improved
eagerly
time-saving
very
that
likely
that,
for making
and the polygraph
copies
quick and accurate
or not he was at
and documents.
Whether
Dunlap's
shop
a responsibility
that night
upon him by Con
discharging
placed
to
have missed
the opportunity
gress, he would
scarcely
acquire
and thus save himself
several
the tedium of
copies of the broadside
copy-press
of letters
several by hand.
transcribing
of haste prevailing
The evidence
the Goff
is confirmed
study
by
proof
made
were
copy which
and which
indeed
readily
shop as disclosed
of
characteristics
in Dunlap's
the
special
discernible
it.35 The
prompted
before
least
the
study
of
apparent
in
the
was
these
but far less so than the Declaration.

"Public
of
Consideration
John N. Shaeffer,
and Biography,
1776 Pennsylvania
Constitution,"
Pennsylvania
Magazine
of History
to secrecy,
XCVIII
under a remarkably
strict injunction
(1924), 419. In the same month,
was directed
to print "80 copies, and no more" of the draft of the Act of Confederation
Dunlap
W. C. Ford, ed., Journals
for use of the members.
of the Continental
Congress, V (Washington,
to print 500 copies of the Consti
directed Dunlap
Convention
1906), 555. In 1787 the Federal
to Congress.
The Books of a New Nation
tution to be submitted
J. H. Powell,
(Philadelphia,
document
the
as Caesar Rodney
on
of Independence,
of which,
1957), 66. For the Declaration
reported
. . . will be
of its adoption,
"Hand-bills
the evening
and sent to the Armies,
printed
Cities,
or rather proclaimed
in form," it seems unlikely
that less
County Towns &c. to be published
have been struck off. Edmund
C. Burnett,
than 200 copies would
ed., Letters of Members
Congress,
of the Continental
34
himself
John Hancock
state bodies
to the various
least one
II,
to a private
1-2.
35 Since
it was
gratitude
for its grant
questions
explain
their copies
years
about
officers
to William
to the copies
as directed
Cooper,
that he sent as president

he also sent at
by Congress,
July
6, 1776, Burnett,
Letters,
a study be made,
like to express my
I should
to the Ford Foundation
in the proposal;
interest
to Mr. Goff for his remarkably
of Congress
which made
it possible;
to
all
of
and
the
institutions
and
who cooperated
individuals
study;
suggested
McGeorge
to the Library
and definitive
thorough
by lending
who some
and
commanding
Hancock
individual.
I who
to Mr.
I (Washington,
1922), 527.
was one of these. In addition
Bundy
that
such
for his
of the broadside.
I should
ago first called my attention

marks
the puzzling
quotation
like to thank Mr. David

especially
J. Hawke
to the Society's
uncorrected
proof and raised
which
led to the present
effort to
ultimately
their presence.
THE
1976
was
the
in inserting
of the people
mistake
typesetter's
passage
institute
the
asserting
"a new
right
Government."
in
appears
the manuscript
text.
in no other
portant
characteristic
present
marks
quotation
"a"
conspicuous
the person
or
OF INDEPENDENCE
DECLARATION
But
The
employed
the most
of
the
proof
in the
two
opening
marks
and
the glaring
455
an
in the
article
indefinite
to alter or abolish
and to
"a" clearly
had not been
as printer's
it
since
copy
and
obvious
is its
inclusion
im
the most
a
of
series of
Both
the in
paragraphs.36
were perceived
as errors by
the proofs
and were
removed.
persons
caused
correcting
in spacing
serious
between
the
irregularities
to
in
words
the
few
the
first
lines,
and,
compositor
sought
remedy
in succeeding
the effort
the defect. Then,
abandoning
lines, he left
as another
to the pre
of spacing
testimonial
these
irregularities
removal
Their
vailing
haste.
The
important
question
marks
but
their
is not
of these
the presence
to
It is incredible
to be expected
in a
meaning.
quotation
of the competence
that a compositor
such as Dunlap's
have placed
them there if
would
leading printery
or
to
not
been
in
had
present
something
them,
they,
comparable
the manuscript
used as copy. But what
did the anonymous
type
as
setter see and interpret
?
marks
quotation
to be made
The
first observation
is that, at the bottom
of the
are
of the "original
third page
certain
there
Rough
draught,"
puzzling
suppose
diacritical,
or distinctive,
never been
marks
which
have
noted
been
occur
but whose
as single and
meaning
explored.37 They
accents which,
if found also in the manuscript
double
used as copy
for quota
could
have
been
mistaken
compositor,
by Dunlap's
easily
tion marks.
But since their use in either document
could
obviously
not have been to indicate
were
that the passages
actually
quoted,
what was their purpose
?For the only plausible
both of
explanation
can
in the printer's
and of their presence
their meaning
copy, which
has
be
we
assumed,
must
the
the
begin with
of the Committee
report
presenting
its chairman
who, having
be added
it. To this must
upon
read
unlike
36 See
37 See
Richard
Henry
illustration
page
456.
illustration
page
457.
Lee,
fact
that
of Five
only the single

the well-known
whom
John
there
Adams
for
responsibility
to Congress
rested
have to
copy, would
fact
that
looked
Jefferson?
as a
upon
;s 's
V?
Q
H
?J
W
tO
m
K
b<
.?3
III
1
5!?
?tfe
s 3 .t? ?P
?i
o c ? "'S
es?*?
S
1.
<!<*
.o
o,
Io
""Mi
I*
o?
CO
4?
3X3
'Ou*
CO
CO
ZU?
i s s*
t?
t?
CO MH y
3o
5<I 2?2
CO
-C ?
C O O?
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te
O
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?.
3
111 ?leKflilf
??s
t?
ri
CO o
t?
O
O
<!
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ri
CO t?
s?
o o g*
.o b-d
I.
-I
o
o
6
& ?*s
5 a rt
t- ***-*
J3 O
be
S
.?
law
?T ^
8 ?
?I?
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? O 3
ei5
c _fi
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^2 ..^
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feT? g o.2
3*81-1:
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456
?
a o
-t?
O
065
457
458
JULIAN
of uncommon
"Man
with
body
Eloquence"38?could
as Lee
effort
could.
oratorical
boldly
Wythe
silent
public
in conversation
executive,
for him.
and
decisive."40
and
explicit,
not
While
a legislative
sway
his old teacher
"or anyone
else" in elocu
correct
in saying
undeniably
was
in committees
he
frank,
"prompt,
competition
but
debate,
and
that
October
was almost
in debates
in Congress,
engaged
Jefferson
him
overstated
the floor.39 Adams
the case in describing
upon
as unable
to stand
tion
P. BOYD
As
with
Lee
he was
legislator,
whenever
preferred
Jefferson
In his years of incredibly
wide
an
awareness
to
reveal
he seemed
as diplomat,
and as chief
to
let
his
pen speak
possible
and disciplined
study under
of this natural
disposition
to ancient
of logic and
and modern
works
he gave
of these subjects
had a discernible
influence on
pursuit
of
of
Declaration
and
the
prose
arguments
logical
Wythe,
in the attention
His
rhetoric.
the
cadenced
Independence.41
But
it is especially
to note that in those years Jefferson

important
to elocution,
attention
the more
because
also gave much
so, perhaps,
court
contests
in
in
in
that
and
his legislative
he knew
his
pleadings
some of the ablest debaters
encounter
of the day.
he would
Virginia
a youth he possessed
in 1748 under
and Hall
best
(?Man's
companion,
work
the pseudonymous
issued by Franklin
the title The (?American Instructor;
or, Young
&widely
in reading
used text for instruction
Introduction
John Rice's
subjects.42 He also possessed
As
and other basic

to the (?Art of Reading
in 1765.43 In his
38 L. H.
Butterfield,
later
in London
with Energy and Propriety,
published
to read Small's
to a young
law student
advice
et al., eds., Diary
and Autobiography
of John Adams,
III
(Cambridge,
1961), 367.
39 In the debates
called him
actively
John Adams
early in 1776 in which Wythe
engaged,
"one of our best Men."
229-230.
Ibid.,
Ill, 372; see also, II, 195, 208, 211, 214-215,
40
to Timothy
Aug. 6, 1822, Adams
Pickering,
Family Manu
Ibid.,
Ill, 336; John Adams
text
Works
John
II
in
F.
G.
5i4n.
of
(Boston,
ed.,
Adams,
1856),
Adams,
scripts;
41Wilbur
of Independence
and Eighteenth-Century
"The Declaration
Samuel Howell,
XVIII
and
William
3rd.
Mary
(1961),
463-484.
Quarterly,
Ser.,
Logic,"
42
to Dr. James Ewell, Nov.
in E. Millicent
7, 1819, Jefferson
Papers;
quoted
Jefferson
I (Washington,
So wer by, Catalogue
of Thomas Jefferson,
of the Library
1952), 508.
43
a copy of the first edition
of 1765. It is
511. Jefferson
Sowerby,
possessed
Catalogue,
of
with his years of study
not known when he acquired
but
the
date
coincided
it,
publication
and
in view
conducting
it is very
his students
that Wythe
gave to instructing
in turn recommended
practice which
Jefferson
this volume was one of his early acquisitions.
of the attention
moot
likely
courts?a
that
in debating
and
to his students?
in
THE
1976
OF INDEPENDENCE
DECLARATION
459
on elocution
works
and oratory,
and other
Speaker
no
in
that
trouble
be
the
urged
spared
Jefferson
making
presentation
to the particular
audience
because
this was
"the
last
appropriate
most
One
exercise."44
that
this admonition,
and
feels
important
as a climax
to a remarkably
of
outline
coming
comprehensive
arose
out
of
and
recommended
studies,
deep personal
experience
(?American
In
the kind of guidance
from George Wythe.
he received
own
to
for
his
careful preparation
addition
public speaking,
Jefferson
was keenly
in works
of shorthand
then and later
and
interested
reflected
abbreviated
?raphy.
of writing,
such as Thomas
and compendious
methods
methods
The
most
that hath ever yet been published

writing
in his teens had been prompted
by his
of
method
archeological
stratigraphie
later
and who
a
in
century
unprecedented
cipher?both
of their
in Europe?needed
and
independent
discovery
a
own
as
to
create
used
such works
his
stimulus
only
accents
conventional
used
He was of course familiar with
excavation
the wheel
invented
advance
probably
methods.
in works
found
Shelton's
Tachy
of short and swift
who
by any.45 But Jefferson,
love of order to conceive
the
exact
and
of elocution
in his
own
illustrative
and
phonetics.
But
manuscripts
employed
seem to have been
purposes
turn
of this we must
comparable
as reading
his own. For
to be
marks
or
for
copies
confirmation
to Jefferson's
in Paris.
years
of converting
the design
that
you to my opinion
of long and short syllables
into regular feet consti
wrote
of English
to his friend
the harmony
verse,"
Jefferson
"I began with

the arrangement
tuted
the Marquis
de Chastellux
in 1786, "I ended by discovering
that
that proposition."
The
result was Jeffer
you were right in denying
on
in which,
son's essay
called
with
English
"Thoughts
Prosody"
from
and
he
illustrative
Shakespeare
others,
employed
quotations
44
to Bernard Moore,
ca. 1773, as incorporated
of subsequent
(with the addition
Jefferson
in his letter to John Minor,
of the University
of Pennsylvania
titles)
Aug. 30, 1814, Library
a
text given
Law School;
L. Cohen,
in facsimile
in Morris
"Thomas
Jefferson Recommends
of Law
Law Review,
Course
CXIX
823-844.
Study,"
University
of Pennsylvania
(1971),
as if it were a separate
text. Jefferson
prints the letter to Moore
Ford, Writings,
IX, 480-485,
mentions
other
45Sowerby,
threw Shelton's
it had
serious
to the work
works
on rhetoric,
in this letter.
and elocution
oratory,
wrote
to Daniel
"accident
512. In 1820 Jefferson
Humphreys:
into my way when young, and I practised
it thro* life. Although
tachygraphy
I have not looked into any other with fewer" {foc. cit.). Jefferson
refers
defects,
Catalogue,
in a letter
to John Page,
Jan.
23,
1764, Papers,
I, 14-15.
460
P. BOYD
JULIAN
October
accents
in an ascending
scale
triple, and quadruple
single, double,
was
from
of emphasis.
far
He
of accentuation
this mode
presuming
to be perfect
accent
that no two persons
the
and concluded
would
same passage
but a real adept would
alike and that "no person
accent
it twice
alike."46
not only
revealed
essay
of
stress,
study
rhythm,
timing,
ac
same
of
mode
the
employed
remarkable
This
and continuing
careful
Jefferson's
in reading:
it also
and quantity
to be found
in the "original
centuation
earlier
of
in the
and
of a decade
Rough
draught"
address
his second
inaugural
copy
reading
later.47 The
and double
diacritical
years
twenty
single
in number
from
in these two notable
differ only
documents
manu
to be found
in
in the essay on prosody.
Their
presence
delivered
marks
those
a long period of time points

to
inescapably
must
in the missing
have
also
that they
appeared
to
of Five which
it was Jefferson's
the Committee
duty
over
scripts spread
the conclusion
such
report of
read and which,
a far from
quite
unanimous
naturally,
audience
he would
have
all of
with
wished
the
force
to present
to
and
emphasis
to the great occasion.
appropriate
seen that
in Dunlap's
What
else could the typesetter
shop have
as the nearest
marks
have caused him to introduce
would
quotation
seems
to
to these peculiarly
accents?
There
Jeffersonian
equivalent
in the proof. The
for their presence
be no alternative
explanation
in the missing
text, if we may
judge from those in its proto
so
as
to
thus
be almost
been
have
indiscernible,
type, may
light
of
absence
and
the
closing
opening
perhaps
explaining
quotation
to the
in three of the passages. We may
be grateful
therefore
marks
a
who
and preserved
saw, misunderstood,
through
compositor
marks
meant
very different
something
us
meant.
Let
that
did
they
Dunlap
hope
too severely
have seemed
not chastise his journeyman
for what must
on that hectic night only a blundering
waste
of precious
time.
to the
error
once
what
been
the
had
corrected,
happened
But,
error
fortunate
from what
he
all-important
those marks
which
assumed
printer's
copy
which
should
have
been
for
preserved
46
ca. October
to the Marquis
but written
de Chastellux,
undated
1786, Papers,
Jefferson
on English
of Jefferson's
the manuscript
letter enclosed
Prosody."
"Thoughts
X, 498. This
folios 41823-37,
of Con
is in the Jefferson Papers,
His draft of twenty-seven
pages
Library
See illustration
the order is incorrect.
page 461.
gress, though
47 See
illustration,
page
463,
containing
a detail
from
folio
41834
of
the draft,
ibid.
C(n^&/*~t?d
otee
9TuOsrv?f OtorUs?
WxAjtr
u/?JJc- thus t?irrxSc>v<?
LêJrAr-^ jfiJUsy' ob?xrt??:
T.4,??7t ??u*-e. ?sââ?
fTij&rir
A?-?Ur<
u-t-ZeA.
^jt~A.
Detail
u?A?s>~cJ.
from Jefferson's
"Thoughts
\S?jts/U
on English
Prosody,"
1786
461
462
all
P. BOYD
JULIAN
as
time
the
official
first
one
text? No
October
would
have
more
been
not only because

in preserving
it than Jefferson,
he was
of it as being,
in his words,
its author
and was justifiably
proud
from
of our
but
his youth
because
also
"the
charter
liberties,"
in
the
he
onward
life
had
been
indefatigable
preservation
throughout
interested
answer
of historical
of manuscripts
The
and artifacts
significance.
in another
connection:
be the simple one that he himself
gave
may
so
cut
of print
in
and
the
that "manuscripts
dirtied
process
up
get
Because
ing as to be in fact destroyed."48
used as printer's
copy may
manuscript
and distributed
several
sections
among
time. This,
manuscript
tion of the
appropriately
of Jefferson's
fundamental
of the haste
actually
that night,
have been cut
the
into
to save
in order
compositors
to the
what happened
is precisely
enough,
reaffirma
first
inaugural?that
eloquent
set forth
of
in the Declaration
principles
who
Samuel
Harrison
Smith,
fortunately
Independence?though
was given
it in type, reassembled
of first putting
the
the privilege
and preserved
the whole.49
did the
parts
Possibly
John Dunlap
same with
the first official text of the Declaration.
Possibly
Jefferson,
to manuscripts
in a
in reflecting
sometimes
upon what
happened
printing
document
shop,
was
only
unprecedented
and
remembering
in human
annals.
regretting
the
loss of
IV
wrote
to
for some Time
John Hancock
past,"
Congress,
one
on
their
had
Attention
"have
by
occupied
Washington
July 6th,
that could possibly
of the most
and important
interesting
Subjects
a
come before
of Men."
He
enclosed
them; or any other Assembly
"The
copy of the Dunlap broadside and asked that it be proclaimed at

the head of the army.50 On the day before Elbridge Gerry had
declared
that,
as soon
as New
York
supported
the measure,
48
to Wilson
Mar.
19, 1817, ibid.
Cary Nicholas,
Jefferson
49 The
was cut into eleven sections,
in sequence
numbered
manuscript
of Congress.
Smith Papers,
reassembled.
Library
J. Henley
60
to George Washington,
July 6, 1776, Burnett,
Letters,
John Hancock
by Smith
its title
and
II, 2.
then
^m.
t?
^
3
"<-T<w
*"ii3
A?3
,? x?<i> f>^*-
T^\
?.Vj?
?IV
fe j^s* I
-*2c
463
464
JULIAN
P. BOYD
October
would be "THE UNANIMOUS

DECLARATION
UNITED
STATES OF AMERICA."51
THIRTEEN
ordered
Congress
that
ment,
when
that
its title
be
the Declaration
to the
changed
OF THE
On July 19
be fairly engrossed
form just quoted,
on
parch
and
that,
it "be signed by every member
of Congress."
On
engrossed,
2
noted
the Journal
that the engrossed
after being
copy,
August
was
com
at
the
the
members"?the
table,
signed
"compared
by
of
made
with
the
Both
broadside.
obviously
being
parison
Dunlap
these
resolutions
appeared
or public Journal.
corrected
of Independence
Declaration
from
its missing
prototype.
in the
Thus
Secret
Journal,
into existence
came
as the third
The
rather
in the
neither
the cherished
official
text, twice removed

crude vellum
used was
but there
is at least a
engrossed
by Timothy
Matlack,
that engrossing
have been contemplated.
possibility
by print may
was printed
A unique
of
copy on a superior
parchment
by
quality
a
after
sometime
19, being
John Dunlap
July
resetting
complete
no space
from fresh type.52 While
for
this
is a single
sheet with
probably
these could have been added on a second

sheet sewn to
signatures,
in the parchment
that containing
the text, as was done
scroll of the
of
Act
Confederation.
Since
the
document
bears
original
Dunlap's
for
it seems more
that
it was
executed
however,
imprint,
likely
some
other
purpose?possibly
because
Dunlap
himself
was
none
too
proud of the hastily produced broadside printed the night of July 4.

known
It is well
by
signed
all of
that
those
the engrossed
who voted
was not
copy of the Declaration
on July 4; that
for the measure
51
to James Warren,
Elbridge
Gerry
July 5, 1776, ibid., II, 1.
52 This
bears the same title as the Dunlap
broadside
and hence presumably
copy, which
was printed
been
before July
19, 1776, is in the American
having
Philosophical
Society,
to the Society
who had obtained
of
it from the daughter
by Dr. James Mease,
presented
in I. Minis Hays,
It is described
American
David
Rittenhouse.
Pro
Philosophical
Society,
the Lee copy,
the Dunlap
and the
(1900), 72-74. Along with
ceedings, XXXIX
broadside,
of the Declaration
in the Philadelphia
for July 6,
first newspaper
Post
publication
Evening
for publication
in 1976 in a separate
brochure
edited by
copy is scheduled
1776, this unique
Whitfield J. Bell, Jr.

in this connection
that John Dunlap
the first copies of both the
printed
of the United
of Independence
and the Constitution
and that a unique
States,
of each of these fundamental
is in the
documents
copy of the first state of the first printing
of the Historical
of Pennsylvania.
As to the latter, see J. H. Powell,
collections
The
Society
It may
Declaration
Books
be noted
of a New
Nation,
64.
THE
1976
some
of
not
that
not
it were
on
so
August
who
those
OF INDEPENDENCE
DECLARATION
signed
signed did
all who
on
present
2.53
465
that
and
date;
of signing
of those who
and the names
signed were not
of public knowledge
until some months
later. On January
18,
two weeks
at
after Washington's
victories
encouraging
1777?just
it should be noted?Congress
and Princeton,
Trenton
ordered
that
an authenticated
with
the names of mem
copy of the Declaration,
The
fact
matters
bers who
had
they
then
and
it, "be sent to each of the United
States,
was
the same put upon record."
Congress
and thus the fourth official
text, derived
subscribed
be desired
to have
in Baltimore
sitting
the engrossed
parchment
from
came
copy,
into
in that
existence
city in the form of a broadside printed by Mary Katharine Goddard,

and
authenticated
duly
Hancock
and Thomson.
Journal,
printed
Declaration
had
also
been
attested
This
carried
signed on
It is worth
with
the
broadside,
the erroneous
the day
actual
like
of
signatures
the
subsequently
that
the
impression
of
"In Con
its adoption,
the resolutions
that, while
gress, July 4, 1776."54

noting
of Congress
of July 4 had directed
that the Declaration
"be pro
at
in each of the United
claimed
and
of
the
the
head
States,
army,"
18 requested
that of January
that these copies, with
of
the names
to
record." The
be "put upon
first aimed
affixed,
signers
gain the
assent
of
fourth
official
to put
the people,
the second
text as issued
from
the
Goddard
the distinction
thus has
the names
signers on
of Mary
press
the
record.
The
Katharine
of being the first to convey

those who had given
their
to the
of
people
pledge
to support
the Declaration.
It was not until after the second
conflict with Great
that
Britain
a powerful
wave
across
of patriotic
fervor
and
the
land
spread
American
brought
53 The
into existence
most
the fifth
and
final
text.
official
By
then
the
account
of the signing
is in Hazelton,
193-219. Thomas
Declaration,
disturbed
when both the printed Journal
1781. He was naturally
his name. When
issued early in 1777 omitted
and the Goddard
Pickering
Timothy
was Secretary
of State, Pickering
and he examined
the various
and the engrossed
journals
and Chamberlain
intent on other ques
text, but, like Vaughan
parchment
later, both were
text as reported
of the missing
tions and made no mention
and approved. Hazelton,
Declara
a letter from McKean
to A. J. Dallas,
Aug. 4, 1796.
tion, 285, quoting
54 A facsimile
at p. 284. It should be noted
is in Hazelton,
of this broadside
Declaration,
that
signed
detailed
did not
McKean
sign until
broadside
in the Library
of Congress
the copies
and Thomson
by Hancock
authenticating
both
and
in the New
and attesting
York
their
Public
Library
text.
are
P. BOYD
October
about
scroll, which had traveled
destruction
had narrowly
escaped
for wear.
the worse
Printers
the country
during both
more
than once, was
466
JULIAN
parchment
wars
and
somewhat
to
so that
unrolled
the
of
appeal
exact
their
of State
as
such
engravers
and John Binns had caused it to be rolled
Benjamin Owen Tyler

and
and
facsimiles
of
the
add
signatures
might
to
visitors
the
Distinguished
engravings.
also asked
that
it be
to
shown
them. Some
of a nuisance
had made
of
citizens,
perhaps,
something
to the Secretary
was
of State,
who
Adams,
John Quincy
never one to suffer fools gladly. Thus
it was that in 1823 he author
an exact
on
to execute
ized William
J. Stone
facsimile,
engraved
Department
patriotic
themselves
on parchment.
and printed
This
laudable
copperplate
operation,
in spreading
it was
faithful
remarkably
replicas
throughout
to the original
led to still further
of
because
nation,
damage
so much
which
lifted
process
wet-press
employed,
it as to render parts of it almost
illegible. Two
were printed.
On May
ordered
26, 1824 Congress
customary
ink from
copies
be distributed
copies
tion?Thomas
of the surviving
Adams,
Jefferson,
John
that other
be
copies
Carrollton?and
former
to each
President
and
legislatures
and
universities
Madison,
of the
as
the
the
of the
hundred
two
that
of the Declara
and
sent
signers
Charles
Carroll
of
to President
the Marquis
de Lafayette,
states
and
and
territories,
in the United
States.
Monroe,
the governors
the different
colleges
of State
executed
this assignment
with
under
Secretary
to
In
and
letter
his
the
de
feeling.
standing
Lafayette,
Marquis
to the Declaration
as a "Proclama
of Independence
Adams
referred
to change
tion of Principles,
destined
the face of the world,
and . . .
to ameliorate
the condition
and exalt
the character
of the human
The
to his father,
The
letter of transmittal
to him
species."55
referring
as one of the subscribers
of a document
in
the
Annals
"unparalleled
a
of Mankind,"
ended with
close which must
have
complimentary
"With
touched
of veneration,
every sentiment
John Adams
deeply:
I have
the honour
55
John Quincy
Domestic
Letters,
56
John Quincy
Adams
National
Adams
of subscribing
to the Marquis
Archives.
to John Adams,
your
myself
de Lafayette,
June
24,
fellow
Oct.
1824, he.
16,
Citizen."56
1824, Record
The
Group
cit.
59,
THE
1976
to Jefferson
touch.
letters
OF INDEPENDENCE
DECLARATION
and Carroll
followed
the
same
467
form
except
for
this final
Thus did John Quincy Adams play his role in helping to focus the
attention
of
the American
deserves
for all time upon

that text which
people
above all others.
In doing so, he had good
the inquiry sent him a few months
earlier
its preeminence
to avoid answering
of the Shenandoah
the editors
reason
by
which
from
copy
it and
all others
the archives
on parchment
The Papers
were
would
had
Herald
derived.
have
been
been
elevated
of Thomas Jefferson
about
the prototype
from
as
it
disclosed
missing
unthinkable
after
the signed
To
have
to its proper
niche
Julian
in history.
P. Boyd

The Declaration of Independence - The Mystery of The Lost Original

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The Declaration of Independence - The Mystery of The Lost Original

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The Declaration of Independence: The Mystery of the Lost Original

Author(s): Julian P. Boyd

in 1811, "for it must

all his works.

also had a powerful

the papers of the Old

in his abiding hatred of Thomas

1800, he had had official custody of the papers of the Continental

The preceeding Copy of the Declaration

are in the Pickering

quoting his own letter of inquiry in the address, he did

saw the result, he revealed

the better for having a fourth of it ex

from the records of Congress

19, 1823, Adams

text in I. Minis Hays,

had been donated,

and its acceptance

so. In the process,

the two statesmen

text of the Declaration

in the Secret Journal in the form of a printed broadside bearing the

of the remarkably full and detailed information supplied him by

of Five had not been

the original motions,

the origin of a nation

the small bones

from the Papers

to be read with amendments,"

is the one which

text of the Declaration.

for the conjunction,

of Jefferson's impassioned indictment of George III for disallowing

the first place,

files, something he could not have done if it had been handed

Independence painted by John Trumbull was based in large part

report on behalf of the Committee

on July 4 it was available for inspection by members.

its face evidence

the files, along with

than its prototype.

for the related

So far as the records

time an aged man,

the State House,

shop and then, quite properly,

and from all other

9, 1916, Ford, Writings,

the press. While

carried out by Frederick R. Goff, benefited both from his biblio

R. Goff, "A Report

on the John Dunlap

but far less so than the Declaration.

that he sent as president

ago first called my attention

like to thank Mr. David

only the single

<S <8 4fe

to note that in those years Jefferson

and other basic

et al., eds., Diary

that hath ever yet been published

"I began with