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Happy Independence Day

PenelopeWitherspoon

By PenelopeWitherspoon
in Daily Texan

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phdhorn

phdhorn 6224

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I've run this the past couple of years and am doing so again this year.  This was a little thingy I put out when teaching years ago, only slightly modified through the years.  Answers in spoiler (actually you can tell by the nature of the questions it's not really a "knowledge test" but was just a way to put some facts down about the DoI that you might not(?) have known.  Happy 4th!

How Well Do You Know Your Declaration? Take This Test...

On July 4, we celebrate the creation of these United States, traditionally marked by the Declaration of Independence. But just how much do you know about the Declaration, and the events surrounding its construction, signing, and distribution, and the most common beliefs (and 'mis'beliefs) about it? Well, take this little quiz I made up (13 questions, one for each original colony!) and see how you do:

1. The Declaration of Independence was the first act to establish the unity of the colonies.
2. The first serious discussions for independence and a Declaration began in a brothel.
3. The most powerful influence upon Americans for independence wasn't American and was virtually unheard of in the colonies.
4. The Declaration was the colonies' first formal statement of independence from Great Britain.
5. The Declaration was a good example of government bureaucracy.
6. America's independence is celebrated on the wrong day.
7. There is really nothing new or radical regarding government in the Declaration.
8. One of the first true copies of the Declaration is the famous one displayed at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
9. The copy of the Declaration that was delivered to England's King George III is different from the one we know best today.
10. Among the various “injuries and usurpations” for which the Declaration lambastes the King is slavery.
11. Jefferson took great pains to produce the neat and orderly “final” copy of the Declaration we all now know so well (the one in the Archives).
12. The Declaration always represented the unanimous approval of all 13 colonies.
13. The signing of this Declaration was costly for most of the delegates who did so.


Answers:
 

Spoiler

 

1. False. The Declaration is certainly powerful and unique, but it wasn't the first recognition of the unity of the colonies, although it was the first document to contain the phrase United States. The Articles of Association, passed on October 20, 1774, was the first colonial congressional action to unify the states independently of Britain. But the Declaration, unlike these Articles, was far more offensive to England, and taken far more seriously, because it's the first direct attack on the King, rather than on Parliament. To do this was far more dangerous and almost always an offense punishable by death- and they knew this. Whereas the Articles were dismissed by the Crown as the venting of the lowly colonists, the Declaration was of mortal offense to it. It was no longer a game, it was war.

2. False. Even the Founders had their limits (as far as we know!). But it was the next best thing – a bar! Yep, it turns out that the First Continental Congress, scheduled to meet in Philadelphia on September 5, 1774, feared using British public property (i.e the State House) for their sure-to-be heated and “insubordinate” meetings, and risk being hauled in for treason. So most of the delegates convened the day before (September 4) in the nearby City Tavern and began their first earnest discussions to seriously map independence; they also decided to hold their subsequent meetings at the privately-owned Carpenter's Hall. Now, most of us realize that taverns in those times were far more than sleazy bars (though they could be that, too!), and in fact, were loci of civil and political life. They held plays, exhibits, conventions, contests, etc. But, the fact remains, that the local bar was the first stop in the “weekend that changed the world!”

3. True. It was, ironically an Englishman, Thomas Paine, who first set popular resolve for independence! Paine didn't even arrive in America until 1774 and was a nobody in Philadelphia. Then, his famous 1776 pamphlet, Common Sense, almost singlehandedly sparked the fervor for revolution and the Declaration, containing much of the blunt language for the criminalization of Britain's government, and a call to separate. It is said that, in proportion to the population, more Americans at the time read and were electrified by Common Sense than watch the Super Bowl today! Most historians cite this little pamphlet as the single most important catalyst which fueled Americans' “no turning back now” fever to separate completely from the Crown. In a final irony, Paine was labeled an outcast in England in 1791, not for his track record with the United States, but rather after the publishing of The Rights of Man, which contained anti-monarchist views and actually pertained more to the French Revolution. Prior to that, Paine was able to return to, live and work in England!

4. False. Rhode Island passed a formal declaration, May 4, 1776, creating the first true free republic in the New World. Virginia followed with a formal resolution to instruct its delegates to the Philadelphia Congress to vote for Independence on May 15, 1776, which in turn led to the famous Resolution for Independence proposed to the Convention by Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee a month later; his resolution was virtually pasted intact into Jefferson's Declaration (and figures in another question here).

5. True. Although it seems less "inspirational" to cite the laborious, slogging process of its creation, the Declaration is a product of heated debate, numerous revisions, and (ugh!) yes, even committee work! Jefferson submitted his original draft to his mentors Adams and Franklin, who rewarded him with dozens of suggested changes (the fact that these are in his own handwriting has led to a common misbelief that Jefferson instituted these changes). After that, another 47 major changes were made by the 5-man Declaration Congressional Committee, and after that 39 more were made by the fully assembled Congress after reviewing and debating the document for over two days. Jefferson himself was exasperated about the numerous "depredations" made, complaining about the 'mutilation' process. So the idea that Jefferson "wowed' 'em with his first copy might make for exciting history, but is not the truth.

6. True Well, sort of... at least John Adams thought so. Actually, on July 2, Congress had secretly approved Lee's Resolution for Independence (discussed earlier here), making that day, not July 4, the actual day that America first recognized its own independence! Furthermore, Lee's resolution had been on the table, and debated, for over a month. Meanwhile, the Declaration was still being laboriously worked out, but as of that Thursday, July 2, Adams thought that the toughest question, indeed, the one for which Congress convened, had been resolved. Consequently to Adams, the rest would be mere window dressing. In his letter to his wife Abigail, he waxed eloquently about July 2:

"The Second Day of July 1776 will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. . . . It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires, and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more."

However, it was a full two days later when the Declaration was finished and approved, with Lee's resolution now pasted in as part of it. Actually, Adams pouted by not getting his way (surprising, huh?) and refused to take part in any “July 4” celebration that year. Despite Adams' pouting over getting it “wrong”, technically he was right, and in any event, his manner in which the celebrations should occur have proven remarkably accurate.

7. True. Jefferson purposely borrowed heavily from other sources, including deliberate language from the first three sections of George Mason's Virginia Declaration of Rights, his very own Preamble to the Virginia Constitution, John Locke's Second Treatise on Civil Government, and Richard Henry Lee's resolution declaring Virginia independent from Britain mentioned here earlier. Like most of our most historical and powerful documents, the Declaration is a summary of current thought, mixed into a brilliant statement of rights; not a completely original idea. In fact, Jefferson himself said as much in an 1826 letter to his old friend, Lee:

"This was the object of the Declaration of Independence. Not to find out new principles, or new arguments never before thought of, not merely to say things which had never been said before; but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent, and to justify ourselves in the independent stand we are compelled to take. Neither aiming at originality of principle or sentiment, nor yet copied from any particular or previous writing, it was intended to be an expression of the American mind, and to give to that expression the proper tone and spirit called for by the occasion. All of its authority rests then on the harmonizing sentiments of the day . . ."

8. False, and this gets into the complex (and fascinating at times) story of what exactly is the "original" Declaration. In fact, many people believe that the “written” copy hanging in the National Archives is the original source, from which all of our copies “sprung”. In fact, almost the opposite is true! After Jefferson's draft version, the first real "Declarations" were actually printed ones. Congress directed John Dunlap to print the first entire versions quickly after approval on the evening of July 4 - these must, by all accounts, be considered the first "true" copies. Some 250-500 broadsides (of which only about 25 survive today) were printed, including the first complete copies that the Continental Congress members viewed. The others were quickly distributed out to the states and state houses, to be nailed to every conceivable public space. From there, individual states set and printed their own “looks” of the Declaration, and within a week, there were dozens of versions quickly circulating within the colonies! But this history actually fits the Declaration as a pragmatic document which it truly was, not a “decorative” one. These copies had a real function, to get the word out!

The famous "engrossed" document, which is sentimentally regarded as the "original, sacred" one, was a decorative afterthought, drawn up in Congress by a resolution to "engross" it and to have it signed by all delegates. This was begun on July 19, 1776, well after Dunlap's printed broadsides had gone out of Philadelphia, along with the various state and local reprints, and took another month to get the 56 signatures. The public didn't even see it until 1777! However, we must give this engrossed document its rightful place in history, for although it was by no means the first “copy”, it was the most important – it was the first and only version with the full slate of signors, which gave it far more power and authority. The previous 500 Dunlap-printed broadsides only had 2 signatures, Congress President Hancock, and Charles Thomson (secretary, who was actually not a "pen signer" of the engrossed copy). So, the "original" Declaration is actually more complex than it would seem, and technically, the engrossed one is somewhere down the list well into the hundreds technically in order of production.

9. True. The King received a printed Dunlap broadside, with only the 2 signors.. However, in good business form, George III's version also contained a true, real-life "cover letter" that marked out the reasons and occasions (and mention of the other 54 members who assented to this document, before actually signing it) of the construction and approval of the Declaration.

10. False but almost true. In Jefferson's original draft, his longest and most bitter indictment included the English support of slavery. In Jefferson's words: “...he [the King] has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating it's most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemispere, or to incure miserable death in their transportation hither... he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce...
However, this text was removed over the strong objections of slaveholding states (which pretty much included every one except for those in New England), so it was nixed. The fact that Jefferson himself held at least 130 slaves is testimony to the remarkable 18th century mindset that could espouse ideals while not personally practicing them, that the “natural” rights of man were still valid even if in practice they weren't being realized. Jefferson himself defended his “nonaction” (i.e. Slaveholding) in the face of his seemingly acute feelings against the practice in an 1837 letter to his friend Thomas Heaton by saying in essence the times weren't right for action.

11. False. Jefferson may have been meticulous and neat in his works, but not here. Actually, the famous National Archives engrossed Declaration isn't in Jefferson's handwriting at all. For it wasn't he, but rather Timothy Matlack, an assistant to the Secretary of the Congress, who did all that writing! So when you think you're marveling at the “hand of Jefferson” while gazing at the famous parchment Archives copy, you're really marveling rather at Congress's “scribe”!

12. False technically, as it was written and approved, at least for a short time. New York did not vote for the Declaration on July 4. They actually abstained on July 4, and didn't approve until July 15. Until that point, it would have been disingenuous to declare "unanimous consent" of the 13 colonies when it was originally passed. And, the delegates knew this and acted accordingly. Did you know that if you look at the first copies of the Declaration (the printed broadsides) the first words after the opening “In Congress, July 4, 1776” are “A Declaration By The Representatives of the United States of America in General Congress Assembled.”, whereas after New York's approval, the subsequent copies (including the famous engrossed one) from July 15 onward have the line “The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America.” Bet you didn't know that there were two versions of the Declaration written and approved now, did you!

13. False. And True. Okay, you get a break on this one. It's true that a few of the signors had misfortune fall upon them (captured sons, themselves captured, loss of property), etc. But only in one or two instances are these misfortunes directly due to their signing the Declaration. Most of them are rather simply due to bad luck or the misfortunes of war in general (i.e. these things happened to a lot of other people who didn't sign). And in fact, at least a third of them actually retained their prosperity, or became prosperous and/or influential after the war. This included such stints as governors, senators, founders of universities,and even presidents. This is in direct response to popular (and inaccurate) sentiment expressed through “the price they paid” commentaries circulating at this time of year. While these commentaries are stirring, they are largely inaccurate.

However, it would be a grave and cavalier mistake to say that signing the Declaration was no big deal. Indeed, anyone who expressed anti-England sentiment during the Revolution was subject to harsh penalties. Furthermore, it's not entirely clear that worse fates didn't befall these signors simply because during the chaos of war, they were difficult to find or identify. The record seems to substantiate that at least 2 signors were harshly punished directly for signing, while the case is out on at least a dozen others. So before we give into historical revisionism by minimizing the risk of signing, we need to understand that their world was a dangerous place, and hanging was a certainly expected punishment for signing. These factors make their signing all the more brave and inspired to us, and well they should. This act of signing was extremely courageous, because these men knew their fates hung in the balance, and protection from the new, weak government was doubtful at best.

 



How'd ya do?, Whether great or not so great, it is a great thing to celebrate a marvelous document on its day of resolution, and the glorious country which has emerged out of those embers. The Declaration was no easy document; it was painfully and hotly constructed, debated, and distributed, and played a large part in the bloodiest war (more killed per capita in relation to the country's population than any war since) to ensure these freedoms and rights.

Long live the Declaration! Long live the United States!

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