“Accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.”
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Declaration of Independence (1776)
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Wikipedia John TrumbullThe Context and Resolution
Here's what happened in sequence:
June 7, 1776 - The Lee Resolution
On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced his famous resolution to the Continental Congress that "these united colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states." The Lee Resolution contained three parts: a declaration of independence, a call to form foreign alliances, and "a plan for confederation."
June 10, 1776 - Decision to Postpone and Prepare
Congress decided that they were not yet ready to vote on independence immediately. On June 10, Congress postponed the first part of Lee's resolution for three weeks, and also decided to appoint "a committee to prepare a declaration to the effect of the said first resolution".
June 11, 1776 - The Resolution Creating Three Committees
On June 11, 1776, the Congress appointed three concurrent committees in response to the Lee Resolution: one to draft a declaration of independence, a second to draw up a plan "for forming foreign alliances," and a third to "prepare and digest the form of a confederation." The committee was composed of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman.
This part of the Declaration of Independence stems from two writings:
- John Locke's Second Treatise (1689), specifically Section 223, where Locke wrote: "People are not so easily got out of their old Forms, as some are apt to suggest. They are hardly to be prevailed with to amend the acknowledg'd Faults, in the Frame they have been accustom'd to. And if there be any Original defects, or adventitious ones introduced by time, or corruption; 'tis not an easie thing to get them changed, even when all the World sees there is an opportunity for it."
- Thomas Paine's Common Sense (January 1776): "I know it is difficult to get over local or long standing prejudices, yet if we will suffer ourselves to examine the component parts of the English Constitution...”
The most revealing insight into Jefferson's thinking comes from his famous 1825 letter to Henry Lee, written nearly 50 years later, where Jefferson explained:
"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 and previous writing, it was intended to be an expression of the American mind.”
July 02, 1776
“But the Day is past. 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 Acts 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 this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.
You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will triumph in that Days Transaction, even although We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.”
John Adams to Abigail Adams, July 03, 1776
What Actually Happened on July 4, 1776
On July 4, 1776, "the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence" and "the approved Declaration was printed on July 5th" with only the names of "John Hancock, President, and Charles Thomson, secretary" appearing on the printed copies. Declaration of Independence (1776) | National Archives
The Real Signing Timeline
August 2, 1776 - The Main Signing Event
The actual signing began much later: "On July 19th, Congress ordered that the Declaration be engrossed on parchment with a new title, 'the unanimous declaration of the thirteen united states of America,' and 'that the same, when engrossed, be signed by every member of Congress.' On August 2nd John Hancock, the President of the Congress, signed the engrossed copy with a bold signature." Declaration of Independence (1776) | National Archives
Most historians now agree that "the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence occurred primarily on August 2, 1776" and that "roughly a month after the Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence, an 'engrossed' version was signed" by most delegates. Encyclopedia BritannicaWikipedia
Extended Signing Through January 1777
You're absolutely right about the timeline extending to January 1777. The National Archives confirms: "Although all delegates were not present on August 2nd, 56 delegates eventually signed the document. Late signers were Elbridge Gerry, Oliver Wolcott, Lewis Morris, Thomas McKean, and Matthew Thornton, who was unable to place his signature with the other New Hampshire delegates due to a lack of space." Declaration of Independence (1776) | National Archives
According to detailed timelines, the Declaration "will be signed by 56 delegates in Congress between August 2, 1776 and January, 1777" and "Congress authorizes a printed version of the Declaration of Independence known as the Goddard Broadside" in January 1777, which "is the first public version that includes the names of the signers (except for Thomas McKean)."
Sources:
Founders Online: V. The Declaration of Independence as Adopted by Congress, 11 …
V. The Declaration of Independence as Adopted by Congress, 11 June–4 July 1776
founders.archives.gov
Founders Online: From Thomas Jefferson to Henry Lee, 8 May 1825
From Thomas Jefferson to Henry Lee, 8 May 1825
founders.archives.gov
Jefferson and the Declaration (July 1999) - Library of Congress Information Bulletin
Settled in his second-floor lodgings at Jacob Graff's house on Seventh and Market streets in Philadelphia, Thomas Jefferson set out to apply his knowledge about individual freedom, natural order and British oppression to the writing of a Declaration of Independence.
www.loc.gov
Lee Resolution (1776)
EnlargeDownload Link Citation: Adoption of the Resolution Calling for Independence from England; 7/2/1776; Reports on Administrative Affairs of the Congress; Papers of the Continental Congress, 1774
www.archives.gov
