The Placer herald., 1859-07-09
NUMBER "A.

mittee, and ntrusted by his colleagues with
the duty of preparing a.draft of. preamble
to Mr.. Lees resolution-namelv, q formal
Declaration Of Independence. "'''
| Mr. Adams tells the story of the labors of
the Committee 80
"The committee had several meetings in which,
were proposed the articles of which the declaraE
| tion were to consist, and minutes made of them,
The committee then appointed Mr. Jefferson and
me to draw themup in form, and cothe them in a
proper dress. The subcommittee met and con-.
sdered the minutes, making such observations on
| them as then occurred, when Mr.. Jefferson desr-
ed me to take them to my lodgings and make the
draft This declined and gave several reasons
for so DOING
LIST. That he was q. Virginian and a Masso.
chuttensian.
.. That he was Southern man and a Northern
one.
3. That / had been so obnoxious for nv early
and constant zeal in pcOm0tng the measure, that
every draft of mine would undergo q more severe
| scrutiny and criticism in Congress than one of
his composition. u
a. And lastly, and that would be reason enough
if there were no other, had a great opinion of
the elegance of his pen, and none at oil of my own
| therefore insisted that no hesitation should be
made on his part. He accordingly took the min
utes, and in day or two produced me his draft."'
On the lst July, this declaration was re.
ported to the House, in Committee of the,
Whole, Mr.. Benjamin Harrison, of Virginia.
succeeding days each paragraph was debated
seriatim, and many alterations made. They
were mostly immaterial. Several redundant
phrases of Jetierson's were struck out Sew
era sentences rejecting on the King in very
harsh terms were modified so as to be less
severe. Mr.. Jetferson's charge that he had
"excited reasonable instructions of our
felow-citizens" and that he had forced sa
very and the slave trade on the colonies
were omitted as not strictly true in fact
And two or three sentences which savored
of defamation were likewise expunged, as
beneath the dignity of so grave document
Thus altered, the Declaration was adopted.
AT first it was very doubtful whether it
would obtain the unanimous approval of the
States. The famous John Dickenson, Of
Pennsylvania, took the lead in opposing it,
Maryland, as above stated, had directed her
delegates to oppose it; the votes of Pennsyl
vania and Delaware were divided. By
strenuous exertion and good fortune these.
articles were at length overcome. DicEen-
son absented himself from the final vote, and,
the majority of the Pennsylvania delegation,
were in favor of the Declaration. Two out.
of the three Delaware delegates voted Ave..
Carroll, of Maryland, exerted himself with
energy to obtain a reconsideration of tho
vote of the legislature of his State and at
length succeeded; so that the delegates who
were unanimously in favor of the measure,
were enabled to vote conscientiously. Thus
it came about that when, on 4th July, 177G,,
the vote was taken by States on the adoption
of the Declaration, a unanimous vote was.
given that the Declaration should lie adopted.
On the day that it was adopted it was sign
ed by John Hancock, the President of Con-
gress, who w,ote his name boldly and plain
ly, in order, as he said, that no doubt should
exist as to who he was, in case the Revolu-
tionary struggle failed and the British wantedI
a victim. No other member of the body
signed the draft as it passed. That draft was
handed to Clerk ia very incompent person,
as was soon discovered, bat Philadelphia.
contained no one who was fit to take his
place. to be engrossed on parchment. Il,
was not till the 2nd August following that
his task was completed. On that day the
engrossed copy was produced in Congress,
and the fifty four delegates present signed it,;
Mkean and Thornton, vino were absent at
the time, affixed their names subsequently.
We shall add nothing more to the above
recital of facts but the single remark that,
considering the age of the Colonies, their
comparative isolation, the diversity of inter
ests existing between them, and the tendency
of intellectual and ambitious men to contend
for leadership, these appears to be nothing
so remarkable in history as the adoption of
the declaration of Independence by tile fifty
six colonial delegates. There was less hyper
bole than may be supposed in Napoleon's as,
sertion that he saw in the act ":he finger OF
God"