The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-07-29
SUNDAY. 1ss4-TWENTY PAGES

the place of its birth, and was there ex-
posed TO the gaze of the American peo-
pie, its pitiful condition a standing re-
buke to the national government.
In 1877, at the close of the exposition,
the common council of Philadelphia
petitioned Congress for authority to re-
tain the Declaration, and to place it in
Independence hall. This request of
Hamilton Fish, then secretary of state
the secretary of the interior consent
ing-it was again of turned to the state
department, where, where it has
since remained.
A COPY MADE
While the Declaration was in the pat
ent office an excellent photo-litho-
graphic copy, reduced to about one
half its size, was made by the govern
ment photo-lithogapher Later, a full
sized copper plate engraving was pre-
pared, and the copies printed from this
plate are perfect facsimiles of the orig
inal 1t is believed that in making this
engraving the original was seriously
damaged by a chemical application to
restore the fainter lines; but it may be
said that if this engraving had not
been made there would now be no eX-
act copy of this most important docu-
ment in existence. A framed copy Of
this engraving may be seen in the Ii
brary Of the state department, and,
what is even more interesting, in a
frame beneath it, is shown Thomas
Jefferson's original draft of the Declar-
alton, in his own handwriting, and
with all of his erasures and interlinea-
tons, just as it left his hand. Besides
this, in another frame, placed there to
authenticate Jefferson's writing in the
draft, is the letter which contains the
epitaph which he wished engraved
upon his monument, together with a
sketch and description of the monu-
ment he desired to have erected at his
grave.
In the letter he says: Gould the
dead feel any interest in monuments or
other remembrances of them, the fol-
lowing would be to my names the most
gratifying. On the grave of a plain dais
or cube of feet, without any mold
ings, surmounted by an obelisk of 6
the face of the dais the following in
scription, and not a word more:
Here was buried
Thee as Jefferson,
Author of the Declaration of Independ-
ence,
of the Statutes of Virginia for reli-
gious freedom,
ard Father of the University of Virginia"
SIGNING THE DECLARATION.
The signing of the Declaration of In
dependence was a solmen act. The
signers were subjects of King George,
and their act was treason. If the king
could have caught them he would have
hung them, every one, and this they
knew; but, according to the traditions
that have come down to us, this
knowledge did not deter certain of
them from relieving the solemnity of
the occasion with the natural flow of
their wit and humor. The remarks
attributed to them are not exactly
authenticated by history, but they are
too good not to be believed. 1t is said
that when John Hancock affixed his
bold autograph, he remarked: THE
Englishmen will have no difficulty in
reading that" that when Franklin
signed, he said: Now, we must all
hang together or we will hang separ-
ately," and that Charles Carroll, of
Carrollton, when asked why he wrote
his place of residence, replied, that
there was another Charles Carroll,
and he didn't want them to hang the
wrong man..
The most enthusiastic advocate of
the great measure, and the one who
led the debate in its support, was
John Adams, of Massachusetts, and
when the Declaration was adopted he
wrote TO his wife in these prophetic
words: This will be the most mem
orable epoch in the history OF America
celebrated by descending generations
as the great anniversary festival, COM
memorated as the day of deliverance,
by solemn acts of devotion to God AL
mighty, solemnized with pomps,
shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bon
fires and Examinations from one end
IF ha IN OIL hi
time forward, forever"
OF all the eloquent words uttered
regarding the Declaration of Indepen-
dence by the orators of the genera
tons which have succeeded its incep-
ton no more impressive sentence was
ever spoken than one pronounced by
Ralph Waldo Emerson, in an address
delivered in Boston during the civil
war. Referring to a. contemptuouS
characterization of the Declaration by
a certain political speaker, he said:
I'VE have been told that the Declara-
ton of independence is a glittering
generality; it is an eternal ubiquity."
Among Americas later statesmen
no one entertained a more exalted re-
gard for the Declaration, or more per-
Sistently emphasized its important re-
lation to legislation than Charles Sum-
ner. He always held that the Consti-
tuition should be interpreted in the
spirit of the Declaration. He said:
1.-The Declaration of Independence has
a supremacy grander than that of the
Constitution, more sacred and inviol-
able. for it gives the law to the Con-
stitution. Every word in the Consti-
tuition is subordinate to the Declara-
ton. The Declaration precedes the
Constitution in time as it is more ele-
waited in character. The Constitution
is an earthly body, if you please; the
Declaration of independence is the
very soul itself"
BE WAS AN AMERICAN