The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-07-04

weight of authority is decidedly favor |
able to August % and not July 18th as
the DAY on which the Declaration was first
signed.
Twas stated above that the assertion
OF Governor Mexican was ridicuied by
Jefferson and Adams. Had we state
rrments made by these men Immediately
after the Fourth, their testimony would
sc sufficient. But the testimony OF nell
Their is contemporaneous. Jefferson
memoranda profess to be made from notes
taken down at the time, but the notes,
on account of certain omissions, appear
not to have been very carefully made,
and the other evidence, a letter, was
written when he was very old but before
the Secret Journal of Congress appeared,
witch contains the facts omitted IN MS
notes which also he confesSes TO nave
forgotten When. TOO, John Adams riot
CT leo Thomas Mexican he had hinlselL
forgotten a letter written by himssu
July g. 1916 to Samuel Chase, telling nm
that he would have an opportunity Oh
signing the Declaration after an Amer
can seal had been prepared, Wheh the
names CT all the members would be super
scrileGl Why some. other than president
and secretary. should have been allowed
to sign before the seal was prepared
AID others not allowed. IS hard to de-
tetmine. We have to conclude, there
l.
ranles of none save the president ana sec
rotary whtsei signatures occurred on
the copies sent to the Assemblies and rea'i
to the army by order and on behaii
the Congress, were placed upon the IN
strliment till after July 9th. tor the sea-
had not been made.
It is almost certain that both JEFF
ferson and Adams were influenced by the
printed Journal of Congress, which seems
to corroborata the, which, however, on
it's face is misleading. Under date OF
July T. 1916. it contains the entry that
the Declaration was reported faVorabiy
by the Committee of the Whole. the rec
ord that the Declaration was signed by
order of Congress, following which IS the
Declaration with signatures. BUT al
though the statement occurs that the IN
strunent was signed by order of Congress,
nowhere in the Journal can be found an
order for the signing on that day IN
the Secret Journals of Congress, pub
lished III 1921 no entry is made Tor july
4th. and in Forces Archives, compiled
from the two journals and minutes. let
tiers and documents in the files OF the
clerk the, signatures do not occur under
that date. Also it is stated on the ail-
thority of the State Department at
Washington that the signatures of none
save President and Secretary OF Congress
appear on the records in the manuscript
COPIES of the Journal, of which there are
three There is still other evidence les
sending the weight of the Printed Journal
Attached to the Declaration as IT APP
pears on that Journa! are the names not
only of those present on July 18th, save
that of Thomas Mexican. who signed at
late as 1871, but including the New York
members, who were present but had not
as vet received authority to vote for the
declarations adoption, but even Of others,
who had not at this time been elected
members.
The Printed Journal thereupon, ap-
pears untrustwort1v, and seems to have
been filled out between August I'd. .1IIG
and 1IS1, when Mexican signed, under the
strange conception that the signatures
were an essential part of the document
and were to be attached, although they
were not superscribed on the day whose
proceedings the Journal presumably re-
cords The explanation accepted IS that
in making the published entry under July
4th, it was convenient to use the copy
of the. Declaration printed with sigma lures
by authority of a vote on Jan IS, 17II.
We are driven. thereupon, to the con-
clusion that the signing of the Declaration
on parchment August 3D. which IS All
mitted, was the first signing. We are
made even more certain by the fact that
no previous copy, signed by any mem
her. save Hancock and Thomson. presi-
dent and secretary. can be produced 1t
is needless to tell US that such a copy
existed but was either purposely de-
stroyed or allowed to be lost
This is nothing new. though unfamiliar,
possibly, to many. Every one however,
can look up tbs. question for himself, and
form his own conclusions. There is abun-
dant material in the Virginia State Ii
hrary, whose stores have been used in the
preparation of this article. Neither does
an acceptance OF August second as the
day on which the Declaration was first
signed. detract from the Importance OF
Independence Day. That day IS pre-emi-
nently the day of declaration. the d;ty on
which it was proclaimed to the world
through a written instrument that a new
giant among the nations had been born
in the West. No one can ever rob it OF
the glory which is its own. Not only
second. or August second but July
Fourth. should always ba the most
memorable epocha in the history of
America"
D. R. ANDERSON.
AtIee. Va.