Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-06-30

1t was probably late In the afternoon
when, according to the journal the vote
was taken and the Declaration was
agreed to-" Forty out OF fifty members
present are supposed to have voted for It,
including one member from New York
Henry Wisner. The document was then
ordered authenticated and printed" Ii
is improbable that there was any signing
on that day. excepting that by John Han
cock. the president and Charles Thomp-
son. the secretary. Their names were put
to the copy which Mr.. jefferson had pre-
sented, but no others. as indeed would
have been unwise 1t WAS most important
that the document have a unanimous ap-
prevail. II possible. BY little waiting and
maneuvering 1t seemed pretty certain to
the wiser members Of Congress that this
unanimity could be secured.
X
Not only was there no general signing OF
the Declaration of Independence on the
4th day Of July, 1716. but tradition has in
vested the day with other dramatic fea-
lures which unhappily are false. It is
pity not to believe. as most of us were
taught, that while the debate was under
way
There tumult in the city
In the quaint old Quaker town;
"a pity not TO be able To tell lie story
of the gray-haired bell-rnger, sitting with
one hand ready on the clapper Of his bell.
until he hears young voice crying Ring
grandpa, ring. oh ring for liberty As a
matter of fact the meetings of Congress
were held behind closed doors, and while
1t was well known in the coffee houses of
the city that Mr.. Lees resolution had
been voted on favorably, and. no doubt.
too. that a formal declaration cmbodying
it was under consideration. no crowds sur
rounded independence Hall that day: there
was no small boy-no sounding of the
liberty bell.
indeed, 1t was not until July 6 that the
Declaration appeared in the PENNSYLVANIA
Packet On the sth it read in the
statehouse yard. The patriots turned out
in great crowd, and the reader. John
Nixon, was cheered to the echo. After
the ceremony the crowd turned its attention
to the kings coat-of-arms. which was sus-
pended over the doorway in the courtroom
of the statehouse. tearing It down and
taking it out and burning it. In many
places the reading of the Declaration,
which had been ordered by Congress, was
attended by similar acts of destruction.
AS a whole the demonstrations were
not noisy or destructive. The army which
might have been expected to indulge in
some indicative performances received
the news quietly, and in many cases the
people seemed to feel deeply the solemnty
OF the step which Congress had taken and
to have rightly concluded that prayerV
were more appropriate to the occasion than
the tearing down Of statues. The onf
colony which had refused to vote for LeeS,
resolution on the I'd was New York No
sooner had the vote been taken than the
delegates from that state sent letter post
haste, asking what was to be their line of
action thereafter? On July the provincial
congress Of New York, which was in ses-
sion at White Plains, replied that 1.-THE
reasons assigned by the Continental Con-
gress for declaring the united colonies free
and independent states are cogent and con-
elusive, and that while we lament the cruel
necessity which had rendered that measure
unavoidable. We approve the same, and WILL
at the risk of our lives and fortunes, join
with the other colonies in supporting it"
Congress was now unanimous on independ-
ence.