Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 19??-1918, 1916-09-11
he WHO WROTE IT
The Man Who Penned the Dec.
laration Of independence.
WORK OF TIMOTHY MATLACk.
No Was Clerk In the Continental
Congress Whom That immortal poeu.
mont Was Adopted and Was Also the
Finest Writer In the Country.

Who wrote the Declaration Of indie
pendcncc3 Thomas Jefferson, OF course,
every one knows that But who held
tho pen and formed tho letters on the
great piece OF parchment that the
members Of the Continental congress
slgncdl II IL one OF the largest official
papers In existence one skin OF parch,
ment nearly three feet long and more
than two feet wide. The writing IL
nearly twice the normal size and Is
unusually handsome and clcnr,
The secretary who was ordered 10
promulgntc the work was Charles
Thomson. man Of high character,
who hnd been the principal OF school
at New Castle. Del. aud an active pa
triot, The first congress chose him ns
secretary In i7Tl, and he held the Of
nco until the Continental congress
passed ont Of existence on March =.
1850 During all those fifteen years II
"'N 'his WI 'hl' N'NhNtNhN NhNt uhs
other hand than his wrote IN the jour,
nal.
One OF the clerks IN Thomson's Office
In iI75 and 1910 was Timothy Matlack,
who died at iiolmesburg, Pa, In 1870,
when he was ninety nine years OF age.
To cnrry out the order Of the con
gress that the' Declaration be pro.
claimed. Thomson needed more than a
score OF copies, for he had to send II
10 every one OF the states and 10 the
army. SO. 10 save time, he did not
attempt to have any copies written Off
with the pen, but sent the original
draft. which the congress had passed.
to the official printer, John Dunlap
The following morning the printed
copies were In Thomsons hands. They
were printed on one side OF the paper
on large sheets eighteen inches long
and fourteen and half inches wide In
the form known aS brondsIdcs,
u was from one OF those copies tina,
Philadelphia first heard the Dcclara.
ton rcad, and II was one of them that
became the official copy, for Thomson
had not copied the Declaration oven
into the journal Of the congress before
he gave II to the printer; but when he
wrote the Journal for July ! he left
blank space for the Declaration, aud
the next day. with two WATERS Of rcd
wax, he fastened In the printed broad
side.
have said that sometimes an entry
was made In the journal of the con
gress by another hand than Thomson's
The first OF those occasions was on
June IL, 17T5. when Timothy Mntlack
recorded resolution to set aside a
day for fasting and prayer to avert the
desolntlng caamltles that seemed to be
impending. Matlack had been appoint
ed a clerk IN Thomson's Office on May
ID. and Ave days later, on May 20, he
wrote out the most important docu.
ment that the congress had issued up
TO that time--the commission to George
Washington TO be commander In chief
Of the American army, The Identified.
tion OF the penmauship Of tho commits.
sion with that Of the entry In the
journal and Of both with nm autograph
letter Of Matlack's that IN among the
papers OF the Continental congress IL
certain.
Probably there was not at that time
a man In the country who was Mat.
lacks equal as penmnn. Forum.
atcly. Matlack was still clerk In
Thomson's Office when the Dcclora.
tion Of Independence was ordered to
be engrossed for final signature, and
the task Of copying II was assigned to
him. He copied from the printed
broadsidc, That In clearly shown by
the heading of the broadsldc, I'm Con
gress. July 1, ITO" which II repro
duced IN the written Declaration In th'
Same form OF lettering
A fpw ypura "A uo pouip of thp oiilCInla