The Washburn leader., 1916-12-22
He WHO WROTE It
The Man Who Penned the Dec.
Iaration Of independence.
WORK OF TIMOTHY MATLAck.

WORK OF TIMOTHY MATLACK
He Was . Clerk In the Continents
Congress When That Immortal Docu
ment Was Adopted and Was Also tn
Finest Writer In the Country.
Who wrote the Declaration of Inde
pendence? Thomas Jefferson, of course
every one knows that. But who heli
the pen and formed the letters on the
great piece of parchment that the
members of the Continental congress
signed? 1t is one of the largest official
papers in existence-one skin of parcl
ment nearly three feet long and more
| than two feet wide. The writing is
nearly twice the normal size and is
unusually handsome and clear.
The secretary who was ordered to
promulgate the work was Charles
Thomson. Il man of high character,
who had been the principal of a school
at New Castle, Del, and an active pa
triot. The first congress chose him as
secretary in 1774, and he. held the Of
flee until the Continental congress
passed out Of existence on March 2,
17S9. During all those fifteen years it
was only on rare occasions that any
other hand than his wrote in the Jour
nal.
One Of the clerks in Thomson's office
in 1775 and 177G was Timothy Matlack,
who died at Holmesburg, Pa, in 1929.
when he was ninety-nine years of. age.
10 carry 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 it
to every one of the states and to the
army. So, to 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 Thomson's 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 broadsides.
1t was from one of those copies that
Philadelphia first heard the Declara-
tion read, and it was one of them that
became the official copy. for Thomson
had not copied the Declaration even
into the journal of the congress before
he gave it to the printer; but when.he
wrote the journal for July he left
a blank space for the Declaration. and
the next day. with two waters Of red
wax. lie fastened in the printed broad
side.
l 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 -, 1775, when Timothy Matlack
recorded resolution to set aside q
day for fasting and prayer to avert the
desolating calamities that seemed to be
Matlack had been appoint
ed clerk in Thomson's office on May
Is. and five 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
to be commander in chief
Of the American army. The identified
ton Of the penmanship Of the commits
sion with that of the entry in the
Journal and of both with an autograph
letter of Matlack's that is among the
papers of the Continental congress Is
Probably there was not at that time
man in the country who was Matt
ack's equal as penman. Fortun-
ltely. AIatlacE was still clerk In
rhomson's Office when the Declara-
ion of Independence was ordered to |
oe engrossed for final signature. and |
he task Of copying it was assigned to
lin. He copied from the printed
oroadside. That is clearly shown by
he heading of the broadside. "In Con-
.ress, July 4. 1176," which is repro
luced in the written Declaration in the
anne form of lettering.
A few years ago, some of the officials
n the library Of congress, who knew
hat Matlack was the best penman en-
'loyed by Thomson, made compari-
on of General Washington's commits
ion, which was known to have been
written by him, with the Declaration.
The first peculiar letter in the COM
mission is the capital IN" in New
and We find its counter
art in Natures In the second line of
he body of the Declaration. The
raceful flourish at the top of the '"r'
n the word "To" in the commission is
epeated in the second of the sentences
eginning "That" in the Declaration.
n the word "offer' in the commission
here is marked popularity in the
ouble ''f.' The first IF" is made like
he old fashioned long "s." 1t appears
n the word EFFECT in the Declaration,
hen in "suffer' and 'sufferable." That
) the most noteworthy popularity in
faflo o1y,c uyritinO Tho no pifo1 NDN In