Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1916-06-30

hall, Philadelphia. To give the nee
~ esSary touch Of vivacity to the pic
ture there is the scene of the small
boy darling from the door as the last signer sets
his autograph to the precious parchment and dash
ing down the street, calling to his grandfather, to
"Iaing! Oh, ring for liberty!'
Our ideal proclamation of the charter of Amer
lean freedom must be shattered in the cause of
truth. The Declaration of Independence was
signed behind locked doors, and was not general
ly signed upon the Fourth of July at all. The city
was not breathlessly awaiting the event outside,
nor did the Liberty bell peal forth on that day
the t%riumphal note of freedom.
The accredited historian of the United States
department of state is Gaillard Hunt, Lit, D, Ii.
D. now chief of the division of manuscripts in the
Library Of Congress.
There IS really no reason for our celebrating
the Fourth of July more than July ? or August 3"
said Doctor Hunt recently to an inquirer. 1T was
not until the latter date that the document was
generally signed.
"The Virginia bill Of rights, of which George
Mason was also the author, was drawn up and
adopted In the last colonial assembly in Virginia
prior to the Revolution. The bill of rights is in
effect a part Of every constitution in the land to-
day. 1t is beyond doubt that this famous docu-
ment, of which his elderly friend was author, was
largely drawn upon by Thomas Jefferson when he
wrote the Declaration of independence.
1.-THE fundamental principles of government set
forth in Mason's bill of rights were the same as
those in the English petitions to the king, the acts
of the long parliament and magma charta.
you know, perhaps, that it was another Vir-
ginian, Richard Henry Lee, who presented to con-
gresS, on June Z. 11T6, a set Of resolutions contain
ing the words, That these united colonies are, and
of right ought to be, free and Independent states,
and that all political connection between them
md tha state Of Great Rritoin ic and oupht 70 no
totally dissolved
1T was rs a result Of the favorable voting upon
Lees resolutions that the well-known committee,
composed of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Ben
jamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert r. Liv-
ingston, was named to draft the document. The
committee assigned the task of preparing the in
strument to the Virginian. Jefferson's was the
master political mind and 1t was by no mere
chance that he was called upon to write the docu-
ment which has been termed the best-known pa
per that has ever come from the pen of an indi-
vidual.'
Drafting Of the Declaration.
Thomas Jefferson was the personifcation of
method" remarked Doctor Hunt, land Immediate
~ upon receiving his commission to write the
declaration he retired to the two rooms he rented
as a working place at Seventh and Market place,
Philadelphia, and prepared to give his country
one Of the greatest monuments of human freedom.
"rhe department of state owns the first draft of
the Declaration which Jefferson presented to the
committee for its approval. His %cOnfreres made
n few alterations, which are clearly shown in the
text, and Jefferson has written beside each change
the name of its author, making the document of
inestimable value.
1.-THE fair copy which he made for presentation
to congress, and which bears the congressional
amendments and alterations, is lost.
1.-THE latter is the formal Declaration of indie
pendence laid before congress on June %, 1776.
1t was then read and ordered to lie on the table
until July /. On July 2 a resolution was passed
declaring the independence of the United States,
although the exact form of the proclamation as
prepared by Jefferson was debated upon until July
4, when, with some alterations and amendments. it
was signed by John Hancock, president of the
congress, and the signature attested by Charles
Thomson, secretary of congress.
"July 2 was actually the date of separation of
the colonies from the mother country. On July 8
we find John Adams, whom Jefferson called the
colossus of the colonies writing to his wife, abb
gail, in the following words:
yesterday the greatest question which was
ever debated in America was decided. and a great
er perhaps never was nor will be decided among
men,
Great Day Was July 2.
"In a second letter, written the same day, he
SAID: but le uus Is phSt' Jul! = VIII NC TIC
most memorable epoch In the history of America.
I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by
succeeding generations as the anniversary festival.
It ought to be c~ommemorated as the day of deliv-
eronce by solemn acts of devotion to God AL
mighty
There is little doubt but that the participants
in the event considered July 2 as the true date Of
independence for the colonies, but popular fancy
seized upon the 4th, the date of acceptance of JEFF
Persons formal and detailed setting-forth as the
proper date of celebration.
John Trumbulls famous painting of the scene,
hanging in the rotunda of the capitol, is a poetical
niece of work and gives many Of the portraits Of
the signers with faithfulness, but 1t is somewhat
fopciful. No silken hangings draped the windows
of that sitting room on July 4, 17I6, and the beau
tifuI order in which the men are ranged up for
SIGNING the immortal document Is also fctional.