Gilpin observer., 1916-06-29


July 4, 1776, in large, handsomely
furnished chamber in Independence
hall, Philadelphia. To give the nee
~ essary touch of vivacity to the pic
ture there is the scene Of the small
boy darting from the door the last slgner sets
his autograph to the precious parchment and DASH
Ing down the street. calling to his grandfather to
"Ring! 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
signed behind locked doors, and vas not general
ly signed upon the Fourth of J.fy at ALL The city
was not breathlessly awaiting the event outside,
nor did the Liberty bell peal forth on that day
the triumphal note OF freedom.
The accredited historian of the United States
department of state is Gaillard Hunt, Lift. D., L.
d.. now chief of the division of manuscripts In the
Library of Congress-
There is really no reason for celebrating
the Fourth of July more than July 2 or August e."
said Doctor Hunt recently to an inquirer. at was
not until the latter date that the document was
generally signed.
1.-The Virginia bill of rights, of which George
Mason was also the author, drawn up and
adopted in the last colonial assembly in Virginia
prior to the Revolution. The bill of rights is in
effect part of every constitution in the land to-
day. 1t is beyond doubt that this famous docu
ment of which his elderly friend author was
largely drawn upon by Thomas Jefferson when he
wrote the Declaration of Independence.
"The fundamental principles of government set
forth In Mason's bill of rights the same as
those in the English petitions to the king the acts
OF the long parliament and magma charta.
you know, perhaps that 1t was another vir-
ginian Richard Henry Lee who presented to con-
gress. June Z, 1776 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
and the state of Great Britain is and ought to be-
totally dissolved
1T was as 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, 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 nm ind
vdual.
Drafting of the Declaration.
Thomas Jefferson was the personifcation Of
method remarked Doctor Hunt, "and Immediate
ly upon receiving his commission to write the
declaration he retired to the two rooms he rented
as working place at Seventh and Market ploce
Philadelphia, and prepared to give his country
one OF the greatest monuments of human freedom.
The department of state owns the first draft of
the Declaration which Jefferson presented to the
committee for its approval. His confreres made
few alterations, which clearly shown I'm the
text. and Jefferson has written beside each change
the name of it's author, making the document of
inestimable value.
"The fair copy which he made for presentation
TO congress, and which bears the congressional
amendments and alterations is lost
THE latter is the formal Declaration of indie
pendence laid before congress on June 2S, 1776
II was then read and ordered to lie on the table
until July !. On July Il resolution was pnssed
declaring the independence of the United States
although the exact form of the proclamation MS
prepared by Jefferson was debated upon until July
4, when with some alterations and amendments II
was signed by John Hancock president of the
congress, and the signature attested by Charles
Thomson. secretary OF congress.
July was actually the date of separation of
the colonies from the mother country On July 2
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 n great
er perhaps never will be decided among
men,
Great Day Was July 2.
In second letter, written the same day. he
said: But the day is past. July will be the
most memorable epoch In the history of America.
am apt to believe that 1t will be celebrated by
succeeding generations as the anniversary festival
II ought to be commemorated as the day of deliy-
erance by solemn acts of devotion to God Al
mighty.
There is little doubt but that the participants
in the event considered July as the true date of
independence for the colonies, but popular fancy
seized upon the 4th, the date of acceptance of JEFF
fersons formal and detailed setting-forth as the
i proper date of celebration.
{ John Trumbull's famous painting OF the scene
hanging in the rotunda of the capitol is n poeticn
piece, of work and gives many Of the portraits of
the signers with faithfulness but II is somewhat
funciful. No silken hangings draped the windows
of that sitting room July l. 1776 and the beau
tful order in which the men are ranged up for