Gunnison news-champion., 1917-06-29
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of the United Colonies was thus de-
clared. and thereupon congress i'm
mediately ordered that the declaration
he authenticated and printed under
the supervision Of the committee previ-
"usly appointed To prepare II, and that
copies thereof he distributed to all
state assemblies and the commanding
officers of the army.
In accordance with the above order,
Tie declaration was issued rs a printed
broadsidc on July x. with the heading:
in Congress. July /. 1TT6. A Declara-
i'on by the Representatives of the
Cnitcd States of America, In General
Congress Assembled" II bore the
zane in print of John Hancock. prcsi-
lent of the congress. and was attcsted
by Secretary Charles Thomson, hut
bore no other names.
on July 10 1t was resolved in CON
':reSs:
That the declaration passed on the
III be fairly enGrossed on pnrch-
mcnt. with the It'll, and Stiln (styic)
nf The Unanimous Declaration of the
Thirteen United States of America
and thnt the Same. when engrossed,
he signed by every member of Con-
eress."
1t could not have been headed "Unan-
imous' on July 4, for the New York
delegation had not then been author
lied to agree to it, and it was not un-
I'll July Is that 1t was announced in
the Continental Congress that the as
sembly of New York had approved the
declaration and thus made 1t unani-
nous.
On August 2, 1776. the Declaration
Of Independence, being engrOssed and
compared. was signed by the members,
those who were not present on August
2 afiixing their signatures at later
dates, all but one signing before Janu-
ary 1S, 1777.
Signing the Birth Certificate.
II has been ascertained that of the
5G signers more than one-f0urth were
not present, on July 4, 1776, and seven
of them-ThOrnton. Williams. Rush,
Clymer, Smith. Taylor and Ross
were not members at that date. On the
other hand. seven members on that
date-George Clinton. John Alsop, X. X.
Livingston. Henry Wisner. Thomas
Willing. Charles Humphreys and John
Rogers-had not the privilege of he
coming "signers.' for the membership
of all but one had ceased prior to
August 2.
The first official issue of the declara-
tion bearing the names Of the signers
was printed as n broadside in Balti-
more under the resolution of January
1S, 1777 ordering that copies be sent
to each of the united states. There
are only four copies Of this is-
sue now known to exist. one Of which
is in the library of congress at Wash
ingtOp. 7
Not Signed on July 4.
Contrary to popular opinion. there
fore, 1t seems that the declaration was
not signed on July 4, the day 1t passed.
but between August 2, 1776, and Janu
ary 1S. 1777, after it had been engrossed
and compared, and then only by 55
members, all of whom were ordered to
do so by the resolution passed July
10, 1776. The name of Thomas Me
Kean, which does not appear among
the signers in the printed copy, was
added later, possibly not until 1871,
making the Sc signers.
But little has ever been done to per
petuate the memory of these Sc early
Americans, only few Of whom are
well known, but 1t Is interesting to
know that the National Society of the
Sons of the American Revolution, IN
cooperation with the Society of De-
scendants of the Signers, is locating
the graves Of those patriots and pre-
pairing a memorial volume to include
a biography Of each individual.
The collections in the National mn-
scum include relics pertaining to
the lives of nine of the signers. They
are John Hancock. John Adams,
Thomas Jefferson, Matthew Thornton,
Oliver Wolcott, Charles Carroll, Ben.
jnmin Franklin, Elbridge Gerry and
Samuel Chase.