Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1919-07-02

On July the resolution itself was
adopted by congress, and the Declara-
ton was considered by the committee
of the whole, being taken up the next
day, July 3.
On July 4 the Declaration, which
included the first paragraph of the
resolution, was agreed to by the COM
mttee of the whole, reported to con-
gress, and adopted. The independ-
ence of the united colonies was thus
declared, and thereupon congress i'm
mediately ordered that the Declara-
ton be authenticated and printed I'M
der the supervision of the committee
previously appointed to prepare it, and
that copies thereof be distributed to
all state assemblies and to the COM
handing officers of the army.
In accordance with the above or
der, the Declaration was issued as a
printed broadsde on July 5, with the
heading: 'In Congress, July 4, 1776.
A Declaration by the Representatives
of the United States of America in
General Congress assembled" 1t
bore the name in print of John Han
cock, president of the congress, and
was attested by Secretary Charles
Thomson, but bore no other names.
On July 10 it was resolved in con-
greSs:
THAT the Declaration passed on the
fourth be fairly engrOssed on parch-
ment, with the title and stile (style)
of The unanimous declaration of the
thirteen United States of America,
and that the same, when engrossed,
be signed by every member of con-
gress."
1t could not have been headed
Unanimous" on July 4, for the New
York delegates had not then been au-
thorized to agree to it, and it was not
until July Is that it was announced
in the continental congress that the
assembly of New York had approved
the Declaration, and thus made it
unanimous.
On August 2, 1776, the Declaration
of Independence, being engrossed and
compared, was signed by the men,
bers; those who were not present on
August 2 afiixing their signatures at
later dates, all but one signing before
January IS, TIT.
1t has been ascertained that of the
fifty-siX signers, more than One-fourth
were not present on July 4, 1776, and
seven of them-ThorntOn Williams,
Rush, Clymer, Smith, Taylor and Ross
were not members on that date. On
the other hand, seven members on
that date-George Clinton, John Al
sop, r. r. Livingston, Henry Wisner,
Thomas Willing, Charles Humphreys
and John Rogers-had not the privi-
lege of becoming "signers," for the
membership of all but one had ceased
prior to August 2.
The first official issue of the Dec
laratiOn bearing the names of the
signers was printed as a brOadside in
Baltimore under the resolution of
January Is, 1777 ordering that copies
be sent to each of the United States.
There are only four copies of this is
sue now known to evist, one of which
Is in the library of congress at Wash
ington. 1t is authenticated in writing
by John Hancock as president of con-
gress and attested by Secretary Thorn.
son.
Contrary to popular opinion, there.
fore, it Is seen that the Declaration
was not signed on July 4, the day il
passed, but between August 2, 1776
and January IS, 1777, after it had
been engrossed and compared, and
then only by 55 members, all Of whom
were ordered to do so by the resolu.
ton passed July 10, 1776. The name
of Thomas Mexican, which does not
appear among the signers in the
printed copy, was added later-pos
sibly not until 1881, making the fifty.
sixth signer.
But little has ever been done ia
perpetuate 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 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.