![]() ![]() Note: The following text is a transcription of the Stone Engraving of the parchment Declaration of Independence (the document on display in the Rotunda at the National Archives Museum.) The spelling and punctuation reflects the original. Livingston of New York, a member of the drafting committee, never signed the Declaration. Late signers were Elbridge Gerry, Oliver Wolcott, Lewis Morris, Thomas McKean, and Matthew Thornton, who was unable to place his signature with the other New Hampshire delegates due to a lack of space. Although all delegates were not present on August 2nd, 56 delegates eventually signed the document. The other delegates, following custom, signed beginning at the right with the signatures arranged by states from northernmost New Hampshire to southernmost Georgia. ![]() On August 2nd John Hancock, the President of the Congress, signed the engrossed copy with a bold signature. The engrosser of the Declaration was probably Timothy Matlock, an assistant to Charles Thomson, secretary to the Congress. On July 19th, Congress ordered that the Declaration be engrossed on parchment with a new title, "the unanimous declaration of the thirteen united states of America," and "that the same, when engrossed, be signed by every member of Congress." Engrossing is the process of copying an official document in a large hand. Under the supervision of the Jefferson committee, the approved Declaration was printed on July 5th and a copy was attached to the "rough journal of the Continental Congress for July 4th." These printed copies, bearing only the names of John Hancock, President, and Charles Thomson, secretary, were distributed to state assemblies, conventions, committees of safety, and commanding officers of the Continental troops. Finally, in the afternoon of July 4th, the Declaration was adopted. ![]() The congressional revision process took all of July 3rd and most of July 4th. Jefferson drafted the statement between June 11 and 28, submitted drafts to Adams and Franklin who made some changes, and then presented the draft to the Congress following the July 2nd adoption of the independence section of the Lee Resolution. Livingston, and Roger Sherman, with the actual writing delegated to Jefferson. The committee included Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert R. Maybe it was simply produced as a label for the document, which for years was often rolled up and secured in a tube.Although the section of the Lee Resolution dealing with independence was not adopted until July 2, Congress appointed on June 10 a committee of five to draft a statement of independence for the colonies. It says “Original Declaration of Independence dated 4th July 1776.” No one knows who wrote it or when it was written. However, there is a message written upside-down on the back of the parchment. In the movie National Treasure, the History Channel recalls, Nicholas Cage’s character claims that a treasure map with encrypted instructions from the Founding Fathers is written in invisible ink. There IS something written on the back of the Declaration. Nine of the signers died before independence was won.The age of the signers ranged from 26-year-old South Carolinian Edward Rutledge to 70-year-old Benjamin Franklin.They were given to the military for protection just a few weeks in late December 1941 after the Pearl Harbor attack that launched the war. During World War II the Declaration, the Constitution and other memorable documents were hidden away at Fort Knox, Kentucky. ![]() George Reed of Delaware signed the Declaration, although he did not vote Lee’s independence resolution.Some delegates to the Congress who voted for independence did not sign the Declaration and some signers were not delegates to Congress at the time of the vote.The last signer was Thomas McKean of Delaware sometime in 1777 the actual date is disputed.The Declaration was signed beginning on August 2 and not July 4.Benjamin Franklin was among six signers who also signed the U.S. ![]()
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