The document provides background information on the drafting and signing of the Declaration of Independence. It describes how the Committee of Five, including Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman, was tasked with drafting the declaration. Jefferson wrote the first draft, which was then edited by Franklin and Adams before being submitted to Congress. On July 4th, 1776, Congress approved the final version, which was then signed by members on August 2nd, 1776. The engrossed copy was prepared by Timothy Matlack and signed in individual states' order.

2. THE DECLARATION: A HISTORY
• NATIONS COME INTO EXISTENCE IN MANY WAYS– MILITARY REBELLION, CIVIL STRIFE, ACTS OF HEROISM,
ACTS OF TREACHERY, A THOUSAND GREATER AND LESSER CLASHES BETWEENDEFENDERS OF THE OLD
ORDER AND SUPPORTERS OF THE NEW.
• ALL OF THESE OCCURRENCES AND MORE HAVE MARKED THE EMERGENCES OF NEW NATIONS, LARGE AND SMALL.
• THE BIRTH OF OUR NATION INCLUDED THEM ALL.
• THAT BIRTH WAS UNIQUE, NOT ONLY IN THE EXTENT OF ITS LATER IMPACT ON THE COURSE OF WORLD HISTORY
AND THE GROWTH OF DEMOCRACY, BUT ALSO BECAUSE SO MANY OF THE THREADS IN OUR NATIONAL HISTORY
RUN BACK THROUGH TIME TO COME TOGETHER IN ONE PLACE, IN ONE TIME, AND IN ONE DOCUMENT: THE
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.

3. MOVING TOWARD INDEPENDENCE
• THE CLEAREST CALL FOR INDEPENDENCE UP TO THE SUMMER OF 1776 CAMEIN PHILADELPHIA ON JUNE 7.
• ON THAT DATE IN SESSION IN THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE HOUSE (LATERINDEPENDENCE HALL), THE
CONTINENTAL CONGRESS HEARDRICHARD HENRY LEE OF VIRGINIA READ HIS RESOLUTION BEGINNING:
• “RESOLVED: THAT THESE UNITED COLONIES ARE, AND OF RIGHT OUGHT TO BE, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES,
THAT THEY ARE ABSOLVED FROM ALL ALLEGIANCE TO THE BRITISH CROWN, AND THAT ALL POLITICAL
CONNECTION BETWEEN THEM AND THE STATE OF GREAT BRITAIN IS, AND OUGHT TO BE, TOTALLY DISSOLVED.”
• THERE WERE STILL SOME DELEGATES, HOWEVER, WHO WISHED TO PURSUE THE PATH OF RECONCILIATION
WITH BRITAIN.

4. INDEPENDENCE HALL

5. RICHARD HENRY LEE
INTERESTING FACTS
• LEE WAS ELECTED THE SIXTH PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS UNDER THE
ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION (NOVEMBER 30,1784-NOVEMBER 23,
1785).
• HE LATER SERVED AS A UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM VIRGINIA
DURING GEORGE WASHINGTON’S FIRST TERM AS PRESIDENT OF THE
UNITED STATES (MARCH 4, 1789-OCTOBER 8, 1792).

6. MOVING TOWARD INDEPENDENCE
• ON JUNE 11, CONSIDERATION OF THE LEE RESOLUTION WAS POSTPONED BYA VOTE OF SEVEN COLONIES TO
FIVE, WITH NEW YORK ABSTAINING.
• CONGRESSED THEN RECESSED FOR THREE WEEKS.
• THE TONE OF THE DEBATE INDICATED THAT AT THE END OF THAT TIME, THE LEE RESOLUTION WOULD BE ADOPTED.
• BEFORE CONGRESS RECESSED, THEREFORE, ACOMMITTEE OF FIVE WAS APPOINTED TO DRAFT A
STATEMENT PRESENTING TO THE WORLD THE COLONIES’ CASE FOR INDEPENDENCE.

7. THE COMMITTEE OF FIVE
• THE COMMITTEE CONSISTED OF TWO NEW ENGLAND MEN, TWO MEN FROM THEMIDDLE COLONIES, AND
ONE SOUTHERNER:
• JOHN ADAMS OF MASSACHUSETTS
• ROGER SHERMAN OF CONNECTICUT
• BENJAMIN FRANKLIN OF PENNSYLVANIA
• ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON OF NEW YORK
• THOMAS JEFFERSON OF VIRGINIA

8. THE COMMITTEE OF FIVE

9. THE COMMITTEE OF FIVE
• IN 1823, JEFFERSON WROTE THAT THE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE:
• “UNANIMOUSLY PRESSED ON MYSELF ALONE TO UNDERTAKE THE DRAUGHT. I CONSENTED; I DREW IT; BUT
BEFORE I REPORTED IT TO THE COMMITTEE I COMMUNICATED IT SEPARATELY TO DR. FRANKLIN AND MR. ADAMS
REQUESTING THEIR CORRECTION… I THEN WROTE A FAIR COPY, REPORTED IT TO THE COMMITTEE, AND FROM
THEM, UNALTERED TO THE CONGRESS.”
• JEFFERSON’S “FAIR COPY,” INCORPORATING THE CHANGES MADE BY FRANKLIN AND ADAMS, DID NOT
SURVIVE.
• JEFFERSON’S ROUGH DRAFT, HOWEVER, WITH CHANGES MADE BY FRANKLIN AND ADAMS, AS WELL AS
JEFFERSON’S OWN NOTES OF CHANGES BY THE CONGRESS, IS HOUSED AT THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.

10. “ORIGINAL ROUGH DRAUGHT”

11. THE COMMITTEE OF FIVE
• ON JULY 1, CONGRESS RECONVENED AND ON THE FOLLOWING DAY, THE LEERESOLUTION FOR INDEPENDENCE
WAS ADOPTED BY TWELVE OF THE THIRTEEN COLONIES, NEW YORK ABSTAINING ONCE AGAIN.
• IMMEDIATELY AFTERWARD, CONGRESS BEGAN TO CONSIDER THE DECLARATION.
• ADAMS AND FRANKLIN HAD MADE ONLY A FEW CHANGES BEFORE THE COMMITTEE SUBMITTED THE DOCUMENT.
• THE DISCUSSION IN CONGRESS RESULTED IN SOME ALTERATIONS AND DELETIONS, BUT THE BASIC DOCUMENT
REMAINED JEFFERSON’S.
• THE PROCESS OF REVISION CONTINUED THROUGH ALL OF JULY 3 AND INTOTHE LATE MORNING OF JULY 4 WHEN,
AT LAST, CHURCH BELLS RANG OUT OVER PHILADELPHIA; THE DECLARATION HAD BEEN OFFICIALLY ADOPTED.

12. THE COMMITTEE OF FIVE
• THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE IS MADE UP OF FIVE DISTINCT PARTS:
• THE INTRODUCTION – STATES THAT THIS DOCUMENT WILL “DECLARE” THE “CAUSES” THAT HAVE MADE IT NECESSARY
FOR THE AMERICAN COLONIES TO LEAVE THE BRITISH EMPIRE.
• THE PREAMBLE – SETS OUT PRINCIPLES THAT WERE ALREADY RECOGNIZED TO BE “SELF-EVIDENT” BY MOST
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY ENGLISHMEN.
• THE BODY, SECTION 1 – GIVES EVIDENCE OF THE “LONG TRAIN OF ABUSES AND USURPATIONS” HEAPED UPON THE
COLONISTS BY GEORGE III.
• THE BODY, SECTION 2 – STATES THAT THE COLONISTS HAD APPEALED IN VAIN TO THEIR “BRITISH BRETHREN” FOR A
REDRESS OF THEIR GRIEVANCES.
• THE CONCLUSION – OFFICIALLY ABSOLVES THE TIES BETWEEN BRITAIN AND THE COLONIES.

13. COMMITTEE OF FIVE

14. COMMITTEE OF FIVE

15. THE COMMITTEE OF FIVE
• ALTHOUGH CONGRESS HAD ADOPTED THE DECLARATION SUBMITTED BY THE COMMITTEE OF FIVE, THE
COMMITTEE’S TASK WAS NOT YET COMPLETED.
• CONGRESS HAD ALSO DIRECTED THAT THE COMMITTEE SUPERVISE THE PRINTING OF THE ADOPTED DOCUMENT.
• THE FIRST PRINTED COPIES OF THE DECLARATION WERE TURNED OUT FROMTHE SHOP OF JOHN DUNLAP,
OFFICIAL PRINTER TO THE CONGRESS.
• AFTER THE DECLARATION HAD BEEN ADOPTED, THE COMMITTEE TOOK TO DUNLAP THE MANUSCRIPT
DOCUMENT, POSSIBLY JEFFERSON’S “FAIR COPY” OF HIS ROUGH DRAFT.

16. JOHN DUNLAP
INTERESTING FACTS
• DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR, DUNLAP WAS COMMISSIONED
AS AN OFFICER IN THE FIRST TROOP PHILADELPHIA CITY CAVALRY
AND SAW ACTION WITH GENERAL WASHINGTON AT THE BATTLES OF
TRENTON AND PRINCETON.
• BY 1795, AT THE AGE OF FORTY-EIGHT, DUNLAP WAS ABLE TO RETIRE
WITH A SIZABLE ESTATE; HOWEVER, HE BECAME A DRUNKARD AND
DIED A FEW YEARS LATER.

17. DUNLAP BROADSIDE

18. THE COMMITTEE OF FIVE
• ON THE MORNING OF JULY 5, COPIES WERE DISPATCHED BY MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO VARIOUS
ASSEMBLIES, CONVENTIONS, AND COMMITTEES OF SAFETY AS WELL AS TOTHE COMMANDERS OF
CONTINENTAL TROOPS.
• ADDITIONALLY, A COPY OF THE PRINTED VERSION OF THE APPROVED DECLARATION WAS INSERTED INTO THE “ROUGH
JOURNAL” OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS FOR JULY 4.
• THE TEXT WAS FOLLOWED BY THE WORDS “SIGNED BY ORDER AND IN BEHALF OF THE CONGRESS, JOHN HANCOCK,
PRESIDENT. ATTEST. CHARLES THOMSON, SECRETARY.”
• IT IS NOT KNOWN HOW MANY COPIES JOHN DUNLAP PRINTED ON HIS BUSY NIGHT OF JULY 4.
• THESE REPRODUCTIONS ARE COMMONLY REFERRED TO AS “THE DUNLAP BROADSIDES.”

19. THE ENGROSSED DECLARATION
• ON JULY 9, THE ACTION OF CONGRESS WAS OFFICIALLY APPROVED BY THENEW YORK CONVENTION.
• ALL THIRTEEN COLONIES HAD NOW SIGNIFIED THEIR APPROVAL.
• ON JULY 19, THEREFORE, CONGRESS WAS ABLE TO ORDER THAT THE DECLARATION BE “FAIRLY ENGROSSED
ON PARCHMENT, WITH THE TITLE AND STILE OF ‘THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION OF THE THIRTEEN UNITED
STATES OF AMERICA’ AND THAT THE SAME, WHEN ENGROSSED, BE SIGNEDBY EVERY MEMBER OF
CONGRESS.”
• ENGROSSING IS THE PROCESS OF PREPARING AN OFFICIAL DOCUMENT IN A LARGE, CLEAR HAND.
• TIMOTHY MATLACK WAS PROBABLY THE ENGROSSER OF THE DECLARATION.

20. TIMOTHY MATLACK
INTERESTING FACTS
• ONCE A STRONG CANDIDATE FOR THE QUAKER MINISTRY, MATLACK
WAS DISOWNED FOR HIS SINFUL WAYS OF BREWING BEER AND
HORSE RACING.
• MATLACK’S PENMANSHIP IN THE DECLARATION AND OTHER
HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS OF THE TIME HAS INSPIRED A NUMBER OF
MODERN TYPEFACES, OR FONTS, SUCH AS AMERICAN SCRIBE,
DECLARATION SCRIPT, AND NATIONAL ARCHIVE.

21. THE ENGROSSED DECLARATION
• MATLACK SET TO WORK WITH PEN, INK, PARCHMENT, AND PRACTICED HAND, AND FINALLY, ON AUGUST 2,
THE JOURNAL OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS RECORDS THAT “THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
BEING ENGROSSED AND COMPARED AT THE TABLE WAS SIGNED.”
• ONE OF THE MOST WIDELY HELD MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT THE DECLARATION IS THAT IT WAS SIGNED ON JULY
4, 1776, BY ALL THE DELEGATES IN ATTENDANCE.
• JOHN HANCOCK, THE PRESIDENT OF THE CONGRESS, WAS THE FIRST TO SIGN THE SHEET OF PARCHMENT
MEASURING 24 ½ BY 29 ¾ INCHES.
• HE USED A BOLD SIGNATURE CENTERED BELOW THE TEXT.

22. JOHN HANCOCK
INTERESTING FACTS
• UNLIKE THE PROMINENT FOUNDING FATHERS, LIKE JEFFERSON AND
ADAMS, HANCOCK LEFT RELATIVELY FEW PERSONAL WRITINGS FOR
HISTORIANS TO USE TO INTERPRET HIS LIFE; THEREFORE, NO FULL-
LENGTH BIOGRAPHY APPEARED UNTIL THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.
• HANCOCK IS REMEMBERED FOR HIS LARGE AND STYLISH SIGNATURE ON
THE DECLARATION, SO MUCH SO THAT THE TERM “JOHN HANCOCK” HAS
BECOME, IN THE UNITED STATES, A SYNONYM FOR SIGNATURE.

23. THE ENGROSSED DECLARATION

24. THE ENGROSSED DECLARATION
• IN ACCORDANCE WITH PREVAILING CUSTOM, THE OTHER DELEGATES BEGANTO SIGN AT THE RIGHT
BELOW THE TEXT, THEIR SIGNATURES ARRANGED ACCORDING TO THE GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION OF THE
STATES THEY REPRESENTED.
• NEW HAMPSHIRE, THE NORTHERNMOST STATE, BEGAN THE LIST, AND GEORGIA, THE SOUTHERNMOST, ENDED IT.
• A FEW DELEGATES WHO VOTED FOR ADOPTION OF THE DECLARATION ON JULY 4 WERE NEVER ABLE TO
SIGN IN SPITE OF THE JULY 19 ORDER OF CONGRESS THAT THE ENGROSSED DOCUMENT “BE SIGNED BY
EVERY MEMBER OF CONGRESS.”
• NONSIGNERS INCLUDED JOHN DICKINSON, WHO CLUNG TO THE IDEA OF RECONCILIATION WITH BRITAIN, AND
ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON, WHO THOUGHT THE DECLARATION WAS PREMATURE.

25. 10 THINGS YOU DID NOT KNOW
ABOUT THE DECLARATION OF
INDEPENDENCE…

26. DECLARATION FACT #1
• THERE IS SOMETHING WRITTEN ON THE BACK OF THE ORIGINAL, SIGNED DECLARATION, BUT IT IS NOT
INVISIBLE NOR DOES IT INCLUDE A MAP, AS THE DISNEY FEATURE FILM,NATIONAL TREASURE, SUGGESTS.
• THE WRITING ON THE BACK READS “ORIGINAL DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, DATED 4TH JULY 1776”
AND IT APPEARS ON THE BOTTOM OF THE DOCUMENT, UPSIDE DOWN.
• NO ONE KNOWS WHO WROTE THIS, BUT HISTORIANS BELIEVE THAT IT WAS ADDED AS A LABEL WHEN THE
DOCUMENT WAS ROLLED UP FOR STORAGE MANY YEARS AGO.

27. DECLARATION FACT #2
• A HANDPRINT APPEARS IN THE BOTTOM LEFT CORNER OF THE DECLARATION.
• THE ORIGINS AND CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE HANDPRINT ARE UNKNOWN.

28. DECLARATION FACT #3
• OF THE SUPPOSED 200 COPIES PRINTED BY JOHN DUNLAP ON THE NIGHT OF JULY 4, THERE ARE ONLY
TWENTY-SIX STILL IN EXISTENCE.
• THE MOST FASCINATING DISCOVERY WAS MADE IN 1989, WHEN A BROADSIDE WAS FOUND IN THE BACK OF A
FRAMED PICTURE PURCHASED AT A YARD SALE IN ADAMSTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA FOR $4.00 – IT WAS SOLD IN
2000 FOR $8.14 MILLION.

29. DECLARATION FACT #4
• HAVING SIGNED THE DECLARATION, JOHN HANCOCK SUPPOSEDLY SAID TO CONGRESS, THAT THEY MUST
NOW “ALL HANG TOGETHER;” BENJAMIN FRANKLIN REPLIED, “YES, WE MUST INDEED ALL HANG TOGETHER,
OR MOST ASSUREDLY WE SHALL ALL HANG SEPARATELY.”
• HAVING PENNED THEIR NAMES TO THE DECLARATION, THE FOUNDERS WERE COMMITTING TREASON AGAINST
THE BRITISH CROWN.
• THE PUNISHMENT FOR TREASON WAS TO FIRST BE HANGED THEN DECAPITATED, DRAWN, AND QUARTERED.

30. DECLARATION FACT #5
• JEFFERSON WAS ANGERED BY SOME OF THE ALTERATIONS AND DELETIONS MADE TO HIS ORIGINAL DRAFT
OF THE DECLARATION.
• HE HAD ORIGINALLY INCLUDED LANGUAGE CONDEMNING THE BRITISH PROMOTION OF THE SLAVE TRADE IN
AMERICA AND THROUGHOUT THE BRITISH EMPIRE.

31. DECLARATION FACT #6
• CAESAR RODNEY EMBARKED ON ONE OF THE MOST PERILOUS JOURNEYS THATCHANGED THE COURSE OF
HISTORY.
• THE DELAWARE DELEGATION WAS DEADLOCKED ON THEIR VOTE FOR INDEPENDENCE SO RODNEY RODE SEVENTY
MILES TO PHILADELPHIA, BATTLING BAD WEATHER AND PHYSICAL HANDICAPS, TO VOTE IN FAVOR OF THE
DECLARATION.
• RODNEY’S GREAT RIDE IS IMMORTALIZED ON THE BACK OF THE 1999 DELAWARE STATE QUARTER.

32. DECLARATION FACT #7
• HAVING SERVED ITS ORIGINAL PURPOSE, THE DECLARATION WAS INITIALLY NEGLECTED FOLLOWING THE
REVOLUTION AND EARLY CELEBRATIONS LARGELY IGNORED THE DOCUMENT.
• THE DECLARATION WAS RARELY MENTIONED DURING THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION AND ITS LANGUAGE
WAS NEVER INCORPORATED INTO THE CONSTITUTION.
• IT WAS NOT UNTIL THE CONCLUSION OF THE WAR OF 1812 DID THE DECLARATION REGAIN THE PROMINENCE
THAT IT SO RIGHTLY DESERVED.

33. DECLARATION FACT #8
• THOMAS JEFFERSON LEFT THE PLANET ON JULY 4, 1826, THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DECLARATION.
• JOHN ADAMS PASSED JUST A FEW HOURS AFTERWARD – UNAWARE OF HIS FRIEND'S PASSINGS, HIS LAST
WORDS WERE “INDEPENDENCE FOREVER” AND “THOMAS JEFFERSON SURVIVES.”

34. DECLARATION FACT #9
• TWO WEEKS AFTER THE JAPANESE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR, THE DECLARATION AND THE
CONSTITUTION WERE TAKEN, BY MILITARY ESCORT, TO FORT KNOX IN KENTUCKY, WHERE THEY REMAINED
UNTIL THE CONCLUSION OF THE WAR.
• ON DECEMBER 15, 1952, THE DECLARATION, ALONG WITH THE CONSTITUTION, WAS FORMALLY DELIVERED TO
THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES IN WASHINGTON D.C.

35. DECLARATION FACT #10
• THE DECLARATION IS HOUSED IN A SPECIALLY SEALED ENCASEMENT CONTAINING THE INERT GAS ARGON
WITH A CONTROLLED AMOUNT OF HUMIDITY TO KEEP THE PARCHMENT FLEXIBLE.
• THE ENCASEMENT IS CONSTRUCTED OF BALLISTICALLY RESISTANT MATERIALS AND IS CLOSELY GUARDED.