The Land of the Free

 

Every year about this time beer sales in the United States rise to reach their peak for the year.  That shouldn’t come as a surprise since, over the Fourth of July holiday, Americans eat around 150 million hotdogs and spend about $11 million on popsicles and charcoal.

In the home of the brave and the land of the free, it makes sense that we should make a big deal about the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Except for one thing; the Declaration of Independence wasn’t signed on the fourth of July.

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Despite the fact that such notable Americans as Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin have said otherwise, Thomas McKean (also one of the signers of the declaration) pointed out that most of the signers were not members of congress on July 4, 1776.  Thus, they wouldn’t have been there to sign the document.  In 1796 McKeon said, “No person signed it on that day (July 4, 1776) nor for many days after.”

The signed parchment version of the Declaration of Independence that is now on display and kept in the United States National Archives wasn’t written until on or after July 19 of that year.  It is only a copy of the approved text that was announced to the world on July 4.

So the TEXT of the declaration WAS approved on July 4, 1776.  Around 150-200 copies of the document were then made on paper and distributed.  About 26 of those paper copies are still known to exist, and thus predate the signed parchment, which many Americans believe to be the original.

But wait, there’s more!

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The Secret Journals of Congress, which were made public in 1821, state: “The declaration of independence being engrossed & compared at the table was signed by the Members.”

That entry was dated August 2, 1776.

Those journals also have an entry on July 19, 1776 that says, “Resolved that the Declaration passed on the 4^th be fairly engrossed on parchment with the title and stile of ‘The unanimous declaration of the thirteen united states of America’ & that the same when engrossed be signed by every member of Congress.”

Hmmm.  According to that, the original COULD NOT have been signed on July fourth.

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Since everybody knows that Thomas Jefferson wrote the declaration, why wouldn’t he remember when it was signed?  Well, Jefferson did help compose it, but historians agree that it is highly unlikely he actually took the time to use calligraphy quality writing to make that copy.  They say it was almost certainly copied by Jefferson’s clerk, Timothy Matlack.

Anybody remember learning about Timothy Matlack in history class?

Me either.

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It is interesting to note that Thomas Jefferson did have a tie with the fourth of July.  He died on that date in 1826, the 50^th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.  Not only that, but Jefferson’s former political enemy, John Adams, died a few hours later, also on that date.  Five years later, James Monroe also passed away on the fourth of July.  It kind of sounds like that date is not a good one for presidents.

Well, it happens to have been a good one for at least one other president.  Calvin Coolidge was born on the fourth of July, 1872.

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Despite the fact that the Declaration of Independence was not signed on the fourth of July, 1776, it was approved on that date, which works well enough for me.

I wish you all a happy Independence Day.  Be sure to tell all the veterans in your life the same thing.  While you’re at it, tell them thanks too because, after all, this is the land of the free BECAUSE it is the home of the brave.

 

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