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Tag: Declaration of Independence

  • The First Draft–June 18, 1776

    Cover art for June 18, 1776: Detail of the original first draft of the Declaration, in Thomas Jefferson's handwriting. The finished engrossed version (what you're used to seeing) has Timothy Matlack's handwriting.

    As Mike notes, marking today as the day that the first draft of the Declaration of Independence was presented to Congress is largely a matter of interpoloation on the part of historians working from incomplete information. But who are we to argue?

    The writing you see in today’s cover art is, in fact, Thomas Jefferson’s, mostly. Some of it is corrections made by Benjamin Franklin. It’s also worth noting that this image came from Wikimedia Commons and is color-adjusted. The original image has the paper looking much whiter, but the parchment coloring makes for a little bit better contrast against the ink.

    Incidentally, some documents from this era do look very good still while others are quite faded. The original Declaration of Independence, for example, is rather faded. This is because over time, the ink oxidized from black to a brownish color. In addition, it was displayed under relatively bright light for many years, and the ultraviolet radiation from those lights further faded the ink. The specific paper can also have an effect; some documents are written on a kind of cotton rag, which allows the ink to “bleed” over time and start to look rather smeared, whereas other documents written on vellum (which was basically calfskin) hold their shape better. In both cases the color holds better unless UV gets to it.

    Oddly enough, paper from the 19th through mid-20th centuries made use of wood pulp, which turns color and becomes more brittle over time, and is more acidic, which will damage the ink as well. So it’s possible that there could be a “hole” in our historical records unless steps are taken to preserve, or at least digitize, some of them.

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  • The Declaration Begins–June 11, 1776

    Cover art for June 11, 1776: "Writing the Declaration of Independence 1776" by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, 1900. via Wikimedia Commons.

    After temporarily tabling the Lee Resolution, which called for our independence from Great Britain, the Second Continental Congress identified its Declaration Committee. Five men were chosen to articulate why we were asking King George to go screw himself in the politest possible terms.

    While the Committee involved five men—John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Roger Sherman and Robert Livingston—most of the work fell to three of them: Jefferson, Adams and Franklin. Jefferson spent a few days working on the first draft in isolation, then Adams and Franklin began reviewing and revising his work.

    The Declaration Committee worked steadily for over two weeks before presenting their finished product to the Congress, though John Hancock did get to see an earlier draft.

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  • Who Wants To Write A Declaration?–June 10, 1776

    Cover art for June 10, 1776: photo of Gordon S. Wood (1933-2026) in 2008. Photo by Earl McDonald, NARA.

    With the Lee Resolution on hold for the time being, but still a very real thing, the Continental Congress needed to get organized with regard to how this was going to be presented and effected. As we told you a few days ago, some delegates needed hard instructions. Others needed a little more clarity regarding the structure. Still others determined that a formal declaration was necessary.

    Why? You have to remember, this kind of thing had never been done before. And even though some other nations saw what was going on and were sympathetic in some way, it was still necessary for us to lay out the argument, and in such a way that the entire world could look at it and say “Well yeah, that makes sense.”

    (Maybe not in so many words; they probably said archaic stuff like “ye” or something, but you get the idea. Also: catch me on a slow show notes day and I’ll dive into the whole “ye” thing.)

    Now, you may be wondering why Lee’s proposal was presented on the 7th and only on the 10th did they decide that a Declaration Committee was necessary? I have two reasons off the top of my head. First, June 7th, 1776 was a Friday, and while they did do some business on Saturday, the whole thing needed greater consideration so it was probably tabled to the 10th. Second, remember we’ve been telling you for many months that the Second Continental Congress was a very thoughtful, deliberate body of men. They considered many, many things before making decisions, and it’s likely that they had to arrive at consensus regarding the need for a declaration at all. So in that respect it does make sense.

    And tomorrow, while one guy gets most of the credit, we’re going to meet all of the men responsible for the declaration.

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  • Thomas Jefferson’s Origin Story–May 14, 1776

    Cover art for May 14, 1776: Portrait of Thomas Jefferson in 1791, by Charles Willson Peale. Now hanging in Independence Hall.

    Thomas Jefferson gets most of the credit for writing the Declaration of Independence, but Thomas Jefferson’s background clearly informed his writing of that document. That’s what Mike talks about in today’s episode.

    In this space I’d like to tell you a little about Declaration House. The building was newly erected at the time Jefferson rented out a room from its builder, a bricklayer named Jacob Graff (which is why it was originally called the Graff House, go figure).

    Jefferson lived in the space with his 14-year-old enslaved valet, Robert Hemmings. Between 1776 and 1883, the house underwent several remodelings until it was finally torn down. It was reconstructed in 1975 by the National Park Service, and when it’s open, it has some museum exhibits on the first floor along with a short film about the drafting of the Declaration. The second floor is a reproduction of the space Jefferson used, containing period furnishings.

    As this is published, the site has been closed to the public since 2025 as part of a comprehensive rehabilitation project.

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