Project Appleseed

By 1776 many colonists had come to believe that reconciliation with Britain was no longer possible. The fighting that began at Lexington and Concord in 1775 had grown into a wider war, and Congress had already begun acting like a national government by creating the Continental Army, issuing currency, and managing military affairs. The clearest formal step toward independence came on June 7, 1776, when Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced a resolution in the Second Continental Congress. Lee declared that the colonies "are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States." Congress did not immediately approve the resolution. Some delegates still needed instructions from their colonial governments, and others wanted more time to build support for such a serious decision. While the vote was delayed, on June 11th, Congress appointed the Committee of Five to prepare a written declaration explaining why independence was justified if the resolution passed. The five members were: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston.

Although the Declaration would become a statement of Congress as a whole, Jefferson was chosen to write the first draft. He was known for his skill as a writer, and his task was to give language to arguments that many American leaders had already been making. Jefferson worked quickly, drawing on Enlightenment ideas about natural rights, earlier colonial protests, state declarations of rights, and the long list of grievances Americans had developed against British rule. Jefferson's draft was not meant to invent the idea of independence from nothing. Instead, it organized familiar revolutionary arguments into a powerful public statement. The opening paragraphs presented a theory of government based on natural rights, consent of the governed, and the right of a people to alter or abolish a government that violated those rights. The longer middle section listed complaints against King George III, portraying him as a ruler who had repeatedly violated colonial rights. The conclusion declared that the colonies were free and independent states with the power to make war, form alliances, conduct trade, and act as sovereign governments.


After Jefferson completed his draft, it was reviewed by other members of the Committee, especially John Adams and Benjamin Franklin. Their revisions improved wording and sharpened some phrases before the committee submitted the document to Congress. On June 28, a fair copy of the draft was read before the delegates. This reading marked the beginning of the document's transformation from Jefferson's draft into the official voice of the Continental Congress. Congress debated independence itself on July 1 and July 2. On July 2, the Lee Resolution passed, making the political decision for independence official. Afterward, Congress turned to the wording of the Declaration. Delegates debated and revised the text on July 2, July 3, and the morning of July 4. These edits were substantial. Congress shortened the document, altered phrasing, removed some passages, and made the final version less like the work of one author and more like a collective statement. One of the most significant deleted sections was Jefferson's condemnation of the slave trade, a passage that proved too controversial among delegates from colonies with different economic and political interests.

The distinction between July 2 and July 4 is important. On July 2, 1776, Congress approved independence by adopting Lee's resolution. John Adams believed that July 2 would be celebrated by future generations as the great anniversary of American independence. However, July 4 became the remembered date because that was when Congress approved the final text of the Declaration of Independence. The date printed on the document marked the adoption of the public explanation of independence, and over time it became the symbolic birthday of the United States.


The approved Declaration served several purposes at once. It announced to Americans that Congress had chosen separation. It explained to Britain why the colonies believed the king had broken the political bond between ruler and people. It also addressed "a candid world," meaning the wider international audience whose support the new states hoped to gain. Because the colonies needed foreign alliances, especially with France, the Declaration functioned as both a domestic proclamation and a diplomatic argument. Once Congress approved the text, speed became essential. Congress ordered the Declaration to be authenticated and printed, and the committee was directed to oversee the press. Philadelphia printer John Dunlap, who served as printer to Congress, produced the first printed copies on the night of July 4 into the morning of July 5. These large single-sheet printings became known as the Dunlap Broadsides. They did not include the names of all the signers; instead, they carried the names of John Hancock as president of Congress and Charles Thomson as secretary. The Dunlap Broadsides were sent quickly to state governments, committees of safety, military commanders, and other officials. Their purpose was practical as well as symbolic: the decision for independence had to be communicated across the colonies and to the army. On July 6, the Declaration appeared in the Pennsylvania Evening Post, the first newspaper printing of the adopted text. Other newspapers and printers soon reprinted it, allowing the words of Congress to circulate far beyond Philadelphia. Printing transformed the Declaration from a congressional decision into a public document that ordinary people could encounter, read, hear, and discuss.

In the eighteenth century, public reading was an important way of spreading political news. Many people learned about official acts not by privately reading documents, but by hearing them read aloud in public spaces. On July 8, 1776, the Declaration was publicly read in Philadelphia at the State House Yard. This first public reading helped turn Congress's written decision into a civic event. The words of the Declaration were no longer confined to the meeting room where delegates debated them; they were now presented before the people as a statement of a new political identity. On July 9, George Washington ordered it read to the Continental Army in New York. For troops facing a powerful British military force, the Declaration explained the cause for which they were fighting. It connected battlefield sacrifice to a larger political purpose. Public readings in towns, military camps, and civic gatherings helped make independence real in the minds of Americans, even as the outcome of the war remained uncertain.

The famous signed parchment copy was not the version printed on July 4. On July 19, Congress ordered that the Declaration be engrossed, meaning carefully written in a formal hand on parchment. At this point, the title was changed to "The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America," emphasizing unity among the states. The engrossed copy became the ceremonial and legal version that most Americans now picture when they think of the Declaration. Most delegates began signing the engrossed parchment on August 2, 1776. John Hancock, as president of Congress, signed prominently. Over time, 56 delegates added their names, though not all signed on the same day. Signing the Declaration carried real risk. The signers were publicly committing themselves to a rebellion against the British Crown, and if the Revolution failed, their actions could have been treated as treason. The signatures therefore became a symbol of personal commitment as well as political authority. The names of the signers were not widely printed at first. In January 1777, Congress, then meeting in Baltimore, ordered a new printing of the Declaration that included the names of the signers. This edition was printed by Mary Katherine Goddard. By publicly identifying the signers, the Goddard printing made visible the individuals who had pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor to the cause of independence. It also helped preserve the link between the text of the Declaration and the people who formally endorsed it.