This Day in History: Happy Independence Day!

 By Tara Ross

On this day in 1776, the Continental Congress adopts our Declaration of Independence. It had already resolved on July 2 that “these United Colonies are, and, of right, ought to be, Free and Independent States . . . .” Now it formally adopted a written document, too.

It took nearly a month to write the Declaration. You may know that Thomas Jefferson was the primary author, but he had help, too.

What is the rest of the story?

On June 11, Congress nominated a “Committee of Five” to draft a declaration. This committee did not leave a written record of its deliberations. Instead, the accounts we have were written many years later, when memories had faded. Many of them were conflicting. We may never know exactly how our Declaration was drafted, but we can get a general idea of the series of events.

The Committee apparently started by holding several meetings in which it created a high-level outline of what the document should say. Then, according to John Adams’s later recollection, the Committee of Five appointed a subcommittee of Adams and Jefferson. Adams declined to draft the document. Jefferson remembered it a bit differently. He remembered being appointed, directly, by the Committee. (See July 2 history post.)

Diary entries and such partially support both men’s recollections . . . . and partially contradict both men’s recollections.

Jefferson later described the goals that he had in mind as he sat down to write. He was not trying to “find out new principles, or new arguments, never before thought of.” Instead, he wanted to “place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent, and to justify ourselves in the independant stand we are compelled to take.” He wanted it to be an “expression of the American mind.”

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