July 4th Not Independence Day, He Says: Prof. Exposes Historical Error, pg.A1
Dublin Core
Title
July 4th Not Independence Day, He Says: Prof. Exposes Historical Error, pg.A1
Description
"This July 4 stuff is all the bunk, says a distinguished Princeton professor, who asserts that the day we have been celebrating all these years as Independence day had very little to do with American Independence. The famous declaration that set forth our charter of liberties was first declared July 2, 1776, he says, and it was not signed until Aug.2, 1776. By the 4th of July, 1776, our independence was 48 hours old.
Prof. Walter L. Whittlesey is the iconoclast who smashed our cherished notions about Fourth of July. “All that was actually done on July 4, 1776,” he says, “was merely to agree to the final draft of the billboard poster by John Dunlap that was to give political publicity to the declaration.”
The notion that the document was signed on July 4 is “an error of Jefferson’s letter writing old age. Our country’s birth certificate was signed Aug. by either 40 or 41 men and at various later dates by the 13 or 16 others. Some half dozen members who were present on that first Fourth and in favor of what was done never signed at all.
NOT SIGNED UNTIL AUG 2
“The records of congress show plainly why this was so. Their practice with such important documents was to sign only a formal artistic copy done by a professional penman and with the best materials. Such a copy of the declaration was ordered July 19 and was ‘signed at the table’ Aug 2. That is about the ordinary interval required for the engrosser’s work.
“By July 4 our 13 original states had been solemnly and officially independent for two days. The tie with Great Britain was cut forever by formal resolution of congress on July 2, 1776. The leaders of 1776 expected us to celebrate July 2, and said so in their letters and diaries at the time. But next uear they themselves observed July 4.
ON JULY 4 THEY “STARTED ADVERTISING”
“Thus they set the example of celebrating not the act that made us independent but the political publicity which drew American and other opinion to its support by means of John Dunlap’s billboard poster of the declaration.
“What was actually done on our first Fourth was only to agree to the final draft of this publicity material. The principal change made by congress involved cutting out over 300 words of Jefferson’s rhetorical finale.
“The original of Adams’ copy is the engrossed draft which was made after July 19, 1776,
signed Aug.2, and is now scientifically kept in the library of congress at Washington, where it was placed by President Harding’s order in September, 1921.
“Neither this official draft nor its [ill.] are the same as the poster that John Dunlap printed on the night of July 4, 1776, to be distributed throughout the colonies.”
Prof. Walter L. Whittlesey is the iconoclast who smashed our cherished notions about Fourth of July. “All that was actually done on July 4, 1776,” he says, “was merely to agree to the final draft of the billboard poster by John Dunlap that was to give political publicity to the declaration.”
The notion that the document was signed on July 4 is “an error of Jefferson’s letter writing old age. Our country’s birth certificate was signed Aug. by either 40 or 41 men and at various later dates by the 13 or 16 others. Some half dozen members who were present on that first Fourth and in favor of what was done never signed at all.
NOT SIGNED UNTIL AUG 2
“The records of congress show plainly why this was so. Their practice with such important documents was to sign only a formal artistic copy done by a professional penman and with the best materials. Such a copy of the declaration was ordered July 19 and was ‘signed at the table’ Aug 2. That is about the ordinary interval required for the engrosser’s work.
“By July 4 our 13 original states had been solemnly and officially independent for two days. The tie with Great Britain was cut forever by formal resolution of congress on July 2, 1776. The leaders of 1776 expected us to celebrate July 2, and said so in their letters and diaries at the time. But next uear they themselves observed July 4.
ON JULY 4 THEY “STARTED ADVERTISING”
“Thus they set the example of celebrating not the act that made us independent but the political publicity which drew American and other opinion to its support by means of John Dunlap’s billboard poster of the declaration.
“What was actually done on our first Fourth was only to agree to the final draft of this publicity material. The principal change made by congress involved cutting out over 300 words of Jefferson’s rhetorical finale.
“The original of Adams’ copy is the engrossed draft which was made after July 19, 1776,
signed Aug.2, and is now scientifically kept in the library of congress at Washington, where it was placed by President Harding’s order in September, 1921.
“Neither this official draft nor its [ill.] are the same as the poster that John Dunlap printed on the night of July 4, 1776, to be distributed throughout the colonies.”
Creator
N/A
Publisher
The Chicago Defender
Date
1926-5-1
Collection
Citation
N/A, “July 4th Not Independence Day, He Says: Prof. Exposes Historical Error, pg.A1,” African American Fourth of July, accessed April 29, 2024, https://africanamerican4th.omeka.net/items/show/89.