The year 1776 was a pivotal year for American independence. Some in the colonies still thought at the beginning of the year there would be a successful reconciliation with King George III and the British Parliament led by Prime Minister Lord North. Those aspirations were dashed in the early days of January 1776 with the publication in Philadelphia of the pamphlet entitled “Common Sense.”
As that essay reached many of the American colonists, opinions shifted rapidly in favor of separation from Great Britain. In 1776 both the Second Continental Congress and the Continental Army led by George Washington made bold moves. There was a change in perspective to see unity of one nation arise from the thirteen separate colonies.
Delegates to the Continental Congress from Massachusetts and Virginia led the movement to separate from Great Britain. The taxes imposed by the King on the American colonies from 1765 to 1774 led to unhappiness about the lack of legislative representation.
In May 1776, a resolution was approved to suggest each colony to reorganize its form of government, in opposition to the current English system. On June 7, delegate Richard Henry Lee from Virginia put forward a resolution that “these United Colonies … ought to be free and independent states … absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown.”
There followed discussion on the resolution, along with the formation of committees to look at issues of independence, and also to look at securing treaties with other foreign nations, starting with France. At this point, all the delegates understood that they were supporting treason against the Crown, punishable by torture and death.
On June 11, 1776, a committee of five delegates was appointed to formalize a document. Of the five: John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Williams, Robert Livingston, and Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson was acknowledged to be the principal author of the Declaration.
The vote on Lee’s resolution was passed on July 2. The Continental Congress voted on July 4, 1776, to approve the language of the Declaration of Independence. All the decisive work was finished in less than one month, which is quite inconceivable in the legislative process we have here 250 years down the road.
John Hancock, the president of the Continental Congress, made a masterful stroke in the publication of the Declaration. Overnight, he ordered the printing of 100 to 200 copies of the full text of the Declaration at a shop run by John Dunlap.
These first issues became known as the Dunlap Broadsides. A few of these Broadsides are in existence today. All citizens of the United States should endeavor to visit the National Archives in Washington D.C. and see this foundational document with their own eyes.
Hancock’s intent was to send copies to the provincial legislatures, to other high officials, to the leaders of the Continental Army, and to local newspapers for publication. General George Washington received his copy on July 9. He thought the Declaration so significant that the officers and soldiers at New York City were called to assemble at the Commons on the same day.
General Washington personally read the full document to those present. The military situation in July at New York City was ominous. On July 2, the British Army had begun landing soldiers on Staten Island, from 130 ships for a massive attack against the City.
General Washington suffered a series of military losses in the following months, ending in the evacuation of the Continental Army from Long Island and from Manhattan. However, the soldiers had rallied in spirit because of the publication of the Declaration of Independence.
The Declaration was printed in full in a Philadelphia newspaper on July 6. It was read in public on July 8 at Philadelphia, at Trenton, NJ, and at Easton, PA. Express riders carried the Dunlap Broadsides to New York City, where the Declaration was published in newspapers on July 11. Riders continued to Boston, and the Declaration appeared in papers there on August 15.
Interestingly, the news had crossed the Atlantic Ocean in August 1776. On August 16, the full Declaration text appeared in the London Chronicle, much to the humiliation of King George III.
The Declaration of Independence was based on 27 accusations of the misrule of King George III and the misgovernance by Parliament. Lord North wrote an official response of the government and sent it to King George. His letter warned that there would be serious consequences for the rejection of the King’s authority.
In less than one year the relations between the American colonies and the British government had gone from hopeful reconciliation to complete and irrevocable separation. As a further dishonor to the Crown, after the reading of the Declaration at New York City on July 9, certain rebels had desecrated the statue of King George standing on Broadway, pulled it from its pedestal, and smashed it into pieces.
These pieces were collected and sent to a Connecticut foundry. They were recast as musket balls for the Continental Army. Take that indignity too, King George!
by Russell Shiveler
