The story behind the writing and adopting of the Declaration of Independence is no less compelling just because it's complicated. A Georgetown University professor explains how it all happened.
Members of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment Fife and Drum Corp march during opening ceremonies for the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)(AP/Matt Rourke)
Members of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment Fife and Drum Corp march during opening ceremonies for the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)(AP/Matt Rourke)
WASHINGTON 鈥� It was a kind of Brexit centuries before Brexit: Nearly 250 years ago, the Declaration of Independence was written, adopted and announced 鈥� and a group of breakaway colonies declared themselves the United States of America.
It was bold; it was risky, and the Declaration had to do a lot of things 鈥� inspire the colonists who wanted independence, persuade the ones who didn鈥檛 and convince the British, and the rest of the world, that this was a new country, not just a bunch of cranks. They needed a great piece of writing to thread all those needles, and that鈥檚 what they got.
Adam Rothman, a professor of history at Georgetown University who specializes in the history of the United States from the Revolution to the Civil War, spoke with 草莓传媒 recently about the process that led to the Declaration of Independence. He tells a story that鈥檚 no less compelling for being complicated.
The war
For one thing, Rothman said, it鈥檚 critical to remember that what we now call the American Revolution had already been going on for more than a year when the Continental Congress got together to officially declare the existence of the United States. A lot of goals and scenarios besides independence had been on the table.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a big debate within the Continental Congress about how to proceed 鈥� whether to continue negotiations with the Crown or whether to declare independence,鈥� he said.
All through the winter and spring of 1776, emissaries from the colonies were in London, trying to get King George III 鈥渢o dial back the use of force in Massachusetts and accede to the colonists鈥� demands,鈥� Rothman said. There was still hope that the king would rule that 鈥淧arliament had overstepped its bounds.鈥� When those failed, it was time to turn to independence.
Up until very near July 4, 1776, 鈥渢hey considered themselves British 鈥� fully British,鈥� Rothman said. 鈥淎nd when they鈥檙e rejected in that aspiration, they come to the conclusion that they can only really satisfy their desire for equality by being independent.鈥�
A terracotta and plaster bust of George Washington, made by William Rush in 1817, is wrapped in plastic in a shipping container at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia.
(AP Photo/Jacqueline Larma)
AP Photo/Jacqueline Larma
What? No email?
The whole process was even more agonizing due to its slowness. 鈥淩emember also that this is not an age of instantaneous communication,鈥� Rothman said. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e gotta get the instructions to the delegates in London; you鈥檝e gotta get the reports back from London. And this takes weeks, not seconds.鈥�
A detail of an English holster pistol carried by Brigadier General Peter Muhlenberg during the American Revolution is seen at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia.
(AP Photo/Jacqueline Larma)
AP Photo/Jacqueline Larma
(Gulp) You sure about this?
So, independence it was, the Congress decided. 鈥淏ut that鈥檚 not a simple thing,鈥� Rothman said. 鈥淔or one thing, it hadn鈥檛 been done before.鈥�
For another, the British were 鈥渁 very successful imperial power,鈥� Rothman said. Not only that, but they were taking a serious leap.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e 鈥� going up against a government that many colonists, even those who believed in independence, thought was the best on earth,鈥� Rothman said. 鈥淎 lot of people feared that they鈥檇 be sacrificing this very advantageous form of government, and a lot of colonists feared that they鈥檇 be thrown into a hostile world. They鈥檇 no longer have the protection of the British Crown against the French, the Indians, the Spanish 鈥� it鈥檚 a dangerous world out there.鈥�
Members of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment Fife and Drum Corp march during opening ceremonies for the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia, Wednesday, April 19, 2017.
(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
AP Photo/Matt Rourke
All together now
The colonies were less than a century away from having a civil war over slavery, but they were in it together against the British 鈥� they had to be.
鈥淭he only way that any of the colonies was going to become independent was in alliance with the other colonies,鈥� Rothman said. 鈥淣o colony thought they could go it alone.鈥�
That dynamic 鈥� the states versus the central government 鈥� makes for 鈥渙ne of the great debates of American history,鈥� Rothman said, and the contrast between declaring independence and actually winning it was a symbol of that.
鈥淧eople who are ardent advocates of states鈥� rights, or state sovereignty, might say that independence was an act of individual states. Partisans of a more unified vision of American would say that independence was won by all these states acting together in an alliance.鈥�
In the final analysis, Rothman said, it was both: 鈥淪o from the beginning they were the United States,鈥� he said, with emphasis on both words.
Fireworks explode over the Philadelphia Museum of Art during an Independence Day celebration in Philadelphia on Wednesday, July 4, 2007.
(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
AP Photo/Matt Rourke
Let鈥檚 take another crack at that
The old joke is that an elephant is a horse designed by committee. And everybody knows of Thomas Jefferson as the author of the Declaration of Independence 鈥� it鈥檚 right on his epitaph. Well, like many things that 鈥渆verybody knows,鈥� it鈥檚 not that simple.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 think of the soaring rhetoric of the Declaration of Independence as being written by a committee, but it was,鈥� Rothman said. After the Continental Congress decided on independence, the job was delegated to a subcommittee, which in turn delegated the job to Jefferson 鈥渂ecause he was the best writer.鈥�
But he was hardly the last person to make his mark on the document.
鈥淭he architecture, the structure, comes from Jefferson, but various turns of phrase, for instance, were contributed by different people,鈥� Rothman said. 鈥淛efferson gives the draft to the committee, and the committee edits it, and the draft goes to the whole Continental Congress, and they edit it.鈥�
So while literally dozens of passages in the Declaration form the basis of America鈥檚 ideals, and sing like biblical passages, in Rothman鈥檚 telling there鈥檚 no less drama 鈥� and maybe even more 鈥� because the process was 鈥減art of a deliberative political process.鈥�
This Tuesday, April 4, 2017, photo shows a child’s toy stoneware lamb excavated from a British Revolutionary War campsite near New York City, at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia. Approximately 10 percent of British soldiers who arrived in New York in 1776 had their wives and children with them.
(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
AP Photo/Matt Rourke
Jefferson
One example of a major edit in Jefferson鈥檚 first draft: 鈥渁 long passage just lambasting the King for conducting the slave trade,鈥� Rothman said, adding that it calls the importation of African slaves 鈥減iracy and war against human nature.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 a very remarkable anti-slavery passage,鈥� Rothman said. 鈥淲ell, that doesn鈥檛 make it into the final Declaration. And it鈥檚 interesting to think how we might look at the American Revolution differently if those denunciations of slavery made it into the founding documents.鈥� For one thing, the southern colonies might or might not have signed on, Rothman said.
Of course, Jefferson himself owned slaves. 鈥淧eople see him as a hypocrite,鈥� Rothman said of Jefferson, 鈥渁nd there鈥檚 certainly truth to that. But he鈥檚 also the author of some of the most remarkable anti-slavery documents in American history,鈥� the passage that didn鈥檛 make the cut in the Declaration of Independence being one of them.
Of course, Rothman points out, a lot of Virginian slaveholders saw a big difference between importing new slaves and simply continuing the enslavement of children and grandchildren of their current slaves. They 鈥渄idn鈥檛 need the slave trade to maintain their labor force. So they have the luxury of criticizing it.鈥�
This is an undated photo of a portrait of U.S. President Thomas Jefferson by artist Rembrandt Peale.
(AP Photo)
AP Photo
That escalated quickly
Rothman points to the National Archives timeline of the process that led to the Declaration, and it鈥檚 kind of stunning how quickly it all came together.
On June 7, 1776, Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee read a resolution declaring 鈥渢hat these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.鈥� On June 11, they appointed a committee of five members 鈥� John Adams, Roger Sherman, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Livingston, and Thomas Jefferson 鈥� to draft the Declaration.
On July 2, the Congress voted 12-0, with New York abstaining, in favor of Lee鈥檚 resolution, and started to tear into the draft Declaration. They adopted it July 4, but they were still making changes that morning.
This Thursday, April 13, 2017, photo shows a replica of a privateer ship at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia. 聽
(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
AP Photo/Matt Rourke
Hold up 鈥� shouldn鈥檛 we be celebrating July 2 then?
That鈥檚 what : “The Second Day of July 1776 will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. 鈥� It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires, and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”
(Shews? Never mind.)
But July 4 is the day that the Declaration was adopted, and that鈥檚 the date that鈥檚 shown at the top of the Declaration itself, so July 4 it is. Just goes to shew you.
Fireworks light up the sky over the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, and the U.S. Capitol on July 4, 2012 in Washington, DC.
(Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images
What does the Declaration of Independence even say?
A lot of copies were made of the Declaration right after its adoption, and they鈥檙e not all the same. Rothman points to Princeton historian Danielle Allen, author of the book 鈥淥ur Declaration,鈥� who pointed out what she thinks is a big one.
It comes in the very second paragraph: 鈥淲e hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. 鈥� That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed 鈥︹��
That鈥檚 how it reads in the 1823 stone engraving of the Declaration that鈥檚 the basis for the copy that most of us know. But Allen looked hard at the parchment original and says that that period after 鈥淗appiness鈥� isn鈥檛 there.
If it鈥檚 not there, the role of government in ensuring those rights is just as much a self-evident truth as the three rights. 鈥淭he logic of the sentence moves from the value of individual rights to the importance of government as a tool for protecting those rights,鈥� Allen told in 2014. 鈥淵ou lose that connection when the period gets added.鈥�
A 1776 copy of the Declaration of Independence, shown in this undated handout photograph, was bought by television producer Norman Lear and Internet entrepreneur David Hayden, who plan to send the document on a national tour under the auspices of Lear’s nonprofit organization, People for the American Way.
(AP Photo)
AP Photo
Who鈥檚 it for?
One of the things that impresses Rothman most about the Declaration of Independence is the balancing act it pulls off 鈥� specifically, the number of different audiences that it had to influence.
First, Rothman said, there was the patriot audience 鈥� 鈥減eople who are already committed to independence.鈥� For them, Rothman said, 鈥渋t鈥檚 a rallying cry.鈥� Then there were people on the fence, or even against independence 鈥� for them, it鈥檚 trying to be 鈥渁 persuasive document.鈥�
The final audience, Rothman said, was the rest of the world 鈥� including the British. It was important to declare independence in a way that the rest of the world would respect. 鈥淭he United States is trying to announce their arrival, and hope that they鈥檙e recognized.鈥�
He said one phrase in the beginning does a lot of work to appeal to all these audiences: 鈥淲hen in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people 鈥︹��
鈥淭hat 鈥榦ne people鈥� is a fiction,鈥� Rothman said. 鈥淎ctually, there are many 鈥榩eople鈥� in the colonies at that time. But the Declaration is a key moment in trying to forge that sense that there is one people, and that they deserve their independence. 鈥� They鈥檙e taking their station among the powers of the earth. They鈥檙e entering the world of nations.鈥�
This is an undated drawing of American patriot and statesman John Hancock, who was the first to sign the Declaration of Independence.
(AP Photo)
Rick Massimo came to 草莓传媒, and to Washington, in 2013 after having lived in Providence, R.I., since he was a child.聽He's the author of "A Walking Tour of the Georgetown Set" and "I Got a Song: A History of the Newport Folk Festival."
