With his Pennsylvania Evening Post, Benjamin Towne created the first evening newspaper and the first tri-weekly paper in America. In 1776, most newspapers printed once a week, on a specific day. The First Unofficial Printing: Benjamin Towne's Newspaper The National Archives (3 copies London, United Kingdom) University of Virginia (2 copies Charlottesville, VA) Independence National Historical Park (Philadelphia, PA) Private Collector (last known location: New York, NY)Īmerican Philosophical Society (Philadelphia, PA) Scheide Library, Princeton University (owner: William R. Maryland Historical Society (fragment Baltimore, MD)Īmerican Independence Museum (Exeter, NH) Houghton Library, Harvard University (Cambridge, MA) Massachusetts Historical Society (Boston, MA) Lilly Library, Indiana University (Bloomington, IN)
#Rough draft vs final draft plus
Library of Congress (1 copy plus fragment copy Washington, D.C.) The following institutions and individuals have a copy of the Dunlap broadside, and some are on display from time to time, especially in exhibitions surrounding the 4th of July or the Founding Fathers.īeinecke Library, Yale University (New Haven, CT) As of 2009, there are 25 existing copies, as well as a "proof" copy at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. It was the first published version of the text, the first public version, and the version that most printers relied upon for their own editions of the text. In 1949, there were 14 extant copies of the Dunlap broadside. Boyd called the Dunlap Broadside the "second official version" of the Declaration, because a broadside was pasted into the Journals of the Continental Congress for July 4th. The broadsides were printed by the next day, and distributed to the Committees of Safety in every colony as well as to the head of the Continental Army, General George Washington. According to the Journals of the Continental Congress, the Committee of Five was responsible for superintending and correcting the press, and it is likely that a member of the Committee went to Dunlap's shop (more likely Adams than Jefferson, who was apparently buying ladies gloves on the 4th). On the night of July 4th, Philadelphia printer John Dunlap was given the task of printing the first broadside of the Declaration of Independence. The First Official Printing: John Dunlap's Broadside Boyd's The Declaration of Independence: The Evolution of the Text.
For more information about the rough drafts, see Julian P. These copies are similar to the final, approved version of the text, but should be considered their own documents, and not copies of the Declaration. Clean copies in Jefferson's hand are in the collections of the American Philosophical Society and the New York Public Library. There is also a draft in John Adams' hand at Massachusetts Historical Society, and a copy contained within notes Jefferson copied for James Madison in 1783 at the Library of Congress. He sent these copies to his friends, including Richard Henry Lee and George Wythe, two Virginia delegates who were absent from the proceedings. While the Committee of Five was reworking the text and after they submitted it to the Continental Congress, Jefferson created "clean" copies of the original draft, as a record of the changes that were made by Congress. They also have a fragment of what is thought to be the earliest draft of the document. The "original" rough draft of the Declaration of Independence, in Jefferson's handwriting with passages scratched out and changed, is at the Library of Congress.
So, when you see a copy of the Declaration of Independence, how do you know which version it is? And, why does that matter? There are also rare newspaper editions where the text is condensed to the front page or spread out over multiple columns, manuscripts of typically unknown origins, and broadsides representing a small fraction of the number that were printed and proclaimed in the summer of 1776. Every few years, when the story of a newly discovered copy of the Declaration of Independence surfaces, the copy is often a Stone engraving, or even a reprint of the Stone engraving by Peter Force. Stone engraving of the engrossed and signed parchment. The image that comes to mind when most people think of the Declaration of Independence is actually the William J. Most Americans and many historians consider "the" Declaration of Independence to be the engrossed and signed parchment, on display at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. There is no singular authoritative version of the Declaration of Independence.
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