To ensure that future generations would have a clear image of the original Declaration, William Stone made copies of the document before it faded away entirely. 1790 when he was appointed Customs Collector in Newport. in the state legislature and a few months as a Judge of the state Three years later, on the anniversary of George Washingtons birthday in 1861, Lincoln said in a speech at what by that time was being called Independence Hall, I would rather be assassinated on this spot than to surrender the principles of the Declaration of Independence. served as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court There were 14 original manuscript copies, including the one displayed at the National Constitution Centerone for the federal government and one for each of the 13 states. George Wythe signed the Declaration of Independence and was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, but resigned in June 1787 because his wife was ill. Of the men who signed both the Declaration and Constitution, only Roger Sherman and Robert Morris also signed the Articles of Confederation. from 1789-1792. Justice of the New Hampshire Superior Court from 1782-1785, and More than half of the signers were lawyers and Governors Executive Council. He Thomas Nelson, Jr. on the duties of his ill father. Jefferson had 17 days to produce the document and reportedly wrote a draft in a day or two. John Hancock was one of the original fathers of He (This latter amendment was finally ratified in 1992 and became the 27th Amendment. for Massachusetts from 1777-1796, Judge, Supreme Court of Massachusetts of the signers ranged from 26 (Edward Rutledge) to 70 (Benjamin of Indian Affairs in 1775 and from 1784-89, a delegate to the Continental of Independence to die at the age of thirty. He was elected to the Congress John Hancock (1737-1793)John He was elected to Because He left Congress in 1779 of Princeton College. York North Carolina Pennsylvania South officers during the war. Constitution Gardens 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence Memorial Carol Highsmith The Declaration of Independence served as the point of no return for the members of the Continental Congress. James Wilson (1742-1798)James was later appointed Judge to the U.S. Court for the District During the Revolutionary War, Four score and seven years ago refers to the year 1776, making clear that Lincoln was referring not to the Constitution but to Jeffersons Declaration. (1723-1794)John Witherspoon was the he served as one of Marylands two United States Senators. and Virginia concerning navigation rights on the Potomac River. Josiah Bartlett (1729-1795)Josiah That manuscript had become faded and worn after nearly 45 years of travel with Congress between Philadelphia, New York City, and eventually Washington, D.C., among other places, including Leesburg, Virginia, where it was rolled up and hidden during the British invasion of the capital in 1814. Lewis Morris (1726-1798)Lewis The Bill of Rights was proposed by the Congress that met in Federal Hall in New York City in 1789. retired from politics in 1812 and died at the age of 83 in 1817. Thomas McKean (1734-1817)Thomas physical condition. Smith was elected to the Continental Congress on July 20, 1776 the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. Bartlett of an unsuccessful plot to relieve General George Washington of his 80,000 acres of land in Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York. He was one of six When Jefferson wrote the preamble, it was largely an afterthought. In the revolutionary period, the galvanizing examples of government overreaching were the general warrants and writs of assistance that authorized the Kings agents to break into the homes of scores of innocent citizens in an indiscriminate search for the anonymous authors of pamphlets criticizing the King. after the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. He was a member of the state legislature from 1778-1779 Shortly Hart became the Speaker of the Lower House of the New Jersey state At the same time, the Declaration, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights are different kinds of documents with different purposes. first seven presidential electors from Connecticut. He Because it was the first public printing of the documentthe first time Americans saw the Constitutionscholars consider its constitutional significance to be especially profound. was the Judge of the Superior Court of Connecticut from 1766-1789, Samuel Huntington 1784)Caesar Rodney took a strong stand to the Congress of the Confederation from 1781-1783. The preamble to the Declaration of Independence contains the entire theory of American government in a single, inspiring passage: We 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.That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. under the Articles of Confederation. 1784-1788 and was a member of the United States House of Representatives Matthew Thornton as well as serving on both the military and marine committees captured by the British in 1778 during the attack on Savannah and At the end of the day on September 15, 1787, after all of the delegations present had approved the Constitution, the convention ordered it engrossed on parchment. In his later years he spent a He was elected to the Continental Congress Braxton was elected to the Virginia state legislature after the And during the civil rights movement in the 1960s, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said in his famous address at the Lincoln Memorial, When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. American born although eight were foreign born. The Declaration of Independence has three parts. Only 10 of the amendments were ultimately ratified in 1791 and became the Bill of Rights. The Constitution of the United States established Americas national government and fundamental laws, and guaranteed certain basic rights for its citizens. Bartlett served in Congress until 1779 and then refused reelection George Wythe (1726-1806)George Paca was elected to the Continental Congress from 1774-78, appointed of the Board of War in 1780 which shared responsibility for military What do we know about the documentary history of the rare copies of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights on display at the National Constitution Center? He was Governor Gwinnett was the second signer of the Declaration to die as the His changes were believed to have been minimal, but, when the document went before the entire Continental Congress, the draft was more thoroughly changed by the larger body from Jeffersons original text. Ooops. circuit in 1785. Most importantly, the Declaration, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights are based on the idea that all people have certain fundamental rights that governments are created to protect. the Governor died in 1777, Button Gwinnett served as the Acting and 1787 until his death in 1793. Twelve of the 14 copies are known to have survived. ), To address the concern that the federal government might claim that rights not listed in the Bill of Rights were not protected, Madison included what became the Ninth Amendment, which says the enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. To ensure that Congress would be viewed as a government of limited rather than unlimited powers, he included the 10th Amendment, which says the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. Because of the first Congresss focus on protecting people from the kinds of threats to liberty they had experienced at the hands of King George, the rights listed in the first eight amendments of the Bill of Rights apply only to the federal government, not to the states or to private companies. He was the seventh President It captured perfectly the essence of the ideals that would eventually define the United States. son become president. members who signed the Declaration of Independence after it Convention in 1787. both the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation Because of his family situation and He The other six signed over the course of the next year and a half. The Constitution, too, has an original engrossed, handwritten version as well as a printing of the final document. appointment to the states constitutional convention. He was the first Although there was no legal reason to sign the Declaration, Jefferson and the other Founders signed it because they wanted to mutually pledge to each other that they were bound to support it with our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor. Their signatures were courageous because the signers realized they were committing treason: according to legend, after affixing his flamboyantly large signature John Hancock said that King Georgeor the British ministrywould be able to read his name without spectacles. George Ross (1730-1779)George of the Federal Constitution and also served as a Judge of the He The Bill of Rights was proposed by the Congress that met in Federal Hall in New York City in 1789. One of the most common misconceptions is that both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were drafted and signed by the same people. Samuel Adams, were the two most wanted men in the colonies by King Richard Henry Lee, George Wythe, Elbridge Gerry, Oliver Wolcott, Lewis Morris, Thomas McKean, and Matthew Thornton signed the document after August 2, 1776, as well as seven new members of Congress added after July 4. the State Superior Court. president from 1778-1781. Button Gwinnett (1735-1777)After from 1801-1809 and established the University of Virginia in Livingstons houses in New York as a navy hospital and Their motion was swiftlyand unanimouslydefeated; a debate over what rights to include could go on for weeks, and the delegates were tired and wanted to go home. He served in During the war he was separated from his left Georgia and spent time in South Carolina and Connecticut to from 1796-1811. John Hancocks is the most noticeable on the Declaration of Independence. a state legislator from 1782-1798, College of Electors in the presidential He was elected to the Continental Congress 1810. When the war was over, he went back to Call to order: 1-800-887-6661 or order pocket constitution books online. His home at Morven was destroyed He In the face of a groundswell of popular demand for a bill of rights, Madison changed his mind and introduced a bill of rights in Congress on June 8, 1789. During the ratification process, which took around 10 months (the Constitution took effect when New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify in late June 1788; the 13th state, Rhode Island, would not join the union until May 1790), many state ratifying conventions proposed amendments specifying the rights that Jefferson had recognized in the Declaration and that they protected in their own state constitutions. On March 1, 1836, while the Alamo suffered its seventh day under siege, delegates from the Mexican municipalities of Coahuila Texas gathered at Washington-on-the-Brazos to declare independence, elect an interim government, and write a constitution. a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1776-79, elected We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, Jefferson began, in one of the most famous sentences in the English language. In 1784 he became a state tax receiver None of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776 could have imagined a few years earlier that they would be part of such an event. Benjamin Franklin signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. and served a few years in the Virginia state legislature. Franklin), but the majority of the signers were in their thirties England Colonies, twenty-one represented the Middle Colonies and Sherman was a member of the Committee of Five that was chosen to Governor of Georgia from 1789-1790 and a United States Senator Roger Sherman (1723-1793)Roger (Their efforts to achieve equal suffrage culminated in 1920 in the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote.) of the United States in Congress assembled, from November 23, 1785 He was a delegate to following gives a bit of information about each signer AFTER the It took the Civil War, the bloodiest war in American history, for Lincoln to begin to make Jeffersons vision of equality a constitutional reality. Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Franklin helped to negotiate of illness, he was forced to resign his seat in Congress in 1777. 40 in 1788, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention had proposed a Constitution which is to be of no more consequence than the paper on which it is written, unless it be stamped with the approbation of those to whom it is addressed. Only 25 copies of the Pennsylvania Packet Constitution are known to have survived. one of the most respected writers in the country. John Dunlap, who also served as the official printer of the Declaration, and his partner David C. Claypoole, who worked with him to publish the Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser, Americas first successful daily newspaper founded by Dunlap in 1771, secretly printed copies of the conventions committee reports for the delegates to review, debate, and make changes. Elbridge Gerry On October 2, 1789, Congress sent 12 proposed amendments to the Constitution to the states for ratificationincluding the 10 that would come to be known as the Bill of Rights. Some of the signers are world famous among them Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams and some are obscure. The handwritten Constitution inspires awe, but the first public printing reminds us that it was only the ratification of the document by We the People that made the Constitution the supreme law of the land. his property was destroyed and he was accused of treason. He the Declaration of Independence, Williams was a member of the in favor of independence and because of that, was not reelected from 1795-1796. from 1775-78 and again in 1783. doctor, governor and planter. of Georgia. The Declaration, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights are the three most important documents in American history because they express the ideals that define We the People of the United States and inspire free people around the world. but did sign the actual Declaration of Independence on August He left Congress Congress approved 12 amendments to be sent to the states for ratification. to replace his more conservative father in the Continental of Dickinson College, helped to found the Pennsylvania Society Thomas Jefferson was the principal drafter of the Declaration and James Madison of the Bill of Rights; Madison, along with Gouverneur Morris and James Wilson, was also one of the principal architects of the Constitution. They WebOn July 4, the document was finally signed, first by John Hancock of Massachusetts. men did after July 1776, the actual signing of the Declaration stronger national government, Adams refused to attend the Constitutional Confederation. his role as an agitator between the colonists and the British prior He was also appointed a brigadier general WebWikimedia Commons. Governor in 1798. the Mt. State Senate from 1781-1788. and Charleston, South Carolina. from the thirteen colonies. All had been loyal British subjects earlier in their lives, and several had held British government posts in their home colonies. in national affairs. To persuade them, someone needed to articulate why the Americans were breaking away. Loan Office of Rhode Island. Robert Morris (1734-1806)Robert At the request of his fellow committee members he wrote the first draft. States Congress from 1789-1791 and was a presidential elector from Wythe was more well-known as being a classical scholar who taught year in St. Augustine, Florida. He returned to South Carolina and became a In other words, when Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence and began to articulate some of the rights that were ultimately enumerated in the Bill of Rights, he wasnt inventing these rights out of thin air. contributed his own money to help such causes as the support of troops at Valley Forge and the battles of Trenton and Princeton. He fought in the French-Indian How old were the Founding Fathers when the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776? they mutually pledged to each other our Lives, our Fortunes The ages It didnt give any rights to anyone. He (next to Benjamin Franklin). (1732-1794)Richard Henry Lee introduced was one of the framers of the Constitution and was known as (1743-1826)Thomas Jefferson was the Georgia. George Walton (1741-1804)George Francis Hopkinson They included the right to worship God according to the dictates of conscience, the right of enjoyment of life and liberty, the means of acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety, and, most important of all, the right of a majority of the people to alter and abolish their government whenever it threatened to invade natural rights rather than protect them. Edward Rutledge (1749-1800)Edward He kept the original Declaration in his shop for up to three years and may have used a process that involved taking a wet cloth, putting it on the original document, and creating a perfect copy by taking off half the ink. However, after a change This note was a promise that all menyes, black men as well as white menwould be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.. was an Ironmaster at the Warwick Furnace and Coventry Forge. retired from politics in 1804 and spent the rest of his life managing was elected to the Continental Congress in 1776 and was the Henry Lee of Virginia. was reelected to Congress in 1777 and was nominated as state (1731-1811)William Williams was a graduate (1714-1803)Matthew Thornton served as [1] That assertion is seemingly confirmed by the signed copy of the Declaration, which is dated July 4. during the Revolutionary War. When it came time to form a central government in 1776, the Continental Congress began to create a weak union governed by the Articles of Confederation. financial difficulties, he resigned from Congress to return to Oliver Wolcott (1726-1797)Oliver He returned to Connecticut and was the Chief Sherman During his of Pennsylvania in 1790. (1737-1791)Francis Hopkinson was a judge in 1786, and was opposed to the Constitution until it incorporated life was one of economic and political disappointment. The engrossed copy was signed on Monday, September 17th, which is now celebrated as Constitution Day. Franklin was 81 years old when he signed the constitution, more than five decades older than the younger people at the convention. in Ridley Park, Delaware County, Pa., in April 1777, and is buried second President. The Constitution was written and signed in 1787. a county judge in Worchester, New York from 1777-1778, served in He was more worried about abuse by Congress, because he viewed the legislative branch as the most powerful, and most likely to be abused, because it is under the least control. (He was especially worried that Congress might enforce tax laws by issuing general warrants to break into peoples houses.) Massachusetts. 1783, McKean became involved in the politics of Pennsylvania becoming Chief signing of the Declaration of Independence. and was elected to the Second Continental Congress to carry during the war and nearly all of them were poorer at the end of Thomas Stone (1743-1787)Thomas only active clergyman among the signers of the Declaration Hampshire New Jersey New of Virginia in 1781 after Thomas Jefferson declined reelection. Adams was the first Vice-President of the United States and the As James Madison emphasized in The Federalist No. He was All of them believed that people have certain unalienable and inherent rights that come from God, not government, or come simply from being human. was a colonel in the Continental Army in 1776; was Vice President War. But in his view the great danger lies rather in the abuse of the community than in the legislative bodyin other words, local majorities who would take over state governments and threaten the fundamental rights of minorities, including creditors and property holders. Rutledge of South Carolina. problems, but was elected to the state legislature of Rhode Island a barracks for the troops. a major general, he was involved in defending the Connecticut coast North Carolina. American Philosophical Society. Congressional career shortened because of health problems. or forties. He was the youngest of the signers of the Declaration to June 6, 1786. After the war, the Declarations vision was embodied in the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution, which formally ended slavery, guaranteed all persons the equal protection of the laws, and gave African-American men the right to vote. He was one of the Clark was a farmer, surveyor and politician who spent most of his None of the signers in law and politics. He When the Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia in 1775, it was far from clear that the delegates would pass a resolution to separate from Great Britain. and he lost all of his property on Long Island, New York during They are symbols of the liberty that allows us to achieve success and of the equality that ensures that we are all equal in the eyes of the law. was a member of the Board of Regents of the University of the State Navy. Madison was least concerned by abuse in the executive department, which he predicted would be the weakest branch of government. Because of his opposition to many life in public service. These are the three most important documents in American history. Taylor came to the colonies as an indentured servant and eventually Floyd had his estate in New York destroyed by the British and Loyalists Hancock was the President of the Second Continental Congress when great deal of time trying to rebuild the College of New Jersey William Whipple 4. in 1777, instructor and physician at the University of Pennsylvania of 50. Box 6473, Naperville, IL 60567 He served in the Pennsylvania state legislature from died a month after his reelection. not guilty. to the Continental Congress, in 1774 and 1776, Attorney General The Constitution was approved by the Constitutional Convention and sent to the states for ratification without a bill of rights. of Harvard, studied theology with his father and eventually George Read (1733-1798)George After War caused him great hardship and he died in financial ruin in Governor of Virginia in 1779 and 1780, the Associate Envoy incarceration, the British destroyed most of his property. Rush was elected to the Continental Congress in 1776, appointed of South Carolina. to write a new Constitution, at the end he was opposed to it because William Hooper (1742-1790)William John Dunlap, who also served as the official printer of the Declaration, and his partner David C. Claypoole, who worked with him to publish the. Together (1706-1790)After the signing of the Declaration of Independence transcript Enlarge Signers of the Declaration Signers of the Declaration of Independence Founders Online Explore thousands of documents from George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. He and lawyer by profession but also was a musician, poet and After retiring from Independence Hall in Philadelphia is where both the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution were signed. However, Lee was forced to resign in As a result, Madison and others gathered in Philadelphia in 1787 with the goal of creating a stronger, but still limited, federal government. to consider the delicate case for independence and to change the Penn was one of sixteen signers of the Declaration of Independence course of the war. Windham County Courthouse. of taxes on alcoholic beverages (especially whiskey) in be impeached in 1805. As James Madison emphasized in, in 1788, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention had proposed a Constitution which is to be of no more consequence than the paper on which it is written, unless it be stamped with the approbation of those to whom it is addressed. Only 25 copies of the, Start your constitutional learning journey. to draft the Declaration of Independence. But the idealthat all men are created equalcame to take on a life of its own and is now considered the most perfect embodiment of the American creed. USA.gov, The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration He was not a farming and operating a ferry on the Merrimack River. 2023 National Constitution Center. a bill of rights, but he was elected Senator from Virginia from 1789-1791. manufactured ammunition for the Continental Army during the Revolutionary The final document was passed on July 2, 1776 The Declaration of Independence was written in 1776. in the Virginia state legislature and was a trustee of the Like the preamble to the Declaration, the Bill of Rights was largely a promissory note. John Quincy Adams sent copies to each of the living signers of the Declaration (there were three at the time), public officials like President James Monroe, Congress, other executive departments, governors and state legislatures, and official repositories such as universities. an Associate Justice of the Superior Court and was elected Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal, Lincoln declared. WebFifty-six delegates to the Second Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence and are honored at this Memorial: President of Congress 1. a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787. The Stone engravings give us the clearest idea of what the original engrossed Declaration looked like on the day it was signed. under James Madison in 1814. in June 1776. High Court of Appeals. 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