THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
AMERICA'S MOST VALUABLE ANTIQUE

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It has been said, probably even by the great inventor, writer and statesman himself, that if Benjamin Franklin had drafted the Declaration of Independence, he would not have been able to resist the temptation to introduce humor to it.

Another logical author, preeminent patriot John Adams, encouraged Jefferson to write the document for the following reasons.

"Reason First – You are a Virginian, and a Virginian ought to appear at the head of this business. Reason second – I am obnoxious, suspected, and unpopular. You are very much otherwise. Reason third - You can write ten times better than I can."

Signing of the Declaration of Independence. Painting by John Trumbull (1756-1843) The world's most important antique has had a traveled history. Housed inside a scroll carrying tube, it undoubtedly tracked many perilous roads with the Continental Congress during the early years of the American Revolution. It has called at least ten cities and five states its home. Twice it was almost destroyed by fire. And, in both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 it was almost captured by the British. The now almost illegible parchment has been over-handled and exposed to too much light. It has also probably suffered from an early custom of copying by placing a damp sheet of thin paper on a manuscript and pressing it until a portion of the ink was transferred. This image was then re-transferred to copper plate for making engravings. According to the National Archives and Records Administration this "wet transfer" method was likely employed by William J Stone from 1820-1823 when he labored for three years, as commissioned by Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, to make a facsimile of the entire Declaration; signatures as well as text. Primarily, it is the image of Stone's prints not the original parchment that is so frequently reproduced in our manuals and minds.

The most interesting and commonly oversighted version of the Declaration of Independence is the first: Jefferson's original four page rough draft. Saturated with cross-outs and corrections, among its most interesting editorial changes is the scratching out of the words "sacred and undeniable" replaced above with the words "self-evident" so that the document's critical third line now reads as follows, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…"

Along with other renditions of the Declaration, Jefferson's rough draft is stored under the most exacting archival conditions possible in the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C. No record has come to light on how many days or weeks Jefferson toiled on his first draft, but we know from correspondence he wrote in 1823 to whom it was first submitted.

"Other members of the committee unanimously pressed on myself alone to undertake the draught. I consented; I drew it; but before I reported it to the committee I communicated it separately to Dr. Franklin and Mr. Adams requesting their corrections…I then wrote a fair copy, reported it to the committee, and from them, unaltered to Congress."

Comprised of five distinct parts: the introduction; the preamble; the body, which can be divided into two sections; and the conclusion, the Declaration of Independence is the most brilliantly written state paper of Western Civilization. Inspired by American patriots, written by Jefferson, edited by Franklin and Adams, and endorsed by 56 members of the Continental Congress; it is stronger than its historical associations, and more beautiful and powerful than its poetry. The Declaration of Independence's greatness comes from its timeless universality.

Speaking to a large audience at Independence Hall on Washington's Birthday, February 22, 1861, no man or woman has ever offered a more beautiful testimony than Abraham Lincoln:

"I am filled with deep emotion at finding myself standing here in the place where were collected together the wisdom, the patriotism, the devotion to principle, from which sprang the institutions under which we live. You have kindly suggested to me that in my hands is the task of restoring peace to our distracted country. I can say in return, sir, that all the political sentiments I entertain have been drawn, so far as I have been able to draw them, from the sentiments which originated, and were given to the world from this hall in which we stand. I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence. I have often pondered over the dangers which were incurred by the men who assembled here and adopted that Declaration of Independence-I have pondered over the toils that were endured by the officers and soldiers of the army, who achieved that Independence. I have often inquired of myself, what great principle or idea it was kept this Confederacy so long together. It was not the mere matter of the separation of the colonies from the mother land; but something in that Declaration giving liberty, not alone to the people of this country, but hope to the world for all future time. It was that which gave promise that in due time the weights should be lifted from the shoulders of all men, and that all should have an equal chance. This is the sentiment embodied in that Declaration of Independence."