In last week’s column, I highlighted “7 little-known facts about the Declaration of Independence.” They were:
1. Benjamin Franklin wrote the first “declaration of independence.”
2. Thomas Jefferson had problems with the adopted version of the Declaration of Independence – written primarily by him.
3. The Declaration of Independence wasn’t signed on July 4, 1776.
4. The original Declaration of Independence wasn’t written on paper.
5. There are at least 26 surviving paper copies of the Declaration of Independence of the hundreds made in July 1776 for circulation among the colonies.
6. When Gen. George Washington read aloud the Declaration of Independence in New York, a riot resulted.
7. All 56 signers of the Declaration paid a price for their rebellion and our freedom.
Here are five more little-known facts I know you will find equally fascinating:
8. Of the 26 known July 1776 copies of the Declaration of Independence in existence today, one was found behind an old painting purchased at a flea market for $4.
In 1991, one of only three copies of the Declaration known to be privately owned was auctioned for $2,420,000. What’s even more staggering is where it was originally found.
According to the New York Times, “The previous owner, who was not identified, had told Sotheby’s [art auctioneers that] he bought a torn painting for $4 in a flea market in Adamstown, Pa., because he was interested [only] in its frame. When he got home, he said, he removed the painting – a dismal country scene – and concluded the frame could not be salvaged, but found the Declaration, folded and hidden in the backing.” That was the 24th known copy at the time.
The 25th and 26th copies later surfaced. One was sold in excellent condition in 2000 for $8.1 million. A 26th copy emerged at the British National Archives in 2009, which was hidden for over 200 years in a box of papers seized from American colonists during the Revolutionary War.
Speaking of unique editions, in 2013, a rare newspaper copy of the Declaration of Independence was purchase at auctioned in New York City by the chief executive officer of U.S. private equity giant Carlyle Group for a record $632,500. It was printed in Benjamin Towne’s Saturday, July 6, 1776, issue of The Pennsylvania Evening Post, the first newspaper printing of the Declaration and its second printing in any form. (Carlyle is displaying it among other early American artifacts he has collected.)
9. You can view rare copies of the Declaration of Independence across the country.
Scan the internet news for “Declaration of Independence” and you’ll be surprised what surfaces.
Just a few weeks ago, it was reported that Washington University Libraries will display an original copy of the Declaration of Independence, printed between July 14 and 16 in 1776, by John Rogers in the shop of Ezekiel Russell, in Salem, Massachusetts. The copy, known as the Rogers Broadside, is on loan to the university for 10 years.
Earlier this year, the Berkshire Eagle reported, “Berkshire Museum discovers rare Declaration of Independence broadside printing in its archive.” The Russell broadside – an exact replica of the one printed by John Dunlap of Philadelphia on the evening of July 4, 1776 – was commissioned by the Massachusetts Provincial Congress on July 17, 1776. Russell’s broadside was the 11th of 13 authorized printings. The other 12 were printed in Pennsylvania, New York, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and South Carolina.
Of course, if you don’t have access to view any of the above copies of the Declaration, the other option is that you can always look at the signed 1776 original at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., along with the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights and other early American documents.
10. The real Declaration of Independence was placed in Fort Knox during World War II.
Two weeks after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, two national treasures – the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution – were transported under armored protection from Washington, D.C., to Fort Knox. History.com explained, “Under the supervision of armed guards, the founding document was packed in a specially designed container, latched with padlocks, sealed with lead and placed in a larger box. All told, 150 pounds of protective gear surrounded the parchment. On December 26 and 27, accompanied by Secret Service agents, it traveled by train to Louisville, Kentucky, where a cavalry troop of the 13th Armored Division escorted it to Fort Knox. The Declaration was returned to Washington, D.C., in 1944.”
As far as the Declaration’s placement in National Archives, on Dec. 13, 1952, it along with the Constitution and Bill of Rights were officially delivered to the archivist of the United States, Wayne Grover, and enshrined at the National Archives in a ceremony on Dec. 15, 1952, attended by then President Harry S. Truman.
11. There is something written on the back of the real Declaration of Independence.
According to the National Archives website, “There is writing on the back of the original Declaration of Independence. But it is not invisible, nor does it include a map, as the 2004 blockbuster Disney feature film, ‘National Treasure,’ suggests. The writing on the back reads ‘Original Declaration of Independence, dated 4th July 1776,’ and it appears on the bottom of the document, upside down.”
It’s speculated that the words were written on there as a label, since it was rolled up and carried during the Revolutionary War. But no one knows for sure why, when, or who wrote it.
12. There are five references to God in the Declaration of Independence.
In his “Five References to God in the Declaration of Independence,” Dr. Harold Pease, political science instructor at Taft College, wrote, “It always amazes me when otherwise intelligent people are unable to find evidence of God in our governing documents. The Declaration of Independence, the signing of which we commemorate July 4th, alone has five references to God – two in the first paragraph, one in the middle, and two in the last.”
Divinity was so dominant among the Declaration’s creators that the Christian History Institute explained: “At the bottom of the original Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress ordered copies of the Declaration first be sent not to town clerks or newspapers but to parish ministers, who were ‘required to read the same to their respective congregations, as soon as divine service is ended, in the afternoon, on the first Lord’s day after they have received it.'”
Historian David Barton explained, we are often taught that the primary reason the American colonists revolted from British rule was over the issue of taxes, but “taxation without representation” is the 17th among 27 reasons given in the Declaration of Independence for seceding from Great Britain.
For the 56 signers, it was their trust in God and commitment to the American cause – not simply “no taxes” – that served as the primary pillar of their rebellion and our republic. As they wrote, “For the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
I believe we should do the same and teach our posterity to do likewise.
(I wrote my New York Times bestseller, “Black Belt Patriotism: How to Reawaken the American Dream,” to help educate and equip Americans who are not as familiar with our founders’ fundamental mission and mindsets. It not only gives a copy of the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution in the back of it but also details throughout the book how our country would be better off in a host of ways if we turned back the clock to how they ran it).
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