Declaration of Independence Of United States

Declaration of Independence Of United States

The Declaration of Independence: History

Nations become in many ways. Military rebellion, civil war, acts of heroism, acts of treachery, a thousand or so fighting between supporters of the old order and supporters of the new - all occurrences of these and more have marked the emergence of new nations large and small . The birth of our nation includes everybody. This birth is unique, not only in the immensity of its later impact on world history and growth of democracy, but also because many of the children of our national history over time to run in the same place at the same time, in a document: the Declaration of Independence.

Towards Independence

The clearest demand independence, even in the summer of 1776 came in Philadelphia on June 7. On that day, the size of the Pennsylvania State House (later Independence Hall), the Continental Congress heard Richard Henry Lee of Virginia read his resolution beginning: "Resolved: That these United Colonies are, and the right to be, Free and Independent States , who have freed themselves from all allegiance to the British Crown and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is and ought to be, totally dissolved. "

The Lee Resolution was an expression of what was already beginning to happen throughout the colonies. When the second Continental Congress, which was essentially the government of the United States from 1775 to 1788, first meeting in May 1775, King George III had not responded to complaints against the petition that he had been sent by the first Continental Congress. The Congress gradually took on the responsibility of a national government. In June 1775 Congress established the Continental Army as well as a continental currency. In late July of that year created the post office for "United Colonies."

In August 1775 a royal proclamation declared that the king's American subjects were "engaged in open rebellion and declared." Later that year, Parliament passed the U.S. ban, which made all American vessels and cargoes forfeit to the crown. And in May 1776 the Congress learned that the King had negotiated agreements with the German states to hire mercenaries to fight in America. The weight of these actions combined to convince many Americans that the mother country was treating the colonies as a foreign entity.

One by one, the Continental Congress continued to cut the colonies of Britain's relations. The resolution of the Corsair, approved in March 1776, allowed the colonists "to fit armed ships to cross [sic] the enemies of these United Colonies." On April 6, 1776, U.S. ports have opened to trade with other nations, a move that has cut economic ties driven by the laws of navigation. A "resolution for the formation of local governments" was adopted May 10, 1776.

At the same time, more settlers themselves were becoming convinced of the inevitability of independence. Thomas Paine's Common Sense, published in January 1776, has sold thousands of them. By mid-May 1776 eight colonies had decided that they would support independence. Day of May 15, 1776, the Convention of Virginia passed a resolution that "representatives to represent this colony in General Congress of the board suggests that a respectable body to declare the colonies free and Italy were independent."


That was according to the instructions that Richard Henry Lee, June 7, 1776, presented his resolution. There were still some delegates, however, including those bound by earlier instructions, who wished to follow the path of reconciliation with Britain. June 11 The Review of the Lee Resolution was postponed by a vote of seven to five colonies, with New York abstained. Congress then recessed for 3 weeks. The tone of the debate indicated that at the end of that time the Lee Resolution would be adopted. Before the Congress recessed, therefore, a Committee of Five was appointed to draft a statement presenting to the world if the colonies for independence.

Council of Five

The committee consisted of two New England men, John Adams of Massachusetts and Roger Sherman of Connecticut, two men in the colonies East, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania and Robert R. Livingston of New York and one in the south of England, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. In 1823, Jefferson wrote that the other members of the committee "unanimously pressed me just make a proposal [sic]. I accepted, I have drawn, but before I reported to the committee I communicated separately by Dr. Franklin and Mr.. Adams calls for their repair, ... then I wrote a fair copy, informed the Committee, and of them, unchanged, and the Congress. "(If Jefferson did the" fair copy "includes changes to the Franklin and Adams, was not preserved. And 'perhaps a copy of which was amended by Congress and used for printing, but in any case, it has not been preserved.

Draft of Jefferson, however, with changes made by Franklin and Adams and Jefferson's own notes of changes by Congress, is in the Library of Congress).

Jefferson's account reflects three stages of life, the Declaration: the document was originally written by Jefferson; changes to that document made by Franklin and Adams, which version, which was presented to the committee of five to Congress, and the version finally adopted .

1. July 1776, the Congress meets again. The next day, Lee A resolution of independence adopted by the 13 colonies in December, in New York to vote. Soon after, Congress began to consider the declaration. Adams and Franklin had made only a few changes before the committee presented the document. Discussion led to some changes in Congress and the depreciation, but the basic document remained Jefferson's. The review process continues in all of July 3 and in the late morning of July 4. Then, finally, the bells rang out over Philadelphia; statement was formally adopted.

The Declaration of Independence consists of five parts: introduction, preamble, the body, which can be divided into two sections and a conclusion. The introduction says that this document will "declare" the "causes" that made it necessary to leave the American colonies the British Empire. Having said in the introduction that independence is inevitable, even necessary, the preamble sets out the principles that were already known to be "me" in most English of the 18th century, closing with the statement that "a long train of abuses and usurpations. .. evinces a design to reduce [the people] under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty to throw off such government and provide new Guards for their future security. "In the first section of the body the Declaration gives evidence of the "long train of abuses and usurpations" heaped upon the colonists by King George III.

In the second section of the body states that the settlers had asked in vain for their "British brethren" for the redress of grievances. Having established the conditions that necessitated independent and have shown that these conditions exist in British North America, the Declaration concludes that "these United Colonies are, and have the right to be free and independent States, they are free from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State Great Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved. "

Although Congress had adopted the Declaration presented to the committee of five, was the committee's task is not over yet. Congress had also directed the committee to oversee the printing of the document adopted. The first printed copies of the Declaration of Independence were transformed from the shop of John Dunlap, official printer of Congress. After the Declaration was adopted, the committee took to Dunlap the manuscript document, possibly Jefferson's "good copy" of his newspaper. On the morning of July 5 has been sent copies of members of Congress to various assemblies, conventions and safety committees and the commanders of Continental troops. Also on July 5 was a copy of the printed version of the statement approved inserted in the "Journal rough" of the Continental Congress for July 4. The text was followed by the words "Signed by order and on behalf of Congress, John Hancock, president. Certificate. Charles Thomson, Secretary.

Declaration of intent

July 9 activities of the Congress was officially approved by the New York Convention. All 13 colonies were now wants their approval. 19. July, therefore, Congress was able to order that the declaration is "pretty absorbed on parchment, with a title and a ladder [sic] and the" unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States America, "and at the same time, when absorbed be signed by every member of Congress. "

Captivating is the process of preparing an official document in a large clear hand. Timothy Matlack was probably the monopoly of the Declaration. He was a Pennsylvanian who had assisted the Secretary of the Congress of Thomson, Charles, in his post for over a year and had written the advice of George Washington as commanding general of the ContinentalArmy. Matlack set to work in pen, ink, parchment, and expert hands, and finally, on August 2, review of records of the Continental Congress that "The Declaration of Independence and the absorption compared with the table the firm. " One of the most common myths about the Declaration was signed July 4, 1776, to all delegates.

John Hancock, President of the Congress was the first sign of a sheet of parchment of 24 ¼ 29 ¾ inches. He used a bold signature centered below the text. According to the customs regulations, other representatives began to sign right under the text, their signatures arranged according to geographical location of the countries they represented. New Hampshire, the northernmost state began to list, and Georgia, the southernmost, is over. Eventually, 56 representatives have signed, although all were not present on August 2. Among the signers were Elbridge Gerry later, Oliver Wolcott, Lewis Morris, Thomas McKean, and Matthew Thornton, which found that had no space to sign other representatives of New Hampshire. A few representatives who voted for the adoption of the Declaration of July 4 had never been signed, despite the July 19 order of Congress who absorbed the document "signed by all members of Congress.

"Nonsigners John Dickinson, who clung to the idea of ​​reconciliation with Britain, and Robert R. Livingston, a Committee of Five, who thought the declaration was premature.

Vellum and Ink

During the next 200 years, the nation whose birth was announced by a statement that "does not absorb the parchment" was to show the huge growth area, population, economic power and social complexity and commitment to sustainable access to testing and strengthening its democracy. But what of the parchment itself? How was that costs more than two centuries?

In the chronicle of the Declaration as a physical object necessarily roll three themes: the relationship between physical aging of the parchment and the steps taken to preserve the deteriorating relationship between the parchment and the copies made of it, and finally The often dramatic history of travel of the parchment during wartime and their various homes.

Chronologically, it is useful to divide the history of the declaration after the signing of five periods, some clearer than others. The first period consists of the first trips of the parchment and lasts until 1814. The second period relates to long stays in the Declaration of Washington, DC, from 1814 until his brief return to Philadelphia for 1876 Centennial. The third period covers the years 1877-1921, a period marked by growing concern over the deterioration of the document and the need for a suitable permanent home in Washington. Except for an interlude World War II, covering the fourth and fifth periods, the time the Declaration rested in the Library of Congress from 1921 to 1952 and the National Archives from 1952 to today.

Travel early, 1776-1814

When the Declaration was signed, the document is likely to be involved in the Continental Congress as the body traveled during the months and years uncertain of the revolution. Initially, like other parchment documents of time, when the message is likely stored in rolled form. Each time a document was used, it would have been unrolled and re-rolled. This activity, as well as holding rolled parchment flat, doubtless took its toll, and the ink through the parchment surface abrasion and flexing. Natural acidity of iron gall ink used by Timothy Matlack can "bite" to the surface of the parchment, thus contributing to the longevity of the ink, but the rolling and unrolling the parchment, and still presented many hazards.

After the signing ceremony, August 2, 1776, the Declaration will most likely filed in Philadelphia in the office of Charles Thomson, who served as secretary of the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1789. On December 12, threatened by the British, the Congress met and adjourned again eight days later in Baltimore, MD. A light wagon carried the Declaration to its new home, where he remained until his return to Philadelphia in March 1777.

On January 18, 1777, while the Declaration was still in Baltimore, Congress, led by military successes at Trenton and Princeton, he ordered the second official edition of the document. The July 4 printing had included only the names of John Hancock and Charles Thomson, and although the first impression was distributed rapidly in the United States, the names of the following signatories have kept secret for some time due to the fear British reprisals. By order of January 18, however, Congress provided that "an authentic copy of the Declaration of Independence, the names of members of Congress signing the same, be sent to each of the United States, and want to have the same record. "The" authentic copy "was duly printed with the names of the signatories," by Mary Katherine Goddard in Baltimore.

Assuming that the Declaration moved with the Congress, he was back in Philadelphia from March to September 1777th On September 27, he would have moved to Lancaster, PA, in a single day. From September 30, 1777 to June 1778 statement would have been kept in the courthouse in York, Pennsylvania. From July 1778 to June 1783, would have had a long stay back in Philadelphia. In 1783 he was in Princeton, New Jersey, from June to November and then, after signing the Treaty of Paris Declaration would have been moved to Annapolis, Maryland, where he was until October For the month of the 1784th November and December 1784, he was in Trenton, New Jersey. Then in 1785, when Congress met in New York, the Declaration is housed in the old Hall in New York City, where he probably remained until 1790 (though Pierre L'Enfant was remodeling the construction for the convening of the First Federal Congress, it may have been temporarily removed).

In July 1789 the first congress of the new Constitution created the Department of Foreign Affairs and ordered his secretary to have "the custody and control of all records, books and papers" kept by the department of the same name under the former government. On July 24 Charles Thomson retired as Secretary of the Congress and by order of President George Washington gave the statement to Roger Alden, deputy secretary of foreign affairs. In September 1789, the department name was changed to the State Department. Thomas Jefferson to the illustrator of the Declaration, returned from France to assume his duties as a minister first time in March 1790th Correct, these functions now included custody of the Declaration.

In July 1790, Congress established a permanent capital to be built in forests and swamps bordering the Potomac River. Meanwhile, the temporary seat of government was in Philadelphia. Congress also provided that "before the first Monday in December next, all offices attached to the seat of government of the United States" should be moved to Philadelphia. The Declaration was therefore back in Philadelphia in late 1790. They are in different buildings - on Market Street in the Arch and Fifth and Sixth and Chestnut.

In 1800, the leadership of President John Adams became the Declaration and other public documents moved from Philadelphia to the new federal capital on the rise in the District of Columbia. To reach his new home, the Declaration came down the Delaware River and Bay, in the sea, in the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac, Washington, completing its longest trip of the water.

For nearly two months of the Declaration are in buildings constructed for use by the Treasury Department. For next year, is one of the "seven buildings," then standing in the nineteenth and Pennsylvania Avenue. His third home before 1814 was on the warship Seventeenth Street of age.

In August 1814, the United States is at war again with England, a British fleet appeared in the Chesapeake Bay. Secretary of State James Monroe came to observe the landing of British forces along the Patuxent River in Maryland. Post monroe warned officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in particular the clerk named Stephen Pleasonton, is a direct threat to the capital, and, of course, official documents of the government. Pleasonton, "he proceeded to buy a raw linen, and cause the bags to make a practical size, the gentlemen in the office" packed the precious books and records declaration.

A cartload of records was then taken up in the Potomac River to an unused gristmill belonging to Edgar Patterson. The structure is located on the side of the Potomac in Virginia, about two miles upstream from Georgetown. This statement and other documents remained, probably overnight. Pleasonton, meanwhile, asked neighboring farmers for using their cars. On August 24, the day of the British attack on Washington Declaration was on his way to Leesburg, Virginia. That evening, while the White House and other government buildings burned, the Declaration was stored 35 miles in Leesburg.

The Declaration remained safe at a private home in Leesburg for an interval of several weeks - in fact, until the British had withdrawn their troops from Washington and their fleet to the Chesapeake Bay. In September 1814, the Declaration was returned to the national capital. With the exception of a trip to Philadelphia for the Centennial and to Fort Knox during World War II, he was there for.

Washington, from 1814 to 1876

The statement was in Washington in September 1814 to May 1841st It was housed in four different places. From 1814 to 1841, it took place in three different places as State Department records were transferred to the growing city. The last of these places was a brick building, it was found later, "offered no security against fire."

One factor that has not had a lesser effect on the physical condition of declaration of interest was recorded copies of the Declaration of the people rose up. Two first editions of the Declaration of the faxes were made during the second decade of the 19 st century: how Benjamin Owen Tyler (1818) and John Binns (1819). As faxes are used for ornamental and decorative elements to improve the position. Richard Rush, who served as secretary of state in 1817, found 10 September the same year Tyler copy: "In a copy of the Declaration of Independence should be compared with the original instrument and found correct, I examined the signatures on each executed, Mr. Tyler, are curiously exact imitations, so much so that it would be difficult if not impossible, especially for the control .. tell them apart, if not to hand, from the original.

"Rush the reference to" long hand "refers to the fact that the signatures were already fading in 1817, just 40 years they have been linked to the parchment.

A later theory, the reasons why the Declaration was aging so soon after its creation stems from the common practice of the 18th century that "copies of the press." Press copies were made by placing a wet sheet of paper, a thin script and pushing some of the ink is transferred. The copy in fine paper remained in the same way as a modern copy. The ink was reimposed on a copper plate, which was then etched so that copies can be run from the plate in a press. This "wet transfer" method may have been used by William J. Stone, when in 1820 he was commissioned by the Secretary of State John Quincy Adams to make a facsimile of the Declaration of all signatures and the text. On June 5, 1823, almost exactly 47 years after the first version of Jefferson in the Declaration, (Washington) National Intelligencer was able to declare "that Mr. William J.

As Intelligencer noted below. "We are very happy to know that the original of this document should be immortal and imperishable, by being driven both by copyists and curious visitors, might receive serious injury facility of multiplying copies of the same is now owned State Department issued a new exhibition of the original unnecessary. "The language of the newspaper as fever above comment suggests a certain fear of deterioration of the Declaration before working the stone.

Copies made from intaglio Stone created the clear visual image of the Declaration of generations of Americans. The 200 official parchment copies struck with the stone plate bearing the identification "Engraved by WJ Stone for the Department of State by order" in the upper left corner, followed by "JQ Adams, Sec. On the state July 4, 1823. "In the upper right corner." Unofficial "copies that were struck later do not have identification on top of the document. Instead the engraver identified his work by engraving "WJ Stone SC. Washn. "Near the bottom left corner and burnishing of the previous identification.

First Declaration of 1841-1876 longer stays. Daniel Webster was Secretary of State in 1841. 11. June wrote to the Commissioner of Patents Henry L. Ellsworth, who was then a new building (now the National Portrait Gallery), that "we learn that the new building for the hospitality of the European Patent suitable for housing, as well as an exhibition of various articles now deposited in this department , and usually, exhibited to visitors ... I have adopted to provide for you "inventory. with a letter. Section 6 of the Declaration.

The "new building" was a white stone structure at the corner of Seventh and F. The Declaration and the advice of Washington as commander in chief were mounted together in a single, suspended in a white room in front of a window of exposure to offers Sun would not remain exposed for 35 years, even after the Office Patent separate from the State Department to become administratively to the Department of Interior. This prolonged exposure to the sun accelerates the deterioration of the ink and parchment of the Declaration, which was about 100 years towards the end of this period.

During the year the declaration was filed in the Patent Office, the combined effects of aging, sun and temperature and fluctuating relative humidity wreaked havoc on the document. Some authors have commented very negatively on the appearance of the Declaration. An observer in the Journal of the United States (October 1856) went so far as to speak of "old looking paper with fading ink." John B. Ellis observed in the images and the secrets of the National Capital (Chicago, 1869) that "is old and yellow, and the ink is fading of the paper." An anonymous author in the Journal of the story (October 1870) writes: "The original manuscript of the Declaration of Independence and the Commission in Washington, now in the Patent Office of the United States in Washington, DC, is said to be rapidly vanishes so that in a few years, only the naked parchment will remain. Since almost all the signatures attached to the Declaration of Independence are completely erased.

"In May 1873, the history magazine published an official statement made by Mortimer Dormer Leggett, Commissioner of Patents, who admitted that" many names to the Declaration are already unreadable. "

Modern technology and the interest generated centered on the historical roots of the approaching centenary of the declaration of a new interest in 1870 and soon brought a change in the house.

Centenary and the conservation debate, 1876-1921

In 1876 the Declaration traveled to Philadelphia, where he was exposed for the Centennial of the National Exhibition from May to October. Philadelphia Mayor William S. Stokley was entrusted by President Ulysses S. Grant, with a declaration of temporary custody. May 8, 1876 Public Ledger, said that it was Independence Hall "framed and glass, protection, and ... fireproof safe Talletetaan specially designed for storage and easy viewing. [When the outer doors of the safe is was opened, the parchment was visible behind a heavy plate-glass door inside, the doors were closed for the night.] The point is, of course, faded, and the elapsed time. the text is perfectly legible, but most the signatures are so pale, it would only be vaguely seen the light stronger, some are entirely readable, and some are completely invisible to the services included them only to defeat. "

Other descriptions made at Philadelphia were equally unflattering: "bear little trace of the signatures of the execution of which has 56 names imperishable," "aged-gray." But on July 4, when the text was read aloud to crowds of Independence Square by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia (grandson of the petitioner, Richard Henry Lee), "faded and crumbling manuscript, held together by a simple frame was then shown to the public and was greeted with joy after joy. "

In late summer, the physical conditions of the Declaration had become a matter of public interest. 3. August 1876 Congress passed a joint resolution that "the Commission, the General Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, and the Librarian of Congress the power to resort to such means, which cause more effectively restore the original manuscript of the writing of the Declaration of Independence, with the signatures of attachment. " This resolution had actually been Introduced to January 5, 1876. One of the tasks of the candidate restoration was William J. Canby, an employee in Washington Gas Light Company. 13. April Canby sent a librarian of Congress: "I had more than thirty years of experience in the management of the pen on parchment and in that time, as an expert, have absorbed hundreds of ornamental, special documents.

"Canby went on to say that" the only possible plan is to reconstruct the original with a supply of ink, which was destroyed by the action of light and time, with an ink well known that for all practical purposes, imperishable. "

The commission did, however, take any action at this time. After the conclusion of the Centennial Exposition, attempts were made to secure possession of the Declaration of Philadelphia, but failed and the parchment was returned to the Patent Office in Washington, where he had been since 1841, although this office has become a part of the Interior Ministry. On April 11, 1876, Robert H. Duell, Commissioner of Patents, had written to Zachariah Chandler, Secretary of the Interior, suggesting that "the Declaration of Independence, and the commission of General Washington, which is associated in the same framework, objects belonging to your department.

Chandler seems to have ignored this argument, because the match Secretary Hamilton Fish, it was agreed, the permission of President Grant, to move the declaration of a new fireproof building, the Foreign Ministry said the war and navy departments ( Old Executive Office Building hours).

On March 3, 1877, the Declaration placed in a closet on the east side of the library of the State Department, where he was being exposed for 17 years. It should be noted that not only allow smoking in the library, but the room contained an open fireplace. However, there turned out to be safer than just left the premises, much of the Patent and Trademark Office has been emptied in a fire that took place several months later.

5. May 1880, the Commission, who was appointed nearly four years ago came to life in response to a call, the Secretary of the Interior. He asked that William B. Rogers, president of the National Academy of Sciences to appoint a committee of experts to assess "whether the restoration of [the Declaration] not appropriate or possible, and if so in what way the object can best be achieved."

The duly appointed committee reported on January 7, 1881, that Peter has used the "wet transfer" method in the creation of his facsimile printing of 1823, the process had probably removed some of the original ink and chemical restoration methods were "at best imperfect and uncertain in their results. "The Committee therefore concluded that" it is inappropriate to try to recreate the script with chemical agents. "The group of experts to recommend that" it would be better to cover the existing containers or in the manuscript with an opaque cover or remove the manuscript from its frame and place it in a portfolio, where it can be protected from the effects of light . 'Finally, the committee recommended that "no press copies of any part of it must in future be allowed."

Declaration of a recent study by the National Archives conservators have reason to believe that the "wet transfer" took place. Proof of this fact, however, can not be verified or not strictly modern research methods. No reference to the documents prior to 1881 were found to support the theory, so we will never know if Stone actually performed the procedure.

Little, if at all, began in 1881 as a result of the report. Only in 1894, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that "fading fast the text of the original Declaration of Independence and the deterioration of the parchment on which it is immersed, from light and long, making it impossible to carry out our office is not expose or to deal with more housing in its present condition, it could be possible. is carefully wrapped and placed in a stainless constant. "

A new plate to the engraving was done by the Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1895 and in 1898 a photograph was made for the Ladies Home Journal. On the latter occasion, the parchment was noted that "always in a good legible condition" although "some of the signatures" were "necessarily blurred."

14. April 1903, the Secretary of State John Hay once again ordered to help the National Academy of Sciences "to provide recommendations that may influence the practice ... without touching [the Declaration] preservation." Hay said: "It must be kept away from light, sealed with two layers of glass, presumably to test the air, and locked steel sure I can not say, however, that despite the precautions, observed over the last ten years, the text does not continues to fade and the parchment to wrinkle and perhaps. break. "

24. April Committee reported its findings to the Academy. Summary of the physical history of the Declaration, the report reads: .. "The instrument has been seriously affected by the tough treatment that has been exposed in the early years of the Republic of folding and rolling increased Wet parchment printed copy operation that was exposed to about 1820 for the production of fax, copy, delete a part of the ink. After exposure to light activity for more than thirty years, when the instrument was set for the exhibition, has resulted in fading ink, especially signatures. The present way of treating the instrument seems to be the best that can be understood. "

The Committee added his "opinion that the current way of protecting the instrument should continue, which should be stored in. Dark and dry as possible, and never put on a show" personal Hay, the secretary seems to have accepted the recommendation of the Committee The following year, William H. author of the Declaration of Independence, Michael (Washington, 1904), reported that the Declaration was "locked and sealed by order of Secretary Hay, and is no longer shown to anyone except in his own direction."

The First World War came and went. Then, April 21, 1920, Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby issued an order to create another committee: "The Committee appointed to investigate the appropriate course of action for a permanent and effective conservation and deterioration of the dangers of fire or other type of destruction of these documents is the highest value, which is deposited with the law of the State Intelligence is the problem. shows some of these patriotic documents of public interest. "

5. May 1920 a new committee will report the physical condition of the safes that housed the Declaration and the Constitution. He said, "The safes are made of thin sheets of steel. They are not fireproof nor do they offer a lot of obstacles to the evil disposed persons, who wanted to get into them." On the physical condition of the Declaration, the Committee stated: "We believe the fading can not promise anything we see no reason why the original document will not be exposed if the parchment drawn between two layers of glass, hermetically sealed around the edges and exposed only to scattered light .. "

The committee also made some "supplementary recommendations." It is important to note that March 3, 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt ordered that certain documents in the Continental Congress be given by the State Department in the Library of Congress: "This transfer was made pursuant to a provision of the law on February 25, 1903, any executive department can be turned to the Library of Congress books, maps or other material that is no longer necessary for the operation of the department. "The Committee recommended that the remaining documents, including the Declaration and the Constitution still be placed in the custody of the Library of Congress. The Declaration, therefore, two important changes are coming: a new home and the possibility of the exhibition "the patriotic public."

Library of Congress. . . and Fort Knox, 1921-52

There was no action on the recommendations of 1920 until after the Harding administration took office. On September 28, 1921, Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes addressed the new president: "I am enclosing an executive order for signature, if approved the transfer to the custody of the Library of Congress of the Declaration of origin Independence and the Constitution of the United States now under the custody of the department .... I make this recommendation because the Library of Congress muniments these are under the care of qualified experts in the preservation of archives, in a building of modern non-combustible construction, which can safely be exposed to the many visitors who now desire to see them. "

President Warren G. Harding agreed. On September 29, 1921, issued the executive order authorizing the transfer. The following day Secretary Hughes sent a copy of the order of the Library of Congress Herbert Putnam, saying he was "willing to convert the documents when ready to receive them."

Putnam was both ready and eager. He ran immediately to the State Department. The safes were opened, and the Declaration and the Constitution were made at the Library of Congress on Capitol Hill in "mail wagon," the library cushioned by a pile of leather U.S. mail sacks. Upon arrival, the two national treasures in a safe in the office of Putnam.

3. October Putnam took the permanent establishment. In a library building and grounds superintendent Memorandum, Putnam was assumed that the "library" of documents "could be treated so, while fully safeguarding and give them the difference, which should have opened the examination for the general public." The memo discussed the need to set "safe, decent, proper in every way ... the bronze material would be useless. The cost is significant."

Librarian then requested the sum of $ 12,000 for their purposes. The need is acute because the new Office of the Budget was about to print the next year financial estimates. There was no time to prepare detailed plans for the architecture. Putnam told an appropriations committee January 16, 1922, precisely what he had in mind. "There is a way ... we could build, for example, on the second floor on the west side of the long open gallery fence rails, bronze hardware, where these documents, with one or two additional documents which lead might be placed where they are not need to be touched by someone, but just one could see from where they could be placed in permanent bronze frames and where they could be protected from natural light, lit only by soft incandescent lamps.

The result can be achieved, and you've got to be something for all visitors to Washington would like to say, when he returned, and who regard it as journalists say, with great interest as a kind of "sanctuary". "Presentation imaginative librarian has been successful: the sum of $ 12,000 has been allocated and approved March 20, 1922.

In short, the "kind of" sanctuary "was designed by Francis H. Bacon, whose brother Henry was the architect of the Lincoln Memorial. The materials include several types of marble, New York, Vermont, Tennessee, the Greek island of Tinos and Italy the marbles around the manuscripts were Americans; .. and the balustrade of a marble floor were to correspond with foreign materials used in the rest of the library of the Declaration is a chassis-plated bronze doors gold and double-paneled glass plate with specially prepared gelatin films between the plates to exclude the harmful rays of light. A 24-hour guard would provide protection.

28 February day in 1924 the sanctuary was consecrated in the presence of President and Mrs. Coolidge, Secretary Hughes and other distinguished guests. Not a word spoken during the ceremony moving, in which Putnam installed in the Declaration of the frame. There was no rhetoric. The two sang the first verse of America. Putnam said, "showed the public the impression of the emotional power of documents to be animated with a long tradition."

With only one interruption, the Declaration was hung on the wall of the second floor of the Grand Hall of the Library of Congress until December 1952. During the 1920s, prosperity and depression in the 1930s, millions of people visited the sanctuary. But the threat of war, then war itself caused a prolonged interruption in the steady flow of visitors.

30. April 1941 worried that the war raging in Europe might end up in the United States have recently been appointed librarian of Congress, Archibald MacLeish, wrote to Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr., was a librarian interested in the property value in many of its charge. He wrote: "ask the space could be found" in Fort Knox Bullion Ltd for his valuable materials, such as notification, "the unlikely event that it is necessary to remove them from Washington." Secretary Morgenthau has said that the state should, in fact, be available "during storage, it is more important that the cards could be named."

On December 7, 1941 Japan attacked Pearl Harbour. The December 23 was the Declaration and the Constitution removed the shrine and placed between two sheets of manila paper acid free. The documents were then carefully packed in a container with all the rags and cardboard neutral and placed in a container specially designed bronze. It was late at night, when the container was finally secured with padlocks on each side. Preparations were resumed on Boxing Day, when the Attorney General ruled that the librarian did not need "other powers of Congress or the President" to take measures he deemed "appropriate protection and conservation" of documents in his office.

Package process continued custody standing army. The container was finally sealed with lead and wrapped in a heavy box, all weighed about 150 pounds. It was far from simple linen bag of the summer, the 1814th

Approximately 17 hours of the box and other boxes containing vital records, was loaded into a truck armed escort, taken to Union Station, and loaded on a Pullman bed chamber Eastlake. Of armed Secret Service agents occupied the neighboring compartments. After leaving Washington at 18:30, the Declaration traveled to Louisville, KY, arriving at 10:30, December 27, 1941. The Secret Service agents and a cavalry squadron of 13 Armoured Division met the train, escorted its precious contents of the Bullion Depository in Fort Knox, and placed in the Declaration of the compartment 24 in the outer layer of the ground floor.

Declaration has been reviewed from time to time to stay in Fort Knox. One such study in 1942 found that the announcement had come off some of its installation, such as in the upper right corner, which was blocked with plenty of glue. His diary for May 14, 1942, Verner W. Clapp, Library of Congress official, said: "At one time, also (about January 12, 1940) was trying to reunite the detached upper right of the most important part of using a strip of cellulose tape 'tape' that was still into force, the color changes, color and molasses. several efforts to repair glue has been spilled on the opposite side in two places in the document. "

The opportunity was taken to perform conservation treatment to stabilize and reach the upper right corner. Under the utmost secrecy, George Stout and Evelyn Erlich, both from the Fogg Museum of Harvard University, traveled to Fort Knox. Over a period of two days, they found small repairs of tears, removed excess adhesive and tape "Scotch", and returned to the upper right corner separately.

Finally, in 1944, military authorities said the Library of Congress that all danger of enemy attack had passed. On September 19, documents were removed from Fort Knox. On Sunday, October 1 at 11:30, the doors of the library opened. The Declaration was back in his sanctuary.

The return of peace, keepers of the Declaration were aware of the increasing technological expertise available to them in the conservation of parchment. Here, were easily the help of the National Bureau of Standards, which even before World War II, had studied the conservation of the declaration. The problem, which protects it from striking example was in 1924, has led to increased sheet of yellow gelatin between the protective plates of glass. However, this procedure has reduced the visibility of the already faded parchment. Do not make some improvements?

The following reports on May 5, 1949, in studies where library staff, members of the National Bureau of Standards, and representatives from a glass manufacturer had participated were new recommendations. In 1951, the Declaration was sealed in a chamber filled with helium thermopane wet well. Exposure was equipped with a filter to filter out harmful light. The new enclosure also had the effect of preventing damage from air pollution, a growing danger.

Shortly thereafter, however, the Declaration was to spend one more, one to its current location. (See Appendix B.)

National Archives, 1952 to present

In 1933, when the country entered the Depression, President Hoover laid the cornerstone for the construction of the National Archives in Washington, DC. He announced that the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution is finally held in the imposing structure that would occupy the site. Indeed, it was for maintenance and show that the exhibition hall at the National Archives had been designed. Two large murals were painted on its walls. In one, Thomas Jefferson shows the presentation of the Declaration of John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress, while members of this body seem revolutionary. In the second, James Madison is portrayed submit the Constitution to George Washington.

The final transfer of these specific documents, however, does not occur until almost 20 years later. In October 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was appointed the first Archivist of the United States, Robert Digges Wimberly Connor. The President told Connor that "valuable historic documents," as the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution, would be to live in the National Archives Building. Library of Congress, especially Librarian Herbert Putnam, objected. Meeting with the President two months after his appointment, Connor explained to Roosevelt how the documents came to the library, and that Putnam felt like second Congress was necessary, so that they can be transferred to the archives. Connor eventually told the president that it would be best to leave the matter alone until Putnam retired.

When Herbert Putnam retired April 5, 1939, Archibald MacLeish was appointed to replace him. MacLeish agreed with Roosevelt and Connor that the two important documents belonging to the National Archives. Because of World War II, most of the declaration has been stored at Fort Knox, and Connor's resignation in 1941, MacLeish was unable to complete the transfer. In 1944, when the Declaration and Constitution returned to Washington from Fort Knox, MacLeish had been appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Solon J. Buck, Connor's successor as Archivist of the United States (1941-1948), said the documents were in good hands at the Library of Congress. His successor, Wayne Grover, disagreed. Luther Evans, Librarian of Congress appointed by President Truman in June 1945 Grover shared opinion that the documents are archived.

"No one knows how many copies John Dunlap printed on his busy night of July 4. There are 26 copies known to exist of what is commonly known as" the Dunlap broadside, "21 held by American institutions, two British institutions and three by private owners. (See Appendix A.)

In 1951, the two men started working with their staff and legal counsel to obtain the documents transferred. The position of the archives was that the documents were federal records and therefore covered by the Federal Records Act of 1950, there were "crucial to and preceded by" the act of 1922 which had taken money for the sanctuary Library of Congress. Luther Evans agreed with this reasoning, but he emphasized getting the approval of the President and the Board of the Library.

Senator Theodore H. Green, Chairman of the Library, agreed that the transfer should be done, but stipulated that it would be necessary for the Committee of the Law on the subject. Evans went to the April 30, 1952, committee meeting alone. There is no official record of what was said at the meeting, unless the Joint Committee on the Library ordered that the documents are transferred to the National Archives. No files only official repository of government records, was also on the committee's decision, the building as close to bombproof in Washington.

At 11, December 13, 1952, Brigadier General O. Stoyte Ross, the Commanding General of the Air Force Headquarters Command, formally received the documents of the Library of Congress. Twelve members of the Armed Police special forces carried the 6 pieces of parchment, helium windows in wooden crates, down the stairs Library through a service line of 88 women. Marine Corps armored troop carrier was expected documents. When they were placed on mattresses inside the vehicle, were accompanied by a color guard, ceremonial troops, the army band, the Drum and Bugle Corps and Air Force, two light tanks, four soldiers armed with submachine guns and a motorcycle in a parade along the strength and the Pennsylvania Constitution ways Archives building. Both sides of the parade route was lined by Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Navy, Air Force and staff. 23:35

General Ross and the 12 special policemen arrived at the building of the National Archives made the boxes in the stands, and were formally delivered to the custody of Archivist of the United States Wayne Grover. (Already, the National Archives, the Declaration of Rights, sealing protection using modern techniques used a year before the Declaration and the Constitution.)

The official opening ceremony on December 15, 1952, was equally impressive. Chief Justice of the United States, Fred M. Vinson, presided over the ceremony, attended by officials from more than 100 national civic, veterans, patriotic, religious, educational, commercial, and working groups. After the invocation by the Rev. Frederick Brown Harris, chaplain of the Senate, Governor Elbert N. Carvel of Delaware, the first state to ratify the Constitution, made the call of the states in the order in which they ratified the Constitution or were admitted to the Union. Since each state is called, a flag with the state servicewoman entered the exhibition hall and stood at attention in front of windows surrounding the room. President Harry S. Truman, the guest speaker, said:

"The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are now assembled in one place for display and preservation .... We are engaged today in a symbolic act. We are putting these documents for future ages .... This magnificent hall was built for display, and the underground chamber, which was built to protect them, is as safe as the destruction of everything that modern man's mind can conceive. This is an honest effort, based on respect great past, and that our generation can take just pride. "

Senator Green briefly traced the history of these three documents, the Library of Congress and the Archivist of the United States announced jointly by the sanctuary. Finally, Judge Vinson spoke briefly, the Rev. Bernard Braskamp, ​​chaplain of the House of Representatives gave the benediction, the U.S. Marine Corps band played the "Star Spangled Banner", the President was escorted from the room, 48 standard-bearers came, and the ceremony (The story of the transfer of documents is Milton O. Gustafson, "The sanctuary is empty:. transfer of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the National Archives, "The American Archivist 39 (July 1976). 271-285)

The sanctuary has an impressive home. The priceless documents stand in the center of a semicircle of display cases showing other important aspects of growth in the United States. The Declaration, the Constitution and Bill of Rights are a bit high, under armed guard in the sanctuary of bronze and marble. The Charter of Rights and two of the five leaves of the Constitution are displayed flat. Above them, the Declaration of Independence is held impressively in an upright case constructed of glass and plastic laminated ballistic test. UV filters in the laminate give the inner layer a slightly greenish. At night, the documents are stored in an underground vault.

In 1987, the National Archives and Records Administration installed a camera and $ 3 million computer system to monitor the condition of the three documents. Cards monitoring system has been designed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to evaluate the condition of the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. It 'can detect changes in readability due to ink flaking, off-setting the glass ink, document changes in size, and the fading ink. The system is able to record very accurate details of the 1-inch square areas of documents and images, then taking exactly the same places and under the same lighting conditions and payment device (CCD) sensitivity. (CCD measures reflectivity.) Periodic measurements are compared with the base image, or whether changes to the deterioration of the human eye has occurred.

The Declaration has had many homes, modest homes and public offices for the provision of safes and large public screens. He was transported in trucks, ships, a Pullman sleeper, and an armored vehicle. In his final resting place, he was seen with respect by millions of people, all of them so briefly, a private moment to reflect on the importance of democracy. The nation in which the declaration gave birth had an enormous influence on human history and continues to do so. In telling the story of the parchment, it is appropriate to recall the words of poet and Librarian of Congress Archibald MacLeish. He described the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution as "these fragile objects which bear so great a weight of importance to our people." The history of the Declaration of Independence as a document may be that a large part of the story, a story still unfolding, a "weight of meaning" constantly, challenged, strengthened and redefined.

Stone, a respectable and enterprising writer of this city, after a three-year work, carried out a facsimile of the original Declaration of Independence, now in the archives of the government that it is executed with the greatest precision and fidelity, and the Department of State has become the purchaser of the plate. "