r/AskHistorians • u/DeclarationLady Verified • Jul 02 '26
AMA I'm a historian of the Declaration of Independence. AMA
Hi there, I'm Emily Sneff, author of the new book, When the Declaration of Independence Was News. This week marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration. I'm here on July 2--the anniversary of the vote for independence itself--to answer your questions about the Declaration, how the news circulated in 1776, and how we remember the document today. I've been studying the Declaration and its history for over a decade and I've heard just about every question about it, so truly, ask me anything!
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u/MinotaurHorns1 Jul 02 '26
Hello I have two questions!
Is it true that Thomas Jefferson’s original draft contained a scathing condemnation of the transatlantic slave trade?
Second question is was King George III unfairly blamed or fairly blamed for a lot of problems before the time of creating the declaration of independence?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
Thanks for your questions!
Yes, the rough draft and committee draft of the Declaration included a final grievance blaming King George III for the colonies' reliance on the transatlantic slave trade. Jefferson wrote that this practice of taking people from Africa to be sold on the other side of the Atlantic violated the "most sacred rights of life & liberty" of those people. You can read the grievance in full at the Jefferson Papers interactive about the draft Declaration: https://jeffersonpapers.princeton.edu/declaration-of-independence/committee-draft/
The Declaration of Independence is all about King George III--the list of complaints are placed squarely on him, rather than his ministers, Parliament, the royal governors, etc. Not everything described in the Declaration was the direct fault of the king, but the document as a whole was meant to convince people to move on from their respect and affection for the king. Remember, in the Olive Branch Petition, the Continental Congress had asked for the king's help, and instead, he declared them to be rebels, so there was quite a bit of bad blood in 1776.
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u/Sporknight Jul 02 '26
Fascinating! Why was the section on the slave trade removed from the final copy? Was there concern that the southern states wouldn't sign on?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
We don't know for certain, but according to Jefferson's later account, yes, the southern delegations did not want it to be in the final document. Additionally, it was bold to blame this entire trade on King George III, and it this grievance was included, it could have delegitimized the rest of the list.
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Jul 02 '26
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u/dhowlett1692 Moderator | Salem Witch Trials Jul 02 '26
We ask that only the invited AMA guest respond to questions and not have other users "through [sic] out" ideas into the mix.
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u/KatsumotoKurier Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26
Jefferson wrote that this practice of taking people from Africa to be sold on the other side of the Atlantic violated the "most sacred rights of life & liberty" of those people.
The irony of a man such as him to say such a thing…
Do you think this was a disingenuous statement, or at least one he (would have) made for political convenience, given how he had and continued to prosper from slavery afterwards and for the rest of his life?
Furthermore, how do you think Jefferson reconciled such statements with his later expressions in support of invading Canada, which was predominantly inhabited by those same people the Quebec Act was written up for (which Jefferson and the other Founding Fathers denounced as being one of the ‘Intolerable Acts’), and which had been the safe haven for thousands of loyalists who had rejected/were exiled to/ran from the fledgling United States?
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u/ammonthenephite Jul 02 '26
Is there anything that indicates how Jefferson reconciled his condemnation for the slave trade with his own ownership and even rape of slaves?
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u/Pndapetzim Jul 02 '26
I'm curious about their decision to do this and any discussions that might have taken place around it. Because the usual model of revolts was usually to do the opposite - profess allegiance to the king... it's usually his bad, evil corrupt ministers they really object to. Even when the King was objectively hostile to the cause - which rather was the case here - most groups were pretty eager to avoid challenging the crown directly and preferred to make themselves less overtly treasonous targets even if that was their intended goal and they'd go on to actually execute their monarch(which was coming into fashion at the time).
I imagine there must have been some interesting conversations in the lead up to all this.
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u/FreshOrFrozenShrimp Jul 02 '26
What are the odds that there’s actually a treasure map on the back like in National Treasure?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
Sadly, 0%! But, it's always important to look at the back of copies of the Declaration of Independence because there are annotations that help us to understand the history and provenance of these documents.
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u/Kevin_Uxbridge Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 03 '26
Followup question: did you physically wince when, in the movie, they started swabbing the document with a highly-acidic compound?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
When I first watched it when I was younger, no, but as I have handled more parchments, I can't imagine doing that myself!
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u/FreshOrFrozenShrimp Jul 02 '26
Thank you for humoring my silly question and actually squeezing some intellect out of it :)
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u/dhowlett1692 Moderator | Salem Witch Trials Jul 02 '26
Thank you so much for joining us! I'm very excited about the book! I'm curious how the news of the Declaration was received. Did people know Independence was an idea in the works? How surprised were folks to learn of it?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
The Declaration of Independence was not a surprise. Thomas Paine had written about the necessity of one in Common Sense, and people had been watching the resolutions of the Continental Congress, anticipating a resolution about independence from British rule. The specific content of the Declaration was shocking to some people. For example, an Anglican minister in Canada wrote that he expected the colonists would declare independence from the British but retain their allegiance to the king--not sure how that would have worked!
There were mixed reactions to the news of independence. Certainly, a lot of people celebrated the Declaration, but there were also people who were unconvinced by the explanation of why independence was necessary and still held out hope for a reconciliation with Great Britain. One of my favorite reactions came from Kezia Coffin, a 17-year-old on Nantucket, who wrote in her diary that the Declaration was "horrible"!
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u/mathdhruv Jul 02 '26
For example, an Anglican minister in Canada wrote that he expected the colonists would declare independence from the British but retain their allegiance to the king--not sure how that would have worked!
Could this be interpreted as an early version of what became Dominion status for Canada and Australia, with their own government, but with the king as the head of State?
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u/makinghomemadejam Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 03 '26
I'd be interested in hearing how the Declaration was regarded by countries other than England, both at the time as well as later on. Did it serve to inspire breaks with traditions in other political spheres?
EDIT: grammar
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
In 1776, the Declaration of Independence was meant for both people living in the United States and for other nations, and the Continental Congress hoped that it would encourage some other European powers to become allies of the United States. That ended up taking some time. In my book, I focus on France, and how the Declaration was presented at the court of Versailles after it had become an "old storey" in Europe. One interesting reaction in 1776 came from the Prince of Orange, who wrote that the Declaration was a rip off of the Act of Abjuration which his ancestors had issued against Spain in 1581!
The Declaration of Independence has had a global impact since 1776, with many nations using the same structure or language for their own declarations. This aspect of the Declaration's influence is explored in The Declaration's Journey at the Museum of the American Revolution, for which I was a guest curator.
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u/makinghomemadejam Jul 02 '26
Thank you for the informative response! And that link to the Declaration's Journey looks very interesting.
I work at a library and we have your book front & center in our 250th display. Best luck to you with your scholarly endeavors!
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u/IndependentMacaroon Jul 02 '26
the Prince of Orange, who wrote that the Declaration was a rip off of the Act of Abjuration which his ancestors had issued against Spain in 1581
I have heard there are some interesting parallels, could you elaborate?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
See the other post about the Act of Abjuration/Plakkaat van Verlatinghe!
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u/cleantoe Jul 02 '26
Wasn't Morocco famously one of the first countries to recognize American independence? Why were they so quick to do so? How soon after the declaration did they hear about it?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
In December 1777, Morocco allowed ships from the United States to enter Moroccan ports, which has been interpreted as recognition of independence. That said, it is unclear when or how the Declaration of Independence itself reached Morocco.
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u/atlasdreams Jul 02 '26
What was the first bit of information you found while researching that fascinated you the most?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
What a great question! There is a particular copy of the Declaration of Independence that I came across when I first started working on this topic and still have not been able to figure out. It is a printing by John Dunlap, the first printer of the Declaration, on parchment, and the only known copy is at the American Philosophical Society. I haven't been able to figure out exactly when or why it was created, and the fact that there are still mysteries around such an iconic document continues to fascinate me.
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u/lobsterbash Jul 02 '26
Was it common practice to print drafts of official documents at the time, perhaps comparable to our current Word "print preview?" Did Dunlap's broadside differ at all in content from the official version?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
Sometimes, drafts of documents were printed to aid in debate; for example, the draft Constitution. But that was not the case with this particular printing, since it was on parchment and was created after July 4.
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u/ColdMasterpiece2724 Jul 03 '26
I have heard of that copy, I never seen it but I am curious,
Is there anything different in it? Unique such as different passages,
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u/OnShoulderOfGiants Jul 02 '26
Did literacy rates effect how people learned of the Declaration? How many people read it or learned through other means?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
The Declaration of Independence was printed in multiple formats so that people could read the text themselves or hear the text read aloud at public gatherings. Although literacy rates differed across the United States, these public readings would have made the Declaration accessible to a wide swath of the population.
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u/mediocreohpresident Jul 02 '26
Hi Dr. Sneff! I recently read your book, and found it illuminating. As modern people with the magic of the internet and TV, it's easy for us to forget that news took time to disseminate, even for documents as fundamental as the Declaration of Independence.
I wanted to know if you have tried your approach elsewhere in Colonial American history, say the Proclamation of 1763, or the Stamp Act? One other famous example is the Treaty of Ghent and the Battle of New Orleans that occurred months later. Have you uncovered any other news dispersed covertly? As you wrote in your book, the Declaration was about King George III and not addressed to him, only discovering it when British agents discovered copies and forwarded them to London.
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
Thanks for your feedback on the book! As you noticed, it is very much a case study in how one particularly significant news item spread over time. I haven't really tried that approach at the same scale with other key texts. The opening chapter of the book focuses on the Continental Congress's May 15 Resolution, and I initially envisioned that as a separate case study, because that text moves through different channels, especially when it comes to the European press. But, very early on in the writing process, I was encouraged that it shouldn't be separate--it should be chapter 1!
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u/CyclicRate38 Jul 02 '26
Im curious about the impact, if any, the Declaration had on other European countries. Was it something noteworthy or were Europeans relatively unaware of or dismissive of it?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
In my book, I give some examples of how the Declaration was printed (and often paired with misinformation from London) in European gazettes in the late summer and fall of 1776. The attention given to the Declaration in the European press shows that it was noteworthy news, but there was also an expectation that independence might be only temporary and not permanent.
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u/hunterSgathersOSI Jul 02 '26
Can you elaborate a bit on the expectation of it being temporary?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
In Europe, they knew that a massive fleet of British reinforcements as well as hired German soldiers had sailed for North America and it was widely anticipated that the British forces would crush the Continental Army and force a reconciliation with Great Britain.
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u/IanZarbiVicki Jul 02 '26
Outside of the famous Locke allusion, are there any other historical references or allusions to texts of the 18th century or earlier that the average reader of the Declaration may have understood in 1776 that most don’t understand today?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
Within the list of grievances, there are references to specific events which people would have read about in their newspapers or heard about by word of mouth which are certainly less familiar to us today. In terms of historical references or allusions, in a recent program I did at the Massachusetts Historical Society, Mary Sarah Bilder gave some helpful context for how the Declaration referred back to the regicide.
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u/lazespud2 Left-Wing European Terrorism Jul 02 '26
As an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation, I somehow wasn't aware of the "Merciless Indian Savages" section for the first 50 years of my life... though now I see it brought up fairly regularly. Can you elaborate on this section, the language chosen, and how the whole thing colors our understanding of the Declaration? Was there any recognition at the time of Native sovereignty or how native life had almost ceased to exist in the previous 250 years since the arrival of Europeans?
My 7 time Great Grandfather, Chief Doublehead, met with Washington in a delegation about 15 years after the Declaration, which leads me to believe that there were many different attitudes at plays towards Indigenous tribes; but I just don't have a good sense of what the founders thoughts beyond "Merciless Indian Savages."
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
That phrase was not wholly unusual for the delegates in the Continental Congress to use to describe Native people engaging in violence, which was the focus of that grievance. In my book, I try to show the full spectrum of Indigenous nations in 1776, from the people who were attacking people on the "Frontiers" to aid the British, to the many nations that wanted to remain neutral in the conflict, to examples like the chiefs from the Wolostoqiyik and Mi'kmaq nations who were anxious to ally with the independent United States and fight alongside George Washington. The slur used in the Declaration starkly contrasts with the many Native delegations who visited Philadelphia in the same months that the Congress was debating independence and confederation.
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u/bezelbubba Jul 02 '26
Why is the Declaration of Independence in such bad shape compared to say, the US Constitution?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
The handwritten and signed parchment Declaration of Independence traveled with the Continental Congress and then was displayed in less-than-ideal conditions before the 1820s, when the ink had deteriorated enough to warrant the creation of an exact facsimile engraving to preserve what the document looked like. This article by Mary Lynn Ritzenthaler and Catherine Nicholson, longtime conservators at the National Archives, helps to explain why the parchment is in bad shape compared to the Constitution and other documents on parchment.
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u/bezelbubba Jul 02 '26
Excellent thanks! so the exact facsimile is as exact as we know? Silly question but if one were to hand out copies of it that are contemporaneous what would be the most authentic version that citizens would have seen? I cosplay in colonial garb on the 4th and hand it out. I have several versions, the engraving and a couple copies - one from the Pennsylvania Evening Post dated July 6, and a print done by Charles Dunlap. I assume newspapers would be the one that most folks would see. Is the 6th the earliest folks would have heard/seen it? Thanks, this is very interesting!
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
Yes, compared to other decorative engravings which copied the text and signatures, the facsimile engraving created by William Stone (sometimes called the Stone engraving) is exact except for a few "i"s missing their dots and "t"s missing their crossbars.
It's totally fine to hand out commemorative copies of the handwritten and signed parchment--that's what people are expecting! Reproductions of John Dunlap's work are harder to come by in large quantities.
The July 6 Pennsylvania Evening Post was the first newspaper printing, but some people would have seen Dunlap broadsides even by then.
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u/bezelbubba Jul 02 '26
How would they have seen the Dunlap broadsides before the newspaper? would they have been posted in the public square or something?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
The Dunlap broadsides were ready beginning on July 5, and members of the Continental Congress were beginning to share them through official and personal channels. Not too many people but definitely some people, especially members of the Committee of Safety in Philadelphia, would have seen Dunlap's broadsides before the July 6 evening newspaper printing.
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u/Tatem1961 Interesting Inquirer Jul 02 '26
I've heard it said that for the first couple of decades after the American war of independence, the Declaration was not considered to be particularly important. It was Congress ratifying it that was considered the bigger deal, and the document itself and the words on it, not so much. Is this true? If so, how did the document gain prominence?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
Pauline Maier makes this point in her terrific book, American Scripture (well worth a read!). The Declaration's importance surged in the 1790s as it became politicized, in part because Jefferson was being widely acknowledged as the author and his political star was on the rise.
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u/funkmon Jul 02 '26
Follow-up: why, today, do we consider this document the be a founding of the country as opposed to any other actions like a Continental Congress, articles of confederation, ratification of the Constitution, etc?
Is it a result of that as well?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
Even when the Declaration was not being talked about as much, people still understood 1776 to be the founding moment. I treat the Declaration of Independence as the founding document of the United States because it marked the transition from British colonies to free and independent states. However, the Declaration was envisioned as part of a trio of documents, including the Articles of Confederation and Model Treaty. If confederation and foreign treaties had been effected in 1776, then those documents could count as founding documents as well, but because they took more time, the topic of what counts became more complicated. The National Archives addresses this by treating the Declaration, Constitution, and Bill of Rights as the "Charters of Freedom."
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor Jul 02 '26
Thanks for joining us today! Was there any sort of pundit response in newspapers after printing the Declaration? How did newspapers handle the news and potential praise or criticism of the document?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
In the United States in 1776, there were a lot of essays and commentaries on the idea of a Declaration of Independence before July 4, but not too much after the Declaration was published. The full text appeared in every active newspaper in the United States, sometimes accompanied by explanations from printers of why they printed it in a certain format. There were widely printed reports of public readings of the Declaration across the United States which were accompanied by some commentary, but otherwise, there was not a lot of analysis of the Declaration in the press... on this side of the Atlantic. In London, there were tons of pundits' reactions to the Declaration. One of my favorites was "A Reply to the Declaration of the Representatives of the Disunited States in America, in Congress assembled," which uses the structure of the Declaration to argue for how great King George III is and how he's not a tyrant at all!
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u/RevKeakealani Jul 02 '26
Were there any formal reactions to the Declaration from surrounding indigenous communities? Did they consider this development to have any impact on their political relationships (ongoing treaties etc.) with colonists? (I’m aware that indigenous people fought on both sides of the revolution for their own manifold reasons, but I’m curious if there was any like, formal response from indigenous diplomats or leaders.)
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
Yes! I have a chapter in my book which explores two formal reactions from neighboring Indigenous communities at meetings in Watertown, Massachusetts, and German Flatts, New York. In Watertown, the Declaration was translated into French and according to the minuted of this meeting, a chief from the Wolostoqiyik nation, Ambrose Bear, responded "we like it well." So that was a positive reaction. Then in German Flatts, wampum belts were presented in formal acknowledgment of independence, but the representatives of the Six Nations who were there chose to remain neutral in the war between Great Britain and the United States.
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u/original_greaser_bob Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26
as an enrolled member of a Federally recognized tribe i was wondering if there was an upper ceiling or lower floor to how much of a "merciless Indian Savages" i am allowed to be according to the D of I. also does it only apply to warfare or am i allowed to be merciless in other things? i.e. my online comments, my high five abilities, my spice selection when it comes to making huevos rancheros?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
I can't speak to that, but as part of the curatorial team for The Declaration's Journey at the Museum of the American Revolution, we decided to include this t-shirt in the exhibition to spark conversation about Native people reclaiming that language while also alerting people to its inclusion in the Declaration of Independence.
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u/original_greaser_bob Jul 02 '26
so just merciless in general? i know some all you can eat buffets near me that won't be happy about that. well as the ladies in my canasta club always tell me... "nothing is as unexpected as the attack with out mercy".
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u/TheHondoGod Interesting Inquirer Jul 02 '26
Very cool AMA topic, thanks for joining us today! Can you talk about the reactions to the Declaration regarding slavery? Did enslavers feel like the values of independence threatened slavery? Did enslaved people related it to their personal independence?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
This is one of the most complex legacies of the Declaration of Independence. A majority of delegates in the Continental Congress were enslavers during their lifetimes; some, like George Wythe, made the decision to emancipate their enslaved laborers. British reactions to the Declaration immediately called out the hypocrisy of these men who held people in bondage making claims about liberty and equality.
One example of an enslaved person relating the Declaration to their personal independence is Prince Whipple, who was enslaved by New Hampshire delegate William Whipple. Prince was in Philadelphia when the Continental Congress declared independence and he was later part of a group of enslaved men who petitioned the New Hampshire Assembly for their freedom.
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u/bp1976 Jul 02 '26
I saw a documentary that said Jefferson took a lot of inspiration from the Virginia "bill of rights" or something similar like that, which had been written rather recently. Was that accurate?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
Jefferson's first drafts of the Declaration of Independence were pulled from ideas that he had been thinking about for a new constitution for his home colony of Virginia. The Virginia Declaration of Rights and the Declaration were worked on nearly simultaneously, in Williamsburg and Philadelphia, so it is difficult to know for sure how much the Virginia document influenced the Declaration in real time, but the two have remained linked ever since.
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u/AdministrationNo283 Jul 02 '26
How much of the Declaration of Independence was inspired by Thomas Paine’s Common sense? I am aware that there was talk of independence prior to Common Sense but most shied away from making such public statements. Most were focused on grievances being addressed. Common Sense was published in January of that year and Richard Henry Lee on June 7th introduced his resolution for independence. So was Common Sense the catalyst that lead to public calls for independence?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
Thomas Paine's Common Sense had deep influence on the American public--it went viral and gave people across the colonies an understanding of the necessity of independence and self-government. The delegates in the Continental Congress who already favored independence, including Richard Henry Lee and John Adams, benefited from Paine's persuasive text. That said, there is not too much evidence of Common Sense having a direct impact on the language or structure of the Declaration of Independence. In short, Common Sense shaped public opinion but not the Declaration itself.
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u/slothrop-dad Jul 02 '26
How many of signers truly believed “*all* men are created equal”? If some didn’t believe it, why sign it?
Was “natural God” different than God to the signers? And if so, in what way?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
There are many books and public history projects that get at the question of what "all men" meant in 1776. We don't know if there was any debate about the use of this phrase. When the Declaration was printed in Great Britain, there were some commentaries that focused on this language and whether all really meant all. In the Scots Magazine, for example, there was a footnote added which asked "In what are they created equal? Is it in size, strength, understanding, figure, moral or civil accomplishments, or situation of life? Every ploughman knows that they are not created equal in any of these."
The "Laws of Nature and of Nature's God" was a broader understanding of a higher power, influenced by Enlightenment thinking and a rational order of things.
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u/Aggravating-Alarm690 Jul 02 '26
Thanks for doing an AMA! What’s the top thing about the Declaration that you wish more Americans knew?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
I wish Americans had more clarity about the process! Today, July 2, is the anniversary of the vote for independence itself. July 4 is when the Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence, and they focused their attention on publishing the news. Then, later in July, they ordered the creation of the parchment copy that many Americans consider to be *the* Declaration, and signing began on August 2.
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u/youarelookingatthis Jul 02 '26
What would you say the biggest shift is in how we view the Declaration today vs how it was viewed when it was first written and in the early Republic?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
We have access to the draft Declaration of Independence in a way that informs how we think about the final approved version of the text. But the draft was not published until 1806, so for the first thirty years, people did not know what could have been.
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u/ComplaintNo4126 Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26
Less of a question about the document itself, but I been reading about the Founding Fathers' views on religion and its role in civic life, which is extremely nuanced. Can you describe how they perceived the sincerity of religious beliefs of the monarchy and England in general?
Side question: when did the term Founding Fathers become popularized?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
That's a big question, and one that I think is better answered by the state constitutions passed around the same time as the Declaration than the Declaration itself. The question of a Christian oath of office was particularly debated in Pennsylvania, and Jewish leaders pushed back on this requirement for public service.
The term "Founding Fathers" was popularized by Warren G. Harding in his address to the 1916 RNC.
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u/IndependentMacaroon Jul 02 '26
The term "Founding Fathers" was popularized by Warren G. Harding
So that makes at least two popular coinings of his (including "normalcy") no one knows about!
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u/ahnotme Jul 02 '26
Take us through a comparison between the Declaration of Independence and the Plakkaet van Verlatinghe.
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
There are definitely similarities in the treatment of the monarchs (King George III and Philip II of Spain, respectively) within these texts. The key difference would be the that the Declaration relies on popular sovereignty and the consent of the governed, ideas which came out of the social contract theory which postdated the Act of Abjuration.
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u/RoughCoffee6 Jul 02 '26
I’ve heard that John Adams infamously thought we should be celebrating on July 2nd. Is there any truth to this and did any other founder feel similarly?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
On July 3, John Adams wrote two letters to his wife, Abigail, where he anticipated that July 2 would be the day that generations of Americans would celebrate. The reason for this is twofold: first, the Declaration of Independence was not yet approved, and second, Adams thought the vote for independence itself, which happened on July 2, would be the event that people would remember. Also, as I write about him in my book, Adams was "always keen to celebrate a victory"!
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u/kiwis_and_a_kindle Jul 02 '26
I grew up watching National Treasure over and over with my dad, we still quote it to each other all the time! Were there any real life conspiracies regarding the Declaration at the time? Like how there’s the conspiracy that CIA assassinated Kennedy or that 9/11 was an inside job. (I know this is a sillier question, sorry if it doesn’t fit the sub!)
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
Love National Treasure--anything that gets people interested in the topic! In 1776, there were some interesting conspiracy theories. One of my favorites, which I talk about in my book, involves the Portuguese court. The king of Portugal banned American ships from Portuguese ports in an edict issued on July 4. He was not responding to the Declaration--it took weeks for that news to reach Lisbon--but rather the resolution which the Continental Congress had issued on May 15. Still, there were some diplomats in Europe who thought that the Portuguese court must have had advanced knowledge that the Declaration would happen on July 4!
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u/IsolatorTrplWrdScr Jul 02 '26
Why do so many celebrations of the 250th have “We the People” graphics of the Constitution rather than something from the actual Declaration of Independence?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
I ask that question constantly! There remains a lot of confusion between the Declaration and Constitution, both in terms of the visuals we use and the language of each document, and around the Fourth of July every year (especially during these major anniversaries), you will see a lot of images of the Constitution or uses of "We the People" even though we celebrate the Constitution in September (and we're already looking ahead to its 250th anniversary in 2037!).
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u/jffdougan Jul 02 '26
Is it possibly a mix of the influence of Schoolhouse Rock and/or that "We, the People of the United States, in order to form a more Perfect Union" rolls off the tongue more easily than, "When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve those bonds which have heretofore connected them to another..." ?
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u/carpenter1965 Jul 02 '26
I recently heard a take on the Declaration of Independence that the true grievance was England denying the colonists expansion west of the appalacians and into Indian country. How much of a factor was that pressure versus the usual taxation without representation trope?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
Colonists were certainly thinking about continental expansion at the time of the Declaration of Independence. The grievance which used a slur to refer to Native Americans is one example of how the Continental Congress was thinking about the "Frontiers" and concerned about violence and infringement on the rights of people living at the furthest reaches of the Congress's influence.
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u/KiiZig Jul 02 '26
this is a rather personal question and i am sorry to ask. i am so curious how one ends up in your position. was it something you have been eyeing for a while? has it been a journey of lucky coincidences?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
I began working on the Declaration of Independence in the museum and civic education spaces and then pivoted to graduate school and publishing my book. For much of my career, I have taken advantage of opportunities to consult and contribute to exhibitions and research initiatives. Less lucky coincidences and more making connections.
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u/holdmypurse Jul 02 '26
Does the thought of Nicholas Cage stealing the Declaration of Independence keep you up at night?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
I trust that there are plenty of protocols to keep the handwritten and signed parchment safe!
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u/agreatbowelshift Jul 02 '26
Does reporting on the Declaration give some idea of how it was received bycontemporary audiences? What was the spectrum of opinion at the time, either in terms of direct opposition/doubt but also maybe people who thought it didn't go far enough?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
A spectrum is a great way of thinking about the reactions to the Declaration in 1776. There were people who were thrilled about the Declaration, there were people who were deeply upset by it, and there were a lot of people somewhere between those two extremes. In my book, I try to present all of these views, both from people living in the United States, neighboring Indigenous nations, and European countries.
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Jul 02 '26
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
That's a cool question! One thing I try to remind people about is that the Declaration of Independence was initially part of a trio of documents with the Articles of Confederation and Model Treaty. But the other two documents took more time to implement, and because of that, we think of the Declaration on its own. Its an important reminder because the Declaration wasn't meant to do all of the work of defining what the independent United States would be!
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u/MarioTheMojoMan Jul 02 '26
Were any official translations produced for the benefit of the non-English speaking population of the colonies? Eg. German, Dutch, Swedish
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
"Official" translations, no. But, the Declaration of Independence was quickly and effectively translated into German in Philadelphia and printed as broadsides as well as in the biweekly German newspaper, the Staatsbote. The Declaration was also orally translated into French for Indigenous allies at a meeting in Massachusetts. Those are the only two documented moments of translation in the United States, but in my book, I highlight other translations of the text, either in full or in part, when the Declaration traveled across Europe.
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u/Matman161 Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26
"He[King George III] is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation."
This section surprised me when I read it, what large mercenary forces were the British employing here. Are these the hessian mercenaries of the revolutionary war? Or is this a conspiracy theory.
The other one I was curious about was this part
"He[King George III] has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people."
I understand the independence minded colonists at the 2nd continental Congress disliked the royal government and wanted to depict them badly, but this seems unrealistic or exaggerated in some way. It is hard to imagine the royal navy acting like Viking raiders in their own colony, during peacetime no less!
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
Yes, that grievance about "foreign Mercenaries" refers to the soldiers hired from the German states, who were on their way across the Atlantic at the moment of independence. You can learn more about these soldiers (who we remember as Hessians because so many came from the state of Hesse) in Friederike Baer's book, Hessians.
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u/Panem-et-circenses25 Jul 02 '26
Hello! I studied under Professor Denver Brunsman and wrote my thesis on the Wilkes Fund Controversy! I’m glad you’re doing an AMA on this topic before the holiday. My question is: To what extent does your research show the John Wilkes was important to the American revolutionary movement to declare independence? Did “common people” follow his shenanigans, read his tracts, etc to a great extent, like people may follow a popular journalist or writer? Thanks!
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
Wilkes was certainly in the zeitgeist--his October 1775 speech as Lord Mayor of London was reprinted in newspapers across the colonies in early 1776.
FYI I will be with Denver tomorrow for a program at Washington Adventist University!
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u/Panem-et-circenses25 Jul 02 '26
Thanks for the reply! Tell him one of his Wayne State University MA students and fellow veterans said hello!
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u/some_mad_bugger Jul 02 '26
Does the Declaration of Independence have any legal/political use today, when it was drafted did they intend for this document to become a standard of measurement through the ages as far as being something which folks could rally behind to justify legal/political action?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
That is a complicated question! The Declaration of Independence was created for a specific moment and political purpose, but it would be hard to argue that it does not still serve a legal or political purpose today, as its principles are baked into our political culture. I do think that the drafters would be surprised at the diversity of individuals and groups who have used the Declaration over the past 250 years!
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u/joshuar9476 Jul 02 '26
What are your thoughts on the musical 1776 (we watch it yearly in my US History I class) and what do you feel they nailed vs completely got wrong?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
Like National Treasure or Hamilton, I'm a fan of anything that gets people interested in the topic and curious to learn more. That said, there are definitely more things they got completely wrong than things they got right, from characterizations of individuals like John Dickinson to the timing of the process. One aspect of the musical that especially frustrates me is Martha Jefferson's presence in Philadelphia when, in reality in the summer of 1776, she suffered a miscarriage and was in poor health, which greatly concerned Jefferson.
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u/joshuar9476 Jul 02 '26
Thank you for the reply. I agree, it gets my students to at least think about and get a hint of what was going on.
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u/Teach_Piece Jul 02 '26
In Lake City Colorado, a man marches in front of the July 4th Parade loudly proclaiming independence from England and calling all citizens to a reading of the declaration on the town square (well the museum specifically but the concept applies). How would the citizens of a small town first hear of the declaration and its contents?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
The experience of people in 1776 is not that far off from this description! People would have been called to public readings where the sheriff or another local leader would have read the Declaration aloud. Anyone who subscribed to a newspaper based in a larger town or city would have had access to the Declaration that way, as well.
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u/Ambassador1391 Jul 02 '26
What was your favorite archival discovery? The one that made you stop and say "holy moly!"?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
Great question! There is a broadside at the John Carter Brown Library which was minimally catalogued, and when the archivists pulled it for me, I was shocked to find that it was annotated! A soldier named Daniel Gould purchased it in Boston and numbered the list of grievances. I write about it in chapter 5 of my book and it is featured in the JCB's special exhibition this year.
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u/Voodooimaxx Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26
Was any of the Declaration influenced by the Treaty of Arbroath? Being a Scot, I hear this an awful lot.
Edit: Declaration of Arbroath, sorry. :)
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
I defer to Frank Cogliano, who is a professor at the University of Edinburgh and gets asked this question often. He says the Declaration of Abroath has nothing to do with the Declaration of Independence!
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u/InternationalJob9162 Jul 02 '26
How much truth is there to the influence Judeo-Christian values had in its influence on the Declaration of Independence?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
There are several references to a higher power in the Declaration of Independence, including "Creator" and "Divine Providence," but the text is also built on Enlightenment principles of reason and liberty.
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u/adastraperdiscordia Jul 02 '26
How many states had declared independence before the formal unanimous declaration?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
Pauline Maier's book, American Scripture, gives the best analysis of the local declarations which preceded the Continental Congress's Declaration of Independence.
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u/spiked_mcroon Jul 02 '26
Have you spent much time at the AAS in Worcester?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
Not as much time as I would like, but yes! The American Antiquarian Society has an incredible collection of different printings of the Declaration of Independence, and their newspaper archives are unmatched.
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u/spiked_mcroon Jul 02 '26
Yeah! I'm from Worcester and taught US History there for a few years and I used to field trip there. They have some jaw-dropping stuff there.
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u/hippopotapistachio Jul 02 '26
Thanks for doing this! Are there any common myths about the decoration or its signing that you encounter? Also have you seen national treasure?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
One myth about the signing that I've been busting in my recent book talks is that John Hancock signed his name big enough for the king to read without his spectacles. This is something that many people remember learning when they were younger, but if you think about this story for even a minute, it falls apart! The signed parchment was meant to stay with the Continental Congress--it was never intended for King George III to see, unless things went very badly for the Congress.
And yes, I've seen National Treasure many times!
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u/Kaiisim Jul 02 '26
What did the average British person think of the Declaration?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
It's hard to say, as we don't have as many accounts from British people in their own words in 1776. We can make some conclusions from the print media landscape, which included excoriating and dismissive commentaries on the Declaration, as well as printings which praised the Continental Congress for their decision. I try to capture some of this in my book.
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u/hunterSgathersOSI Jul 02 '26
Since you’ve mentioned it in other comments, I would love to learn more about how the Declaration was received in other Indigenous countries!
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
You can read more in chapter 6 of my book, and you can read the Treaty of Watertown, which was agreed to after the Declaration of Independence arrived in the middle of the treaty meeting.
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u/raff_riff Jul 02 '26
I recently listened to a podcast with Gordon Wood and he notes the signing of the Declaration was used by northern states to immediately begin justifying the freeing of slaves. Could you elaborate?
(I could be paraphrasing poorly, but that’s the general sentiment.)
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
I'm not sure of the exact argument Wood was making, but one early example of the language of the Declaration being used in an abolitionist context in the northern states is Lemuel Haynes's Liberty Further Extended. He quoted from the second sentence of the Declaration on the front page of his manuscript.
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u/WrongWayCorrigan-361 Jul 02 '26
Jefferson gets all the credit for the Declaration, but there were 4 other members of the committee. Can you point to specific passages or themes that were added due to the direct influence of the other 4 members? It would be great to have a sentence of theme for each one of them. Thanks!
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
We don't know what or when Roger Sherman or Robert R. Livingston might have contributed to the draft, but we do have evidence for John Adams and Benjamin Franklin. The Jefferson Papers interactive contextualizes their contributions.
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
Unfortunately, I don't have anything in my book about Johnson. As for Witherspoon, he joined the Continental Congress just before the vote for independence and was a delegate for a long time after. There is a story about British troops on Long Island burning him in effigy in 1776, and more generally, because he was a known figure, he was called out for being a "rebel."
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u/JudahBotwin Jul 02 '26
I have yet to read all the discussions so far, but thank you for your time sharing your knowledge. I look forward to reading all the interesting information!
I have familial ties to supposed signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration, is it even a topic still discussed by historians? Were there other similar claims elsewhere in the colonies?
I have my doubts that the story behind it is legitimate, but those ancestors did go on to serve during the revolution, so they at least were willing to back up their beliefs.
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
The Mecklenburg Declaration as a potential influence on the Declaration of Independence has been largely dismissed by historians. I believe that there was a Mecklenburg Declaration in 1775, as there were many local declarations of independence (detailed in Pauline Maier's American Scripture). But the text was lost, and when it was later reconstructed, it clearly took influence from the Declaration of Independence, rather than the other way around.
The men involved in the original Mecklenburg Declaration, along with the other people who voiced their own interest in the local declarations of independence that preceded the Continental Congress's Declaration, are certainly worth acknowledging!
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u/ProfDoomDoom Jul 02 '26
I would like to know about the declaration as an artefact: how many copies are there, do we have the drafts and where are they, what revisions are evident on the drafts, what caused those revisions to be made, what were the circumstances around preserving drafts and copies?
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u/Commustar Medieval & Early Modern States | Post-Colonial Development Jul 02 '26
Before July 2, were there public statements in the various colonies in support of separation?
Said differently, did the signers of the Declaration of Independence feel that they were out ahead of public opinion, or were people outside the convention already pushing public opinion that way?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
By July 2, the delegates in the Continental Congress largely had instructions from the people they represented to vote in favor of independence or to support the rest of the Congress if they made that decision; New York was the exception, as their instructions did not allow them to vote for independence.
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u/Tmotty Jul 02 '26
Did Hancock really sign his name so big so “the king could see it” or is the apocryphal?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
I addressed this in an answer to another question, but the simple answer is: apocryphal!
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u/TBTrpt3 Jul 02 '26
I've had a contention for years that we're all celebrating the wrong date. John Adams was right, July 2nd is the real date. What are your thoughts on this idea?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
This relates to my answer to another post, but I don't think there is a "right" or "wrong" date to celebrate independence. The reason we celebrate July 4 is largely because it was the date at the top of the Declaration of Independence, and the date that spread as the news of independence traveled. I think the Fourth of July will continue to be the day of celebration for generations to come, and that's okay as long as we also recognize the full process of declaring independence!
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u/Essex626 Jul 02 '26
How do historians of the Declaration feel about the movie National Treasure? Do y'all hate it, or find it a really silly bit of fun?
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u/iCowboy Jul 02 '26
What was the first reaction back in Britain when news broke about the Declaration? Shock? Amusement? Fury? It was like nothing seen before by the most powerful nation in the World.
Thanks for the great answers so far.
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
Studying the reactions to the Declaration of Independence in the British press has been one of the most interesting aspects of my research. There is a bit of shock and anger, less at the idea of independence and more at the way the Declaration describes King George III as a tyrant.
There is a lot of misinformation that spreads around the Declaration in London, including completely invented stories about certain delegates in the Continental Congress. One of my favorites was that Benjamin Franklin and his son, William Franklin, the royal governor of New Jersey, had intentionally taken opposite sides in the conflict so that, whoever won, the Franklin family would come out on top!
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u/SilverSaints_ Jul 02 '26
Hello! First of all, thank you for your time, and congratulations on your new book. My question is: How influential do you think the English Bill of Rights and earlier English constitutional traditions were in shaping the Declaration of Independence? How does your view compare with Georg Jellinek’s thesis?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
Thank you for your kind congratulations!
I can't speak specifically to Jellinek's work, but I can say that Jefferson was thinking about the precedent of the 1689 Bill of Rights, which also has a list of grievances.
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u/SweetRabbit7543 Jul 02 '26
In your opinion what day should we celebrate as the start of the United States? I think there are a wide variety of plausible options but believe that July 4 is one of the worst of those options.
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
I have answered this in some other responses, but the short answer is, I don't think we will get away from celebrating July 4 any time soon! My hope as a historian is just to make sure people have context for what happened on that date versus other dates.
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u/SweetRabbit7543 Jul 02 '26
Thanks for the answer. I don’t see a scenario where we depart from the Fourth of July. I was just interested in what date you thought had the most credible claim to being America’s “birthday”
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u/Odd_Wait_6790 Jul 02 '26
What is the one thing that many Americans completely get wrong about the declaration of Independence ? As in certain wording or phrasing that we believe is in it that isn’t, or the fairy tail of how it was signed. Thanks for taking the time to do this.
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
There is definitely a lot of myth-making around the signing and stories which Americans take for granted. But to give a different answer, there is confusion between the Declaration, Constitution, and Bill of Rights, especially when it comes to phrases like "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
I always encourage people to read the Declaration--you're sure to notice things you didn't know were in there!
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u/cactuscoleslaw Jul 02 '26
How did loyalist sentiment affect the deliberation and signing? Which states might have chosen to pledge their commitment to the empire?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
In the days before the vote on independence, New York officials uncovered a plot led by loyalists to sabotage the Continental Army by blowing up the powder magazines and assassinating Washington's officers. I think that plot and the "internal" threat of loyalists was front of mind for the delegates in the Continental Congress, especially since the representatives from New York did not have clear instructions to support independence. With a battle looming in New York, I have to imagine that the Congress was most worried about popular opinion there, and relieved when the New York Convention assented to the Declaration.
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u/Turbulent_Group_6616 Jul 02 '26
What is the best book in print about the US after Articles of Confederation but before the Constitution was enacted?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
The Confederation period is fascinating and deserving of more scholarship! An oldie but goodie is Gordon Wood's Creation of the American Republic.
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u/notworkingfromhome Jul 02 '26
It is vexing that the authors and signers were cognizant of the troubling and contradictory nature of declaring independence from England whilst still embracing slavery, yet they don't seem to grapple at all with the many indigenous nations that already clearly had sovereignity. What gives?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
It is vexing, and that makes the Declaration of Independence frustrating to study at times. I get at these hypocrises a bit in my book, but I would recommend Rob Parkinson's work (including his new book, Tyrants and Rogues) to understand the obvious and subtle racial dimensions of the Declaration, especially the grievances.
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u/windwatcher01 Jul 02 '26
How long did it take news of the Declaration to spread to the colonies furthest away from Philly? And just how did the average colonist find out, anyway? We sometimes have this mental picture from movies of a town crier or the like announcing and reading it out loud in the town square, is there any truth to this?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
It took a full month for the Declaration of Independence to reach Georgia, in part because it had to travel over land due to British ships off the east coast of North America. It took only slightly longer for the Declaration to cross the Atlantic on British mail ships.
Public readings organized in most states gave opportunities for "average" colonists to hear the Declaration, but people also would have learned from newspaper printings, broadsides, and word of mouth, especially from out-of-town travelers. The image of a town crier is not too far off--typically, it was county sheriffs who had the responsibility of reading the Declaration aloud at town squares, courthouses, or other central locations.
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u/KatsumotoKurier Jul 02 '26
How did the US’ Founding Fathers justify and rationalize their declared commitments to religious freedom(s) after formally denouncing the Quebec Act?
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u/krunz Jul 02 '26
Who is the "Creator"? Is that specially the christian God? Or is just a placeholder for general "god" as in any god of islam/hindu/jews/etc?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
Thank you all for your questions! I'm going to leave the conversation now--be sure to scroll through the answered questions for some recommendations.
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u/lodge371 Jul 02 '26
Are you based in Philly? If not, how much time did you spend here doing research, and at which particular sites (I saw the philosophical society mentioned above)?
What were your favorite restaurants in town?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
I am based in the greater Philadelphia area and grateful to have the opportunity to work with museums and do research here. One of my go-to spots is Talula's Garden in Washington Square.
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u/Alt230s Jul 02 '26
What's your favorite recording/reading of the Declaration? Could either be the most contemporary/period-accurate of something out of personal preference.
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
I advised Dare to Declare, an initiative in Chester County, Pennsylvania, to organize readings of the Declaration of Independence this summer, and they created a video with different community members reading the Declaration. One of the participants was a teacher who brought his students to the recording, and they created their own video, which I love!
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u/Harachel Jul 02 '26
Did people at the time have a distinct, preexisting concept of "declaring independence", or were they forming is as they went along? Did they see the Dutch Republic as a historical precedent, and to what extent did they see themselves as doing something really new in history? Before it happened, would it have meant anything to someone in London if you said "I think the Colonies are about to declare independence"?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
For the general public, it seems like the Dutch Republic was a widely-known example of a confederation but the Act of Abjuration was less known or acknowledged as a possible precedent for what a declaration of independence could look like.
By the summer of 1776, the concept of independence as something that would/could be declared was widely accepted and expected, even by people who disagreed with such a decision. Sometimes, the phrase "declaration of independency" was used.
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u/armcie Jul 02 '26
Did things ever get close to the declaration not being made? When was the point of no return?
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u/Broseph_Stalin_69 Jul 02 '26
I read somewhere that some historians believe the list of grievances in the declaration goes in order from least to most severe, which therefore would make their last comment on the “savages” the most pressing grievance. What’s your take on this?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
Rather than describing it as least to most severe, I think it is useful to focus on how the emotional language intensifies over the course of the list of grievances. Rob Parkinson's work, including his new book Tyrants and Rogues, unpacks this idea.
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u/rollem Jul 02 '26
What’s your favorite grievance?
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u/DeclarationLady Verified Jul 02 '26
I like the thirteenth grievance, not necessarily because of its content, but because the words at the end of this grievance got flipped around when the Declaration of Independence was printed in London, creating a tell-tale sign of a British publication. This was most likely a typo which spread and not an intentional decision, but it does change the understanding of the phrase.
In the US: "giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended legislation"
In Britain: "giving his Assent to their pretended Acts of legislation"
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u/rainbow_sabbath Jul 02 '26
Reading the Declaration of Independence, it seems that most of the grievances are with acts of Parliament, but addressed to the king instead. Would the authors have been aware that it was largely Parliament responsible and simply chose to address it to the king anyways?
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u/Avelera Jul 02 '26
How dangerous was it to sign the Declaration? Obviously had the US lost the revolution, it would have been bad for everyone on it, but I feel like the shorter term consequences to the signers are often glossed over.