Today in History—July 4: The “Misguided Americans” and Their “Inadmissible Claim of Independence”

It was cool and sunny—a pretty, if ordinary, summer day in Philadelphia.

But inside the Pennsylvania State House, delegates to the Second Continental Congress were putting the finishing touches on a revolution.

On this day in 1776, the final version of the Declaration of Independence was approved. The document was imperfect, but it promised that people could choose their own future. Its authors had created something that would outlive them all.

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Less than a month before, delegate Richard Henry Lee had urged Congress to declare independence, arguing that foreign governments—namely France—could then recognize the United States.

Some delegates were hesitant, but a committee was appointed to draft the document. The writers were Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston. Jefferson wrote the bulk of it, and the committee edited the text before it was introduced to Congress in late June. Revisions began July 1.

And on July 2, after the arrival of British forces in New York lent the proceedings new urgency, Congress did, in fact, declare independence—with a vote of 12 yeas, 0 nays, and 1 abstention. (New York was the only colony to abstain.)

The final version was approved on July 4. John Dunlap, Congress’s printer, churned out some 200 copies of the typeset document that night. The copies were delivered to political figures, including George Washington, commander in chief of the Continental Army—who had it read aloud to that army—and state representatives, and the text was soon printed in newspapers.

It was printed in newspapers in England, too—where King George III spent the next month reminding his ministers that America was in a state of rebellion and should be treated accordingly.

Meanwhile, the familiar engrossed copy of the Declaration was crafted and signed by most of the delegates in August.

The first official response came from Lord Richard Howe, commander of British forces in North America, dismissing the colonists as “misguided Americans” making an “extravagant and inadmissible claim of independence.” The king’s response in October struck a similar note.

War was on.

On July 4, 1777, the city of Philadelphia was much less quiet. The revolution was still far from won, but the idea had long surpassed the ink.

Famous Birthdays

1804: Nathaniel Hawthorne—American fiction writer

1847: James A. Bailey—American circus impresario

1872: Calvin Coolidge—30th president of the United States (so far, the only one born on the Fourth of July)

1961: Richard Garriott—British-born American computer game developer