10 things you may not know about the Declaration of Independence

By NICK ROGERS •
Originally published July 3, 2009 at 4:36 p.m., updated July 3, 2009 at 11:25 p.m.

By Nick Rogers

As school children, we all learn of the significance of the Declaration of Independence.

We learned that the plucky colonists took on the tyrannical George III after the king heaped much abuse on the long-suffering colonies. However, as we know, history is never as cut and dried as that. Britain wasn't as evil as we learned and the colonists weren't guiltless. If anything, the story of independence is the story of two peoples who had grown apart.

Nevertheless, the colonies' push for independence was one of the most significant historical events, which led to a new player on the world stage, one that would rapidly rise to prominence.

But what of the document itself? Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence was a remarkable piece of work, beautifully written and laying out, point-by-point, the colonies' reasons for leaving Britain.

Yet, despite all we have heard about and learned of the Declaration of Independence, the momentum of history can often carry with it myths and inaccuracies.

Here are 10 things you may or may not have known about this fascinating document:

1. It was Richard Henry Lee of Virginia who proposed the resolution "That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states, that they are absolved 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." Lee's resolution was submitted on June 7, 1776.

2. The day that Continental Congress voted for independence was July 2, not July 4. They debated Thomas Jefferson's document for two days before agreeing to the final version on July 4, when it was also read to the public for the first time.

3. On July 3, John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, that "The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding generations, as the great anniversary festival."

The document wasn't signed by members of the congress until Aug. 2, and some members didn't sign until months later.

5. The vote for independence was not unanimous. Only 12 of the 13 state delegations to the Continental Congress voted for declaring independence. New York abstained. (The colony eventually supported the measure a week later).

6. Are our rights "unalienable" or "inalienable?" The final version of the Declaration uses "unalienable," whereas Jefferson's handwritten draft uses "inalienable." Actually, it doesn't matter. Both are correct and both mean the same thing.

7. The beautifully handwritten and signed copy that we all recognize as the Declaration of Independence wasn't physically written by Jefferson, but, historians believe, by Timothy Matlack. Matlack became a member of the Second Continental Congress.

8. Is there anything on the back of the document? Yes. It reads, upside down, "Original Declaration of Independence dated 4th July 1776."

In the original draft, Jefferson, a slave owner, lists the commerce of slavery as one of the violations that justify a break from England. The passage was stripped from the final version at the demand of the southern states, who would not vote for independence otherwise.

Britain didn't learn of her colonies' new-found independence until Aug. 30, 1776.