When was the approval of the declaration of independence

However, historians now doubt that this happened. The steeple that housed the bell was in very bad condition at the time and the bell was probably unusable. Although August 2, , was the date of the official signing ceremony, there were several people who signed on later dates. Call to order: or order pocket constitution books online.

All rights reserved. Oak Hill Publishing Company. Box , Naperville, IL For questions or comments about this site please email us at info constitutionfacts. Constitution I. Which Founding Father Are You? Constitution Day Pocket Constitution Books. The last of these locations was a brick building that, it was later observed, "offered no security against fire. One factor that had no small effect on the physical condition of the Declaration was recognized as interest in reproductions of the Declaration increased as the nation grew.

Two early facsimile printings of the Declaration were made during the second decade of the 19th century: those of Benjamin Owen Tyler and John Binns Both facsimiles used decorative and ornamental elements to enhance the text of the Declaration.

Richard Rush, who was Acting Secretary of State in , remarked on September 10 of that year about the Tyler copy: "The foregoing copy of the Declaration of Independence has been collated with the original instrument and found correct. I have myself examined the signatures to each. Those executed by Mr.

Tyler, are curiously exact imitations, so much so, that it would be difficult, if not impossible, for the closest scrutiny to distinguish them, were it not for the hand of time, from the originals. One later theory as to why the Declaration was aging so soon after its creation stems from the common 18th-century practice of taking "press copies. The thin paper copy was retained in the same manner as a modern carbon copy. The ink was reimposed on a copper plate, which was then etched so that copies could be run off the plate on a press.

This "wet transfer" method may have been used by William J. Stone when in he was commissioned by Secretary of State John Quincy Adams to make a facsimile of the entire Declaration, signatures as well as text.

By June 5, , almost exactly 47 years after Jefferson's first draft of the Declaration, the Washington National Intelligencer was able to report "that Mr. William J.

Stone, a respectable and enterprising Engraver of this City, has, after a labor of three years, completed a fac simile of the original of the Declaration of Independence, now in the archives of the government; that it is executed with the greatest exactness and fidelity; and that the Department of State has become the purchaser of the plate. As the Intelligencer went on to observe: "We are very glad to hear this, for the original of that paper which ought to be immortal and imperishable, by being so much handled by copyists and curious visitors, might receive serious injury.

The facility of multiplying copies of it now possessed by the Department of State will render further exposure of the original unnecessary. The copies made from Stone's copperplate established the clear visual image of the Declaration for generations of Americans. The official parchment copies struck from the Stone plate carry the identification "Engraved by W. Stone for the Department of State, by order" in the upper left corner followed by "of J. Adams, Sec.

Instead the engraver identified his work by engraving "W. Stone SC. The longest of the early sojourns of the Declaration was from to Daniel Webster was Secretary of State in Ellsworth, who was then occupying a new building now the National Portrait Gallery , that "having learned that there is in the new building appropriated to the Patent Office suitable accommodations for the safe-keeping, as well as the exhibition of the various articles now deposited in this Department, and usually, exhibited to visitors.

I have directed them to be transmitted to you. Item 6 was the Declaration. The "new building" was a white stone structure at Seventh and F Streets. The Declaration and Washington's commission as commander in chief were mounted together in a single frame and hung in a white painted hall opposite a window offering exposure to sunlight. There they were to remain on exhibit for 35 years, even after the Patent Office separated from the State Department to become administratively a part of the Interior Department.

This prolonged exposure to sunlight accelerated the deterioration of the ink and parchment of the Declaration, which was approaching years of age toward the end of this period. During the years that the Declaration was exhibited in the Patent Office, the combined effects of aging, sunlight, and fluctuating temperature and relative humidity took their toll on the document.

Occasionally, writers made somewhat negative comments on the appearance of the Declaration. An observer in the United States Magazine October went so far as to refer to "that old looking paper with the fading ink. Ellis remarked in The Sights and Secrets of the National Capital Chicago, that "it is old and yellow, and the ink is fading from the paper. Already, nearly all the signatures attached to the Declaration of Independence are entirely effaced.

The technology of a new age and the interest in historical roots engendered by the approaching Centennial focused new interest on the Declaration in the s and brought about a brief change of home. Philadelphia's Mayor William S. Stokley was entrusted by President Ulysses S. Grant with temporary custody of the Declaration. The Public Ledger for May 8, , noted that it was in Independence Hall "framed and glazed for protection, and. The text is fully legible, but the major part of the signatures are so pale as to be only dimly discernible in the strongest light, a few remain wholly readable, and some are wholly invisible, the spaces which contained them presenting only a blank.

Other descriptions made at Philadelphia were equally unflattering: "scarce bears trace of the signatures the execution of which made fifty-six names imperishable," "aged-dimmed. By late summer the Declaration's physical condition had become a matter of public concern.

On August 3, , Congress adopted a joint resolution providing "that a commission, consisting of the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, and the Librarian of Congress be empowered to have resort to such means as will most effectually restore the writing of the original manuscript of the Declaration of Independence, with the signatures appended thereto.

One candidate for the task of restoration was William J. Canby, an employee of the Washington Gas Light Company. On April 13 Canby had written to the Librarian of Congress: "I have had over thirty years experience in handling the pen upon parchment and in that time, as an expert, have engrossed hundreds of ornamental, special documents.

The commission did not, however, take any action at that time. After the conclusion of the Centennial exposition, attempts were made to secure possession of the Declaration for Philadelphia, but these failed and the parchment was returned to the Patent Office in Washington, where it had been since , even though that office had become a part of the Interior Department.

On April 11, , 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, associated with it in the same frame, belong to your Department as heirlooms. Chandler appears to have ignored this claim, for in an exchange of letters with Secretary of State Hamilton Fish, it was agreed-with the approval of President Grant-to move the Declaration into the new, fireproof building that the State Department shared with the War and Navy Departments now the Old Executive Office Building.

On March 3, , the Declaration was placed in a cabinet on the eastern side of the State Department library, where it was to be exhibited for 17 years. It may be noted that not only was smoking permitted in the library, but the room contained an open fireplace. Nevertheless this location turned out to be safer than the premises just vacated; much of the Patent Office was gutted in a fire that occurred a few months later. On May 5, , the commission that had been appointed almost 4 years earlier came to life again in response to a call from the Secretary of the Interior.

It requested that William B. Rogers, president of the National Academy of Sciences appoint a committee of experts to consider "whether such restoration [of the Declaration] be expedient or practicable and if so in what way the object can best be accomplished. The duly appointed committee reported on January 7, , that Stone used the "wet transfer" method in the creation of his facsimile printing of , that the process had probably removed some of the original ink, and that chemical restoration methods were "at best imperfect and uncertain in their results.

Recent study of the Declaration by conservators at the National Archives has raised doubts that a "wet transfer" took place. Proof of this occurrence, however, cannot be verified or denied strictly by modern examination methods. No documentation prior to the reference has been found to support the theory; therefore we may never know if Stone actually performed the procedure. Little, if any, action was taken as a result of the report. It was not until that the State Department announced: "The rapid fading of the text of the original Declaration of Independence and the deterioration of the parchment upon which it is engrossed, from exposure to light and lapse of time, render it impracticable for the Department longer to exhibit it or to handle it.

For the secure preservation of its present condition, so far as may be possible, it has been carefully wrapped and placed flat in a steel case. A new plate for engravings was made by the Coast and Geodetic Survey in , and in a photograph was made for the Ladies' Home Journal.

On this latter occasion, the parchment was noted as "still in good legible condition" although "some of the signatures" were "necessarily blurred. On April 14, , Secretary of State John Hay solicited again the help of the National Academy of Sciences in providing "such recommendations as may seem practicable. I am unable to say, however, that, in spite of these precautions, observed for the past ten years, the text is not continuing to fade and the parchment to wrinkle and perhaps to break.

On April 24 a committee of the academy reported its findings. Summarizing the physical history of the Declaration, the report stated: "The instrument has suffered very seriously from the very harsh treatment to which it was exposed in the early years of the Republic. Folding and rolling have creased the parchment. The wet press-copying operation to which it was exposed about , for the purpose of producing a facsimile copy, removed a large portion of the ink.

Subsequent exposure to the action of light for more than thirty years, while the instrument was placed on exhibition, has resulted in the fading of the ink, particularly in the signatures. The present method of caring for the instrument seems to be the best that can be suggested.

The committee added its own "opinion that the present method of protecting the instrument should be continued; that it should be kept in the dark and dry as possible, and never placed on exhibition. Michael, author of The Declaration of Independence Washington, , recorded that the Declaration was "locked and sealed, by order of Secretary Hay, and is no longer shown to anyone except by his direction.

World War I came and went. Then, on April 21, , Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby issued an order creating yet another committee: "A Committee is hereby appointed to study the proper steps that should be taken for the permanent and effective preservation from deterioration and from danger from fire, or other form of destruction, of those documents of supreme value which under the law are deposited with the Secretary of State.

The inquiry will include the question of display of certain of these documents for the benefit of the patriotic public. On May 5, , the new committee reported on the physical condition of the safes that housed the Declaration and the Constitution. It declared: "The safes are constructed of thin sheets of steel.

They are not fireproof nor would they offer much obstruction to an evil-disposed person who wished to break into them. Of the hundreds thought to have been printed on the night of July 4, only 26 copies survive. Most are held in museum and library collections, but three are privately owned. With hundreds of British naval ships occupying New York Harbor, revolutionary spirit and military tensions were running high.

A raucous crowd cheered the inspiring words, and later that day tore down a nearby statue of George III. The statue was subsequently melted down and shaped into more than 42, musket balls for the fledgling American army. Eight of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence were born in the U.

While the majority of the members of the Second Continental Congress were native-born Americans, eight of the men voting for independence from Britain were born in the United Kingdom. One signer of the Declaration of Independence later recanted. Richard Stockton, a lawyer from Princeton, New Jersey, became the only signer of the Declaration of Independence to recant his support of the revolution. On November 30, , the hapless delegate was captured by the British and thrown in jail.

Seven other members of the July 4 meeting never signed the document, Friedenwald said. Toggle navigation. Scott Bomboy is the editor in chief of the National Constitution Center. Sign up for our email newsletter.