Thank Goodness It's Monday #363

LIFE LESSONS FROM THE TRAVELS

OF A ROLL OF PARCHMENT

The birthday of the USA —Independence Day—is celebrated on July 4, the day in 1776 when the wording of the Declaration of Independence was approved by Congress.

Let’s get ready to PARTY! Celebrations. Cookouts. Fireworks. It’s what we’ve come to expect as we commemorate the 1776 creation of the unique Declaration.

But the ideals it spells out and the rights put in place by virtue of its guidance were, in fact, a long time coming.

Evidence: The worn and faded document itself and the trials and tribulations the physical piece of parchment endured before becoming enshrined as it is today as a National Treasure.

And speaking of National Treasure: Last year at about this time we took a look at the seldom-seen back of the Declaration. (An important message IS written in a mysterious way on its back; see it HERE.)

And in the process we saw that the handwritten “front” -- replete with the autograph signatures of the 56 original signers -- is not the pristine, sparkling icon we call to mind.

The original engrossed parchment
Declaration of Independence
as it appears
in the National Archive

It’s faded and barely legible. 

So how did it get this way?

TGIM sums it up for you. 

And in the process we’ll uncover a 21^st Century Takeaway or two, OK?

In the beginning: The Declaration of Independence was adopted in Philadelphia, July 4, 1776, and printed copies were distributed immediately. These printed copies bore only the names of John Hancock, President of the Congress, and Charles Thomson, its secretary. Not until a month later the original document, inscribed on sheepskin, was presented to the Congress for signing. Then this unique document was placed in the custody of Thomson.

And away we go. Before the end of the calendar year, the travels of the Declaration of Independence had begun.

With British forces closing on Philadelphia, Congress moved to Baltimore, taking along all its important records, including the Declaration, in a baggage wagon.

The following spring all returned to Philly. But in the autumn of 1777 it packed up again and fled as Redcoats occupied the city.

New destination: Lancaster, Pennsylvania (briefly), then further west to York PA which served as the new nation’s temporary capital for eight months until the British withdrew from Philadelphia enabling Congress – and the Declaration – to return to Independence Hall.

But wait, there’s more: Following a period of nearly five years in the building where it had been adopted and signed, the famed roll of parchment was –

On the road again. In June of 1783, to avoid certain Pennsylvania-related troubles (not British), Congress packed up and moved for a four-month stay to Nassau Hall in Princeton, New Jersey.

Later Congress (with the Declaration) moved and met in both Annapolis, Maryland and Trenton, New Jersey. Then, in 1785, it took up residence in New York, New York.

A wonderful town: In 1789, with the inauguration of George Washington and the formation of a new government under the Constitution, the Continental Congress ceased to exist. Its records were turned over to the new administration with the Declaration going to the first Secretary of State –

Thomas Jefferson. So for three years the document was in the possession of its author. In 1790 he took it back to Philadelphia for a ten-year stay while Washington DC – then called Federal City – was rising beside the Potomac River.

In 1800 the seat of federal government moved to DC and the Declaration went along.

In Washington it had several homes until, toward the end of the War of 1812, the British again threatened the security of the document and it went into hiding in a private home in Leesburg, Virginia.

When the British sailed out of Chesapeake Bay, the roll of parchment moved back to whatever building the State Department occupied. In 1841 it was put on display in the Patent Office Building where it hung on a wall, unprotected from sunlight and changes in temperature for 35 years.

In 1876 President Grant permitted it to be taken to Philadelphia and exhibited to thousands of admiring Americans as part of a Centennial celebration. Many expressed alarm at its poor condition.

On its return it was displayed at the new State, War and Navy Building, a fortunate decision since its old Patent Office Building home was destroyed by fire shortly after the move.

By 1894 the 118-year-old National Treasure had deteriorated so badly that a decision was made to lock it in a safe, away from the light, where it remained for more than a quarter century. 

Fast forward (thankfully) to today. In 1924 it went on display again in more stringently controlled and protective conditions. In 1941, after Pearl Harbor, it spent some time in an underground vault at Fort Knox, Kentucky. In 1952, with great ceremony, it was ensconced in a marble and bronze shrine prepared for it, the Constitution and Bill of Rights at the new National Archives Building. 

In 2001, using the latest in preservation technology, conservators treated the documents, put them in new encasements made of titanium and aluminum, filled with inert argon gas and put on display again, in 2003, in the remodeled National Archives Rotunda. 

So – with July 4, 2012 a day away – are there life lessons we, as citizens and individuals, can take away from the lengthy recounting of the travels of this now-revered roll of parchment?

TGIM Thoughts:

·         Writing focuses your thinking. Getting the Declaration done was the result of fair and open argument and debate among widely read, thoughtful individuals. And then all that was synthesized by the writing talents of Thomas Jefferson.

·         When everyone “signs on” a thing has more power.  

·         It’s the idea that counts.  Ideas, really. Having served its original purpose in announcing the independence of the United States, the actual physical Declaration was initially neglected in the years immediately following the American Revolution, but the ideas and ideals embodied there remained quite alive. 

·         It’s the inspiration and the act, not strictly the text. The Declaration was rarely mentioned during the debates leading to the United States Constitution, and its language was not incorporated into that document. The Declaration’s meaning and its interpretation is not evergreen or even clear (the understanding of “all men are created equal” for example).

·         Celebrate achievements. Early celebrations of Independence Day, like early histories of the Revolution, largely ignored the Declaration, especially as an object.

TGIM TAKEAWAYS: Great ideas, like American Independence –

·         Take time.

·         And thought.

·         And debate.

·         And understanding

·         And compromise and cooperation

·         And risk -- sometimes great risk. 

Our nation’s founders knew this. Most were among the most affluent Americans of their day, yet look at their mutual pledge in the closing line.

Immense change seldom happens overnight. The creation of the document and philosophies and the individual mind-changes that set in motion the American Revolution was not the product of quick-and-easy agreement. It’s not a one day thing. It’s a living, ongoing process that continues this very day – and beyond.

An Independence Day Challenge for you: Think about what the history of the Declaration of Independence means to us in these “modern” days as well as the document itself. Then, I invite you, as I always do at this time of year, to join the 56 original signers. 

TGIM IDEA IN ACTION: Make YOUR declaration. To celebrate this July 4th I’m joining the signers of the Declaration of Independence HERE.

Will you, too?

We hold these truths to be self-evident. If we, with careful forethought and all due consideration, are half as bold and committed as they, what might we achieve?

In your quest for a Best Year Ever, we hope your Fourth is Glorious.. 

Geoff Steck   
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com

P.S. What about that bright, clear copy we imagine? After the War of 1812, the symbolic stature of the Declaration steadily increased even though the engrossed copy's ink was noticeably fading. In 1820, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams commissioned printer William J. Stone to create an engraving essentially identical to the engrossed copy.

One of 200 copies
of William J. Stone's
1823 copper-plate copies of the
Declaration of Independence

Stone's engraving was made using a wet-ink transfer process, where the surface of the document was moistened, and some of the original ink transferred to the surface of a copper plate, which was then etched so that copies could be run off the plate on a press. When Stone finished his engraving in 1823, Congress ordered 200 copies to be printed on parchment. Because of poor conservation of the engrossed copy through the 19th century, Stone's engraving, rather than the original, has become the basis of most modern reproductions.