The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
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Ridgewood NJ, Congratulations, America! today marks the 248th commemoration of the day the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Second Continental Congress.
Continue reading Celebrating America’s 248th Independence Day!
Photo of the Museum Collections Committee recently preparing exhibit.
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River Edge NJ, this year Bergen County Historical Society has an exhibit of 18th document box for the Retreat event at New Bridge. It has the GR King George stamp seal impressed in the leather lid by the handle.
The box has been conserved by Cultural Preservation & Restoration since the last time on exhibit several years ago.
photo courtesy of Bergen County Historical Society
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
River Edge NJ, On the cold, drizzly morning of November 20, 1776, a mere four months after the Second Continental Congress declared us to be an independent nation, the mighty British army mounted an invasion of Bergen County. Their goal was the capture of the American garrison at Fort Lee; the garrison’s only means of escape lay across a small wooden drawbridge at New Bridge Landing in what is now River Edge and New Milford.
Continue reading Bergen County Historical Society: Retreat to Victory, Events of November of 1776
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Flag Day is today, and while many may remember staking miniature American flags into our yards as kids, as the years pass by, our interest in celebrating the holiday has significantly diminished – so we must ask ourselves, “What Happened to Flag Day?”
Second Continental Congress voted for independence on July 2, 1776
We have looked at Richard Henry Lee’s Resolution on Independence. We have learned about the Committee of Five who was responsible for writing the Declaration of Independence. We have read every line of the document and picked them apart. But what happened after it was adopted?
As already discussed the member of the Second Continental Congress voted for independence on July 2, 1776. That should have been America’s birthday. It is not and the Declaration is the reason why.
The duties of the Committee of Five were not complete with the presentation of the Declaration to Congress. They still had one task to complete – getting it printed. As already shown, the Declaration was not signed on the 4th because it was not ready. On that date only John Hancock and Charles Thomson as president and secretary signed the draft which was then delivered to printer John Dunlap. Dunlap worked through the night and the next morning, July 5th, the Dunlap Broadsides were complete. It is estimated that around 200 of these were produced and sent out to the Patriot leaders in each state, to the Continental Army, and of course to Europe. John Adams even sent one to his wife Abigail in Massachusetts. These copies were read aloud in towns across the country, and the people were so moved that it was the date of the Declaration which is honored. Today there are 26 Dunlap Broadsides still known to exist.
The more familiar hand written Declaration was the work of Timothy Matlack, a name which should be familiar to fans of the film National Treasure. Matlack was a Philadelphian known for his fine penmanship. The engrossed copy he created was the one which was signed by the members of Congress. This copy was produced not on paper but on parchment, a material made from sheep or other animal skin. Today there are multiple copies of the engrossed Declaration made from the original. One of these copies is kept at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Another, thought to be Jefferson’s own copy, is in the possession of the Library of Virginia. The original, the one signed on August 2nd, 1776 is kept in the rotunda of the National Archives building in Washington, D.C.
In addition to the Dunlap Broadsides and the engrossed copy a third well-known edition was produced. In 1777 Congress asked Mary Katherine Goddard to create a new broadside which would include the signatures, something the Dunlap Broadsides did not include. Nine of these still exist.
The fact that multiple copies of a 200 year old document have been preserved with such care and are so highly valued by collectors should give us pause to consider how well we value this original founding document.
