Chronology Of Events:
June 7, 1776 to January
18, 1777
1776
June 7 -- Congress,
meeting in Philadelphia,
receives Richard Henry
Lee's resolution urging
Congress to declare
independence.
June 11 -- Thomas
Jefferson, John Adams,
Benjamin Franklin, Roger
Sherman, and Robert R.
Livingston appointed to
a committee to draft a
declaration of
independence. American
army retreats to Lake
Champlain from Canada.
June 12 - 27 --
Jefferson, at the
request of the
committee, drafts a
declaration, of which
only a fragment exists.
Jefferson's clean, or
"fair" copy, the
"original Rough
draught," is reviewed by
the committee. Both
documents are in the
manuscript collections
of the Library of
Congress.
June 28 -- A fair copy
of the committee draft
of the Declaration of
Independence is read in
Congress.
July 1 - 4 -- Congress
debates and revises the
Declaration of
Independence.
July 2 -- Congress
declares independence as
the British fleet and
army arrive at New York.
July 4 -- Congress
adopts the Declaration
of Independence in the
morning of a bright,
sunny, but cool
Philadelphia day. John
Dunlap prints the
Declaration of
Independence. These
prints are now called
"Dunlap Broadsides."
Twenty-four copies are
known to exist, two of
which are in the Library
of Congress. One of
these was Washington's
personal copy.
July 5 -- John Hancock,
president of the
Continental Congress,
dispatches the first of
Dunlap's broadsides of
the Declaration of
Independence to the
legislatures of New
Jersey and Delaware.
July 6 --
Pennsylvania Evening
Post of July 6
prints the first
newspaper rendition of
the Declaration of
Independence.
July 8 -- The first
public reading of the
Declaration is in
Philadelphia.
July 9 -- Washington
orders that the
Declaration of
Independence be read
before the American army
in New York -- from his
personal copy of the
"Dunlap Broadside."
July 19 -- Congress
orders the Declaration
of Independence
engrossed (officially
inscribed) and signed by
members.
August 2 -- Delegates
begin to sign engrossed
copy of the Declaration
of Independence. A large
British reinforcement
arrives at New York
after being repelled at
Charleston, S.C.
1777
January 18 -- Congress,
now sitting in
Baltimore, Maryland,
orders that signed
copies of the
Declaration of
Independence printed by
Mary Katherine Goddard
of Baltimore be sent to
the states.
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