The Declarations of Independence #
Since I already made one belated July 4th post, there can be no harm in another. Ted Widmer addresses the oft-forgotten fact that that there are many different versions of the Declaration of Independence. For example, I’d never considered this fact:
Most of us would answer that [the Declaration of Independence is] the manuscript written on vellum, dated July 4, 1776, now displayed in a baroque case at the National Archives, where it is protected by bulletproof glass, argon gas and the 55-ton underground vault it is lowered into every night. But like everything connected to the Declaration, the situation is complicated, for that document was not written on July 4; it was a handwritten copy that Congress ordered later that summer and post-dated. The version that was in the room as the vote was taken has never been seen since then.