Declaration

The Last Signers of the Declaration

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Founding-Documents Blog Series: Part Three

Between now and July 4th, my blog features an ongoing series related to the history and signing of the Declaration of Independence…

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Who Was Really the Last Congressman?

Since I began writing Carrying Independence—a story that hinges on the fact that not all Congressmen signed the ONE document were in the same room on the same day to affix their signatures (covered in Part One)—I’ve often been asked, “Who was the last one Delegate to sign it?” I look at two men in particular:

Matthew Thornton was the 56th DelegateMatthew_Thornton_KarenAChase

As I mentioned in Part two of this series, the first 49 Congressmen to sign the Declaration of Independence gathered August 2nd, 1776. At that time there were a total of 55 delegates in the Continental Congress. When I asked Joseph D’Agnese, co-author on the book, Signing Their Lives Away, why Thornton was added late, he said, “it was up to each state to determine how many delegates to send to Congress.”

In September, 1776, New Hampshire decided to enlist Matthew Thornton. A rather handsome, Irish-born man, with a reportedly sharp sense of humor and weakened eyes from a smallpox inoculation, Thornton finally joined Congress in Philadelphia in November, 1776, where it is assumed he signed the document.

MatthewThorntonSignature

Thomas McKean Was the Last Man to Sign It

The last man to affix his signature, date-wise, later helped the newly formed states develop a Constitution. Thomas McKean had homes in both Philadelphia and Dover, Delaware, and for the better part of 1776 and into 1777, he was literally on the run from the British.

ThomasMcKean_KarenAChase2McKean wrote to John Adams about being, “hunted like a fox by the enemy, compelled to remove my family five times in three months, and at last fixed them in a little log-house on the banks of the Susquehanna.” No small feet with five children and his second wife pregnant with number six.

Although McKean’s letters confirm he did not attend the August 2nd signing, unfortunately his letters do not indicate where or when he affixed his name. Historians speculate it was some time after March of 1777, or as late as 1781 when he was back in Philly working on the Articles of Confederation. Regardless it was his signature that united the colonies, making them unanimous states at last.

Thomas_McKean_signature copy

Reader Insider Notes: The “little log cabin on the Susquahanna” Thomas McKean mentions in his letter to Adams, is where I chose to have my protagonist find Thomas McKean. Confusion over where that little house actually was/is, became a plot device.

Also, there’s a joke, attributed to no one in particular that begins, “Where did the delegates sign the Declaration of Independence?” When I discovered that Matthew Thornton, due to his late addition, was forced to squish his signature into the very bottom right corner of the document, I claimed the original punchline of that joke for the jolly fellow to share:

“Now, when people ask me where the Declaration was signed, I can honestly answer,” Thornton chuckled through his punchline, “at the bottom.” – An excerpt from Carrying Independence

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The First Signers of the Declaration

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Founding-Documents Blog Series: Part Two

Between now and July 4th, my blog features an ongoing series related to the history and signing of the Declaration of Independence…

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When Did Congress Sign the Declaration?

In Part One of this series, I described the Declaration as a contract. Just as we would when signing a contract today, in 1776 Congress tried to get all the parties (congressmen) into the same room on the same day to sign it—witnesses to one another. The date they chose for everyone to reassemble in Philadelphia was August 2nd, 1776.

The Issues of Assembling in 1776

When mail takes between 2–4 weeks to deliver, and you’re fighting a war with an army already on your soil, getting everyone to return to Philadelphia is a chore. Additionally, the distance imposed limits. Today I can drive from Richmond to Williamsburg in about 45 minutes, but in 1776 it could take up to 3 days–dependent on horse, carriage, and/or weather. If I’m not feeling well, I’d send my regrets, just as Richard Henry Lee did.

Today I can drive from Richmond to Williamsburg in about 45 minutes, but in 1776 it could take up to 3 days–dependent on horse, carriage, and/or weather.

How many Congressmen were in Philadelphia on August 2nd, 1776?

Let’s look at numbers. In the end, 56 men signed the Declaration. There were just 55 until November of 1776, when New Hampshire elected Matthew Thornton (topic for the next post…). Of those original 55, evidence suggests there were between 49 or 50 at the formal event. All of Congress except Richard Henry Lee, George Wythe, Lewis Morris, Oliver Wolcott, Thomas McKean, Matthew Thornton, and Elbridge Gerry.

While the latter, Gerry, is generally thought to have signed it later in the fall, in a post about the signing by J.M. Bell in his blog Boston 1775, he recounts a wild story told about the signing in which Benjamin Harrison IV saying to Gerry that, “I shall have a great advantage over you Mr. Gerry when we are all hung for what we are now doing. From the size and weight of my body I shall die in a few minutes, but from the lightness of your body you will dance in the air an hour or two before you are dead.” Fictions aside…

Did Congress Record who signed the Declaration?

Well, that would have made writing my book all the easier! Alas, while Congress often listed individual names for voting records in their meeting minutes, the August 2nd entry in their journal showed only this.

SecretJournal_August2_KarenAChase

Reader Insider Note: This same historical entry from Congress’ “Secret Journals,” page 53, helped me craft bits of fiction for Carrying Independence. The passage is included on page 80 of the novel, and when I first discovered the entry, I used it to determine:

• The name, “Mirtle,” as a surname pseudonym for my protagonist, Nathaniel.
• How much Nathaniel would be paid for his task—30,000 pounds.
• A sailing vessel, the Frontier captained by Hugo Blythe featured in this excerpt, would take Nathaniel north to Manhattan.

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For more history nerd posts like these, subscribe to the blog. Guest posts are welcomed and encouraged. Contact me for details.

For behind-the-scenes author-related news, giveaways, and to find out where I might be speaking near you, subscribe to my e-publication, CHASING HISTORIES.

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There is only One Declaration of Independence

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Founding-Documents Blog Series: Part One

Between now and July 4th, my blog will be an ongoing series related to the history and signing of the Declaration of Independence. While our country and the media is lately consumed with the US Constitution, understanding our founding better begins with an examination of the documents in order of creation.

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How many copies exist of the Declaration of Independence?

Hundreds. You’ll find a tabloid size copy in historic homes like Berkley Plantation, home of Benjamin Harrison IV, signer of the original document. There’s a massive copy hanging on the wall in the Virginia State capitol building. The American Revolution Museum at Yorktown has a broadside. We see so many versions of the Declaration of Independence, and you can buy a replica for about $4 at historic museums. However, in 1776 there was only ONE piece of parchment—with hand-written calligraphy—drafted to contain all the signatures.

00300_2003_001 .Declaration of Independence.engrossed copyThe Sole Declaration of Independence

Yes, it’s this document (approx. 24″x30″) at the National Archives that thousands of people (over 275,000 during June and July alone) visit when they come to the museum each year. It’s the one encased in bullet-proof glass stolen by Nicholas Cage. I wouldn’t call it a copy. A copy implies that it’s a duplicate. That ONE original document (shown above), is the only one that contains all 56 original signatures of the Congress. (Until November of 1776 there were only 55 signatures, but that’s a whole other story.)

Why was there one Declaration of Independence?

It was a contract. It was a unanimous agreement between the men and between the thirteen colonies—an agreement for the colonies to separate from the Crown AND come together as these united states (yes, lower case) of America.

The copies you see—often called Broadsides and with typeset text and names—were made before the original contract was signed and afterward. Broadsides were notices, distributed and posted, detailing what Congress had agreed to do.

What they had agreed to was not war. I find it easiest to remember the purpose of the Declaration by describing it one of two ways… It was both a divorce decree and a marriage agreement. It was one of the biggest “Dear John” letters in history.

“The #DeclarationofIndependence was not a declaration of war. It was both a divorce decree and a marriage agreement. Basically, it was the biggest ‘Dear John’ letter in history.” Huzzah to #carryingindependence and sharing #ChasingHistories with author @karenachase – Tweet This…

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For more history nerd posts like these, subscribe to the blog. Guest posts are welcomed and encouraged. Contact me for details.

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Do Author Signatures Matter? Will mine?

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I was in a bookstore a few weeks ago, buying a book written by an author I admire. The bookseller informed me, with much enthusiasm, that they had a stack of signed copies. The author was not there at the moment, and with dozens of signed copies before me, I wondered just how valuable the signature was. To the author. To collectors. To me.

As with every part of this publishing journey, I decided to stop and ask two questions about the process. Why do we do that? Do I need to do that?

What’s in a signature?

In a world in which there are fewer reasons to sign documents, as outlined in this 2018 New York Times article, Why Signatures Matter, to some the signature has lost all meaning. It used to be that, as Steven Petro writes, “each signature was an original creation.” Now, in many cases—credit cards with chips for instance—the signature has become moot. Based on that logic, sign all the books I want, right?

However, in the last couple of years, the only documents that required my signature (and proof of it) were forms to refinance my house, my passport, banking documents, and HIPAA/medical release forms. Those are major documents where the signature becomes part of a binding agreement, and not one to lightly toss around. So is my signature more valuable than I thought?

Does an author signature have value?

An item—art, stamps, a signed book—has value for the joy it brings the owner. However, as my parents always said of stamps and art… it’s only worth money if I sell it. For book collectors, the same applies to author signatures. There are multiple variations on the way authors sign books, as outlined in this article by Denise Enck. Whether it’s inscribed, signed, or attributed, ultimately the worth of the book, “could be large, moderate, or negligible, depending upon the book in question.”

I own an illustrated edition of David McCullough’s 1776. I could buy it signed for $150 on ebay, but the copy I have is more valuable to me because it was a gift from a dear friend. Would I want McCullough to sign it if I met him? Not necessarily, because it’s not like I’m going to sell it. I’d rather ask him if he ever got the letter I wrote to him and then I hope we’d talk about George Washington in Harlem Heights, but I digress…

Perhaps popularity or whether an author is alive or dead matters. A first-edition Ann Patchett can run about $10. A first edition Hemingway, A Farewell To Arms, sold for over $18,000 in 2014. I ain’t no Hemingway.

Mine is a first edition. But it’s a paperback. But I’m kind of a nobody and alive. For now. So what am I to do? I turned back to the story within my book and to the founding fathers.

P145_Signing_the_Declaration_of_American_Independence_Cassell_KarenAChase
“Signing of the Declaration of American Independence.” Cassell’s Illustrated History of England, Volume 5, page 145. (1865)

This country is founded on the importance of signatures.

The whole premise of CARRYING INDEPENDENCE is based upon the simple fact that the newly-formed Congress in 1776 deemed it 100% necessary to ensure the original signatures from all 56 men in Congress were affixed to ONE copy of the Declaration of Independence. (My protagonist, Nathaniel, also struggles mightily, as many an Americans did, over whether to sign an oath to the Crown or to the colonies.)

When the last delegate, Thomas McKean, signed the Declaration (a topic for another day), Congress had a formal unanimous agreement to separate from the Crown (which they had done verbally on July 2nd), and now they had a written contract that also bound together the 13 united states. We still honor that document today. Revere it! Signatures damn-well mattered.

Limited Signed Editions of Carrying Independence.

AuthorSeal_KarenAChaseSmallAfter much thought, and in the spirit of the document, I am limiting the number of signed copies of my novel to just 76 (in honor of the year 1776, of course). I am reserving the first 20 copies for personal use and charitable endeavors, and 56 are being made available on a first-come-basis to the public during the pre-sale period, which begins this Thursday on April 11th. Each of those 76 copies will have a full signature, each will be numbered, and each will carry my personal seal (shown here).

“But how will you autograph them at book talks?” a friend asked. I will still inscribe a copy to readers with their name, but alas, my full signature will not be penned. Nor will you find my scrawl in stacks of books set upon tables for just anyone to pick up.

Is that arrogant? Maybe. Isn’t assuming everyone will want my autograph equally so? Ultimately, I believe that signatures matter. They surely did in 1776. Perhaps one day history might determine mine does, too.

Follow/watch my Author Facebook page on April 11th for details on how you might secure one of the 56 signed copies.

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Nearing The End

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Declaration_Smaller

This post is part apology, part celebration. After five years of research, books, libraries and writing, writing, writing, I have at last finished my manuscript about the Declaration of Independence! Five years! In addition to moving, reparing an historic house, running a business and publishing Bonjour 40, I filled in my spare time doing this. I have been weepy all week and thrilled beyond measure. So, yaaaaay!

This post is in part an apology, because in the last month in order to finish the last hundred or so pages, I have ignored many of you. I’ve been delinquent with communication, forgotten to do a few things, and been late to more than one event. For all of you who wondered what happened, I was just spending time 237 years ago, and they didn’t have internet then.

I have been writing the book chronologically, and from page one to the end. So in this last month, these fictitious people have finally been performing my scenes I outlined for them years ago. It’s been joyous. Emotional. Thrilling. As a friend said, “It’s epic. What you’re writing is epic.” I hope so. My characters have at last become who I knew they could be.

Yes, there will be more edits (I’ve already done numerous edits). Yes, there will be plenty of work ahead to find an agent, a publisher, and readers. However, for those who are already asking what’s next… Please just let me swim in THE END until my fingers get all pruny. For just a little while.

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Pauline Maier

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paulinemaier

One of the books I have referenced while writing my novel about the Declaration is American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence by Pauline Maier. Fairly early into my research I found her book, and when I still had a question or two I e-mailed her. Within a day, she responded.

This wonderful, insightful historian died this week, at age 75, and rather than take up space here with my words, I instead urge you to read the New York Times article by Douglas Martin, Pauline Maier, Historian Who Described Jefferson as ‘Overrated,’ Dies at 75.

Her enthusiasm will be missed. In her book, she writes of being able to see the Declaration in Washington for the first time. “Curiosity more than anything sent me rushing through the hot summer air across the mall to the National Archives.”

Me, too, Pauline. Me, too.

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July 4th: Not Independence Day

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The Dunlap Broadside first printed on July 4th. From the held at the Yale University Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
The Dunlap Broadside first printed on July 4th. From the held at the Yale University Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

As you fire up the BBQ and ready your fireworks, you should realize you are technically not celebrating “independence,” but celebrating the Declaration of Independence. Here’s why.

The day the founding fathers voted to approve the resolution for independence was actually July 2nd, 1776. On that day, Americans agreed to kiss the Crown goodbye. (They didn’t agree unanimously–note how that word is missing on the above image–until July 15th though, because it took New York a while to agree to the resolution.) After July 2nd, came the drafting of a formal declaration which Congress debated and edited for a couple of days. By the time they had approved the document, it was July 4th. That’s the date that appeared on the first printed copies of the Declaration, also known as “broadsides.” (A sheet of paper printed on one side.) There were about 200 or so of those printed by John Dunlap of Philadelphia.

All along we’ve celebrated independence on July 4th, because that’s the date the public first saw printed on the broadsides. There were no signatures on these copies, because they were typeset. The big Declaration of Independence, the parchment most of us recognize with the signatures at the bottom, didn’t come until later.

As for those original 200 broadsides, there were 24 known copies up until 1989. Then a painting was bought for $4 at a flea market for the frame. Behind the canvas was a 25th copy. It sold for $2.4 million. A 26th copy was “found” in the National Archives is Kew, England in 1990.

Digging up Research on Sailing

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Those who have followed my Facebook posts lately, know I’ve been up to my shins (sans rickets) researching sailing during the American Revolution. I have planned a sea-faring battle scene for my new book about the Declaration of Independence, and I frankly know less about sailing than  stowaway rats.

So, I hit Wikipedia and I freaked out at complicated diagrams of boat parts. I read books and ordered one by Alexander Kent (which Ted stole it for himself). A friend even suggested looking at video games like “East India” where you engage in battles.

I also unearthed a New York Times story from 2011, which described the unusual surprise of finding an 18th century sailing vessel below Ground Zero in Manhattan as they dug it out to begin construction. The article provided much needed details from the real deal. I gleaned the ship’s size, what it carried, and David W. Dunlap who wrote the article was kind enough to use ship terminology simplified for the average Times reader.

Research also helped me name one of my fictional ships. My British ship will be loosely based on the Swedish replica of the Götheborg, and this existing replica allowed me to find details that are more realistic. However, my ship needed to be British, and I had trouble finding a direct translation of “Götheborg.” Finally, I did a little Google map search and settled on calling it HMS Montagu. The Swedish embassy in London is on Montagu Street.

Wikimedia Commons, which contains Public Domain images, also was a great resource. I found this painting by Francis Swaine featuring an 18th century sloop. I made the desktop image on my laptop to help inspire my writing.
Wikimedia Commons, which contains Public Domain images, was also a great resource. I found this painting by Francis Swaine called “An English Sloop Becalmed near the Shore,” featuring an 18th century sloop. I made the painting the desktop image on my laptop to help inspire my writing.

Declaration for a New Year

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Please forgive my slightly longer word-count on my last blog before the New Year… I must share a thought or two…

Many of my readers, friends and family know I’ve been working on a new novel about the Declaration of Independence. Through my research, I’ve come to learn about two of the lesser-known, yet great founding fathers: George Wythe of Virginia, and Oliver Wolcott of Connecticut. Both of them voted for revolution and signed the document. Before the signing, and throughout the war, they played very different roles, pouring their talents, connections, hearts and minds into very different vessels for “the Cause.”

Oliver Wolcott, in an ironic story, watched as rebel soldiers in New York pulled down a massive iron statue of King George III. He had it carted back to Connecticut, and with the help of family and neighbors, they melted down the king and poured him into molds to make over 40,000 musket balls. All of those cartridges went on to be fired by the Continental Army upon the British during the war.

In Virginia, George Wythe, a professor at William & Mary, taught the man who wrote the Declaration. Thomas Jefferson studied under Wythe in Williamsburg, as did James Monroe, Henry Clay, and our longest-serving Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Marshall.  Everything that Wythe had learned of Greek history, of Euripides, of Francis Bacon and of John Locke’s beliefs about life and liberty was poured into his students. After signing the Declaration himself, Wythe fought for the abolishment of slavery, designed the Virginia state seal, and more. But it was through Jefferson as his pen, that Wythe gave America the Declaration in 1776.

As many know, that one piece of parchment not only helped free America from oppression, our Declaration became the gold standard from which dozens of declarations for freedom have sprung. France used sections for their Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizens (1784), as did Haiti (1804), Chili (1818), New Zealand (1835), Texas (1836), Czechoslovakia (1918), and even Vietnam (1945), among others.

Very few people besides historians (and my DAR ladies) seem to know much about George Wythe, and even fewer have heard of Oliver Wolcott, with only a small handful ever having heard the King George statue story. The world knows about Thomas Jefferson, and his statue keeps watch over our nation’s capitol. Each year, over two million people visit the National Archives in D.C. to see the original Declaration of Independence. Seldom has anyone given thought to the musket balls, except long-dead relatives who mourned the lives of those British soldiers who never returned home. So, what can we learn from our own history?

We have choice in life. Into which vessel will we pour ourselves? Will it be into a musket ball or an education? History has shown us that while weapons can help a country win a battle, an education will absolutely free the world. This truth, is self-evident.

My heart mourns for the students and teachers of Sandy Hook Elementary and their families. Sadly, those little ones were not yet of the age to have learned about the Declaration. However, the education being shared in that classroom and others before the tragedy took place… that is the firepower that will make America proud, strong and free. That is the weapon in which we should invest the most if we are to secure our future.

I hope you’ll forward this on until we all learn that rights are best freed with our minds. Not might.

I wish you a peaceful, thoughtful, and loving holiday. See you in the New Year.

A painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris of the drafting of the Declaration of Independence featuring Thomas Jefferson (right), Benjamin Franklin (left), and John Adams (center). The painting is currently located at the Virginia Historical Society here in Richmond.
“The pen is mightier than the sword,” said Edward Bulwer-Lytton. The above painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris is of the drafting of the Declaration of Independence featuring Thomas Jefferson (right), Benjamin Franklin (left), and John Adams (center). The painting is currently located at the Virginia Historical Society here in Richmond.

Where Do You Research?

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This week I was asked where I’ve been conducting research for my novel about the American Revolution. My response was, “would you like that alphabetically or chronologically?” Certainly, I’ve worked with the traditional sources like libraries and archives. However, historical fiction isn’t like non-fiction where you must always go in search of proof. Sometimes it’s in search of opportunities for fiction.

Conflicting viewpoints are one way to find it. Wikipedia. Blogs. Historians. Those resources are filled with proofs and facts, but also opinions, theories and undocumented sources. Where two ideas collide gives me the opportunity to draw out what would happen if one of those two ideas was correct.

I also search for holes. Historical documents, textbooks (especially elementary and high school versions), and websites by historic hobbyists don’t always provide the same level of facts. Where I find a repeated dearth of details with regard to a place, event or time, is a hole I can fill with… well… stuff I make up.

I also research for the senses. I rarely find those in a book, so I travel to actual locations. I want to hear a place, smell it, touch trees, or look at the view – even if they’ve changed. There’s often a nearby museum, and there’s always some historic-ranger-docent guy who loves the place or whose grandpa told stories. I love them. After all, that’s what I do. Tell stories.

How do you conduct historical research for fiction?

 

Below are my photos from Stratford Hall, about an hour north of Richmond. It was home to the Lee family, who contributed two signers to the Declaration of Independence, and the general of the south, Robert E. Lee.

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