The Declaration of Independence, Lesson 4: The Debates Day by Day: June 7 to August 2, 1776

What the Journal Records and What It Does Not

The official minutes of the Second Continental Congress are the Journals, edited in 1906 by Worthington C. Ford for the Library of Congress. They record motions, resolutions and orders. They give the text of each resolution Congress adopted. They do not give speeches. For the questions on independence, the Journal gives no count of votes. For the Declaration, the entries for June 7 to August 2 name no speaker and no colony's vote.¹² Anyone who wants to know who argued, who voted how, and who was absent has to leave the Journal and turn to letters and memoirs.

That is the first fact about this period, and it shapes everything else in this lesson. Three kinds of record exist. The first is the Journal itself, which says what Congress ordered on each day. The second is letters written in the days involved. John Adams to Samuel Chase on July 1, Elbridge Gerry to General Warren on July 5 and John Adams to Abigail Adams on July 3 are the ones this lesson read.³⁴⁵ The third is the recollections written decades later. Thomas Jefferson's notes of the debates, which he says he took in his seat and wrote out at the close, survive in the form he gave them in his Autobiography of 1821 and in a letter of 1819 to Samuel A. Wells.⁶⁷ John Adams's accounts come from his Autobiography and letters of the 1800s and 1820s.⁸

The votes by colony in this lesson are Jefferson's, with checks against Gerry's and Adams's letters where they overlap. The checks are partial. Adams wrote on July 3 that the resolution passed "without one dissenting Colony," while Jefferson says New York did not vote and Gerry says "all the Colonies, except New York" united.⁵⁶⁴ All three can be right, since a colony that does not vote does not dissent. Where a count or an absence comes from a memoir alone, the text says so.

The order of the lesson follows the calendar. It begins with the two resolutions of May 10 and 15, then sets out what the sources show of each colony's authority to vote, then moves day by day from June 7 to the signing of August 2.

May 10 and 15: Authorizing New Governments

The Journal for May 10, 1776 records a resolution that is the first step in the sequence. On the report of the committee of the whole, Congress resolved "That it be recommended to the respective assemblies and conventions of the United Colonies, where no government sufficient to the exigencies of their affairs have been hitherto established, to adopt such government as shall, in the opinion of the representatives of the people, best conduce to the happiness and safety of their constituents in particular, and America in general." The same entry appoints a committee of three, John Adams, Edward Rutledge and Richard Henry Lee, "to prepare a preamble to the foregoing resolution."⁹

The committee reported on May 15, and Congress adopted the preamble. It states that the King, "in conjunction with the lords and commons of Great Britain, has, by a late act of Parliament, excluded the inhabitants of these United Colonies from the protection of his crown," that no answer to the petitions "has been or is likely to be given," and that it is "absolutely irreconcileable to reason and good Conscience, for the people of these colonies now to take the oaths and affirmations necessary for the support of any government under the crown of Great Britain." It concludes that "the exercise of every kind of authority under the said crown should be totally suppressed, and all the powers of government exerted, under the authority of the people of the colonies." Congress ordered the preamble and the resolution of May 10 "to be published." Ford's note records that "This preamble was drawn up by John Adams."¹⁰

Adams later told the story with some color. In his Autobiography he recalled James Duane calling the measure "a machine for the fabrication of independence." Adams, by his account, answered that he "thought it was independence itself, but we must have it with more formality yet."¹¹ That is Adams's recollection, written long afterward. The Journal records only the resolution.

The same day, May 15, the Virginia Convention at Williamsburg passed its own instruction. It told the Virginia delegates in Congress to propose that Congress declare the colonies "free and independent States," and it appointed a committee to prepare a declaration of rights and a plan of government.¹² North Carolina's provincial congress had acted on April 12, when the Halifax Resolves empowered its delegates "to concur with the other delegates of the other Colonies in declaring Independency, and forming foreign Alliances."¹³ Lesson 2 gives the Virginia instruction in detail. The point for this lesson is the order of events. Congress on May 10 and 15 invited the colonies to replace the royal government. Virginia on May 15 told its delegates to propose independence. Three weeks later its delegates did.

Who Could Vote for What: The Instructions Behind the Colonies

Congress voted by colony, as Bartlett's letter of June 17 shows when it speaks of voting "by Colonies as at present," and the vote of a colony was the vote of its delegation.¹⁴ A delegate's power to vote for independence therefore depended on what his colony had told him. The sources show three situations. Some colonies had authorized independence by the time of Lee's motion. Some had given instructions against it or limited it. Some were silent, or the sources this lesson read do not say.

The table below sets out what this lesson could confirm for each colony from a primary document or from Jefferson's own narrative. It uses the Journal where the Journal prints an instruction, and says so where the only source is a later memoir. Votes on July 1 and 2 are Jefferson's account, and the Journal does not give them.⁶¹⁵²

The signers column counts the names printed in the Journal's list of signers, which Ford took from the engrossed copy: 3 for New Hampshire, 5 for Massachusetts, 2 for Rhode Island, 4 for Connecticut, 4 for New York, 5 for New Jersey, 9 for Pennsylvania, 3 for Delaware, 4 for Maryland, 7 for Virginia, 3 for North Carolina, 4 for South Carolina and 3 for Georgia, 56 in all.²¹ Those who signed are not the same as the delegates who voted on July 1 and 2. According to Jefferson, Pennsylvania's nine signers include five who were new to the delegation on July 20 and Robert Morris, who had not been present before.²⁰⁷

Two points about the table. First, the gaps in the "instruction" column are gaps in what this lesson could confirm. Colonies that voted for the resolution on July 1 surely had a basis for doing so, and Jefferson's own statement is that "the whole twelve colonies who were authorized to vote at all" voted yes on July 2.⁶ Those instructions for New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Georgia and South Carolina may exist in sources this lesson did not read. A reader who needs them should look in the colonial and state records. Second, Maryland's convention recalled its instructions on June 28. That is three days before the first vote, and the resolution was before Congress "just as we were entering on the great debate," in Adams's words to Chase.³

June 7, 8 and 10: The Lee Resolutions and the Postponement

Friday, June 7. The Journal records that "certain resolutions respecting independency" were "moved and seconded." The three resolutions follow in the Journal's text. The first reads "That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." The second reads "That it is expedient forthwith to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign Alliances." The third reads "That a plan of confederation be prepared and transmitted to the respective Colonies for their consideration and approbation." Congress then "Resolved, That the consideration of them be referred till to morrow morning; and, that the members be enjoined to attend punctually at 10 o' Clock."¹

The Journal does not name the mover or seconder. Ford's notes, drawn from the original in Lee's hand, say that the first resolution carried an endorsement in three hands proposing it "be postponed to this day three weeks" and that a committee prepare a declaration in the meantime, that the postponement was made so that delegates from colonies without authority could consult their constituents, and that John Adams seconded.¹ The National Archives also says Adams seconded.²² Adams explained decades later that the Journal left out "the names of the gentlemen who moved and seconded."⁸

Saturday, June 8. The Journal records that Congress "resolved itself into a committee of the whole" on the resolutions, and that Mr. Harrison reported that the committee "not having come to any resolution thereon, desired leave to sit again on Monday next." Congress resolved to meet as a committee of the whole on Monday at ten o'clock.²³ The rest of the entry concerns powder for a privateer.

Monday, June 10. The Journal records letters from Washington and from Canada, a vote on pay for the middle department troops, and then the committee of the whole: Harrison "reported, that the committee have had under consideration the resolutions to them referred, and have come to a resolution, which he read." Congress then adopted the committee's recommendation: "Resolved, That the consideration of the first resolution be postponed to this day, three weeks [July 1], and in the mean while, that no time be lost, in case the Congress agree thereto, that a committee be appointed to prepare a declaration to the effect of the said first resolution." The entry then states the first resolution in full and records "Resolved, That the committee be discharged."²³ The bracketed "[July 1]" is Ford's addition.

The date matters, because a well-known secondary account differs. The National Archives history says "On June 11 consideration of the Lee Resolution was postponed by a vote of seven colonies to five, with New York abstaining. Congress then recessed for 3 weeks."²⁴ The Journal has no vote count for June 10 or 11 and puts the postponement on June 10. It has entries for each working day between June 11 and June 28, so Congress did not recess for three weeks.²³²⁵ The postponement was three weeks long, but Congress sat throughout it. A reporter who quotes the Archives on the 7 to 5 count should say that the count does not appear in the Journal, and should say what the Archives gave as its source, which this lesson did not find on the page.

Jefferson's notes supply what the Journal omits. He lists the speakers for delay as "Wilson, Robert R. Livingston, E. Rutledge, Dickinson, and others" and for a declaration as "J. Adams, Lee, Wythe, and others." He summarizes the arguments, including the claim of those favoring delay that the "middle colonies (Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, the Jerseys and New York) were not yet ripe for bidding adieu to British connection," and the answer that "the question was not whether, by a Declaration of Independence, we should make ourselves what we are not; but whether we should declare a fact which already exists."⁶ These are Jefferson's summaries, written up long afterward.

June 11 and 12: The Three Committees

Tuesday, June 11. The Journal for the day opens with letters from Washington, a vote of money for an Indian interpreter and a speech delivered to Indian chiefs, who gave the president the name "Karanduawn, or the Great Tree." Near the end of the entry, among military orders, it records three committee appointments. First: "Resolved, That the committee, to prepare the declaration, consist of five members: The members chosen, Mr. Jefferson, Mr. J. Adams, Mr. Franklin, Mr. Sherman, and Mr. R. R. Livingston." Then: "That a committee be appointed to prepare and digest the form of a confederation to be entered into between these colonies," and "That a committee be appointed to prepare a plan of treaties to be proposed to foreign powers."²⁶

Ford's footnote to the entry carries a letter that bears on the pace of the work. William Whipple wrote on June 10, "Congress never were so much engaged as at this time; business presses on them exceedingly. We do not rise sometimes till six or seven o'clock."²⁷

Wednesday, June 12. The Journal records that Congress chose members for the two other committees. The confederation committee was to "consist of a member from each colony," with names including Josiah Bartlett for New Hampshire, Samuel Adams for Massachusetts, Stephen Hopkins for Rhode Island, Roger Sherman for Connecticut and Robert R. Livingston for New York; the New Jersey place was left blank at the time and Francis Hopkinson was added on June 28. The treaties committee consisted of Dickinson, Franklin, John Adams, Harrison and Robert Morris.²⁶¹⁸ Jefferson and Adams each sat on more than one body, and Adams, for example, sat on the committee of five and on the treaties committee. Lesson 2 treats the committee in detail.

June 13 to 27: The Drafting Weeks in the Journal

The three weeks between the postponement and the report show a pattern. The Journal for these days is almost entirely about the war: letters from Washington, Schuyler, Sullivan and Arnold, reports of the Board of War, orders for powder, arms, money and militia, the defense of New York and the retreat from Canada. A standing rule of June 20 set Friday adjournments to run "always to Monday morning," to give "time to the several committees, to prepare for the house the matters referred to them."²⁵ The Journal does not say how the committee of five used the time.

Several entries touch the colonies whose delegates were uncertain. The entries for June 13 to 15 include letters from Thomas McKean of Delaware and orders for the Delaware militia.²⁵ New Jersey's convention wrote on June 18, enclosing an ordinance for raising 3,300 militia and its proceedings in arresting its former royal governor, William Franklin, and wrote again on June 21; Congress read the letters on June 19 and 24.²⁵ The conference of Pennsylvania deputies, meeting separately from the colony's Assembly, sent a declaration to Congress that the Journal records on the afternoon of Tuesday, June 25: "A Declaration of the deputies of Pensylvania, met in provincial conference, was presented to Congress, and read; expressing their willingness to concur in a vote of Congress, declaring the United Colonies Free and Independent States."¹⁹

Voting method was in dispute. Josiah Bartlett wrote to John Langdon on June 17 that "The Affair of a Confederation of the Colonies is now unanimously agreed on by all the members of all the Colonies," while "The affair of voting, whether by Colonies as at present, or otherwise, is not decided, and causes some warm disputes."¹⁴ The same fight over whether each colony would have one vote came back in the Articles of Confederation, which the module on the Articles of Confederation treats.

The point of reading these days is to see how little of the Declaration shows up. Between the committee's appointment on June 11 and its report on June 28, the Journal has no entry, motion or order about the draft.²⁵¹⁸ Any account of discussions inside the committee comes from the participants' later recollections, and Lesson 2 sets out how Jefferson's and Adams's differ.

June 28: The Report Is Read and Tabled

On Friday, June 28 the Journal records two things in order. First, Francis Hopkinson, "one of the delegates for New Jersey, attended, and produced the credentials of their appointment." The credentials from the Provincial Congress at Burlington, dated June 21, named Richard Stockton, Abraham Clark, John Hart, Francis Hopkinson and John Witherspoon. They authorized the delegates "to join with the Delegates of the other Colonies in Continental Congress, in the most vigorous Measures for supporting the just Rights and Liberties of America; and, if you shall judge it necessary or expedient for this Purpose, we empower you to join with them in declaring the United Colonies independent of Great Britain, entering into a Confederacy for Union and common Defence, making Treaties with foreign Nations for Commerce and Assistance." Congress added Hopkinson to the confederation committee.¹⁸

Later the same day: "The committee appointed to prepare a declaration, &c. brought in a draught, which was read: Ordered, To lie on the table."¹⁸ The Journal as printed in 1906 follows with Ford's editorial text of the draft, in two parallel columns, the "first draft" and the "reported draft," taken from manuscripts. Lesson 3 uses that material. The Journal as kept in 1776 did not print the draft.

Congress did not act on the draft on June 28. Three days later it did. Jefferson's later account says that he "reported it to the House on Friday, the 28th of June, when it was read, and ordered to lie on the table," which matches the Journal.⁶ Jefferson counts New Jersey among the colonies that voted yes on July 1.⁶

July 1: Committee of the Whole on Independence

Monday, July 1 was the day the postponement ended. The Journal for the day begins with a long list of letters, among them letters from Washington, Schuyler, Arnold and Sullivan, one from the New Hampshire convention of June 17 and one from the New Jersey convention of June 29. A resolution of the Maryland convention "of the 28 June, was also laid before Congress and read," recalling the instructions the convention had given in December and renewed in May, and authorizing the delegates "to concur with the other United Colonies, or a Majority of them, in declaring the United Colonies free and independent States," with a proviso reserving "the sole and exclusive Right of regulating the internal Government and Police of this Colony."¹⁵

Then "The order of the day being read, Resolved, That this Congress will resolve itself into a committee of the whole, to take into consideration the resolution respecting independency. Resolved, That the Declaration be referred to said committee." The committee of the whole sat. Harrison reported that it "have agreed to the resolution, which they ordered him to report, and desired him to move for leave to sit again." Then: "The resolution agreed to by committee of the whole being read, the determination thereof was postponed, at the request of a colony, till to morrow." The Journal names neither the colony nor the vote.¹⁵

Ford's notes add what the Journal leaves out. A letter from the Provincial Congress of New York to its delegates, dated June 11 and "against their authority to vote for independence," "was read before the Congress in Committee of the Whole." John Adams wrote to Samuel Chase the same day that Maryland's resolution came "just as we were entering on the great debate; that debate took up most of the day, but it was an idle misspense of time, for nothing was said but what had been repeated and hackneyed in that room before a hundred times for six months past." In the committee, "the question was carried in the affirmative, and reported to the House. A Colony desired it to be postponed until to morrow, when it will pass by a great majority, perhaps with almost unanimity; yet I cannot promise this, because one or two gentlemen may possibly be found who will vote point blank against the known and declared sense of their constituents."³

The vote itself is Jefferson's. He says the committee of the whole carried the resolution "by the votes of New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia." Against were "South Carolina and Pennsylvania." Delaware "had but two members present, and they were divided." New York's delegates "asked leave to withdraw from the question; which was given them." The count was nine yes, two no, one divided and one not voting.⁶ Jefferson identifies the colony that asked for delay as South Carolina, through Edward Rutledge, who "believed his colleagues, though they disapproved of the resolution, would then join in it for the sake of unanimity."⁶

John Adams, in his Autobiography, remembered a summing up of the arguments at the insistence of the New Jersey delegates, whose credentials Congress had read on June 28 and who, he says, asked at least for a recapitulation of arguments. He gave one, and "the Jersey gentlemen said they were fully satisfied and ready for the question, which was then put, and determined in the affirmative." The scanned page does not let this lesson tell whether Adams puts this on July 1 itself, and his account is a recollection from decades later.²⁸

July 2: The Resolution of Independence Is Adopted

On Tuesday, July 2 the Journal records that Congress "resumed the consideration of the resolution agreed to by and reported from the committee of the whole; and the same being read, was agreed to as follows: Resolved, That these United Colonies are, and, of right, ought to be, Free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connexion between them, and the state of Great Britain, is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." Ford's note says that the report is "in the writing of Charles Thomson."² The Journal does not count the vote. The Journal itself therefore dates the resolution of independence to July 2.

The same day Congress "resolved itself into a committee of the whole" on the Declaration, whose report "not having had time to go through the same," asked leave to sit again.² That is the Journal's only record of work on the Declaration on July 2.

Jefferson accounts for the change of vote between July 1 and July 2. South Carolina "concurred in voting for it." "A third member had come post from the Delaware counties, and turned the vote of that colony in favor of the resolution." "Members of a different sentiment attending that morning from Pennsylvania also, her vote was changed, so that the whole twelve colonies who were authorized to vote at all, gave their voices for it."⁶ The result was twelve yes votes, no votes against, and New York not voting. The National Archives gives the same twelve of thirteen, "New York not voting."²⁹

Jefferson does not say why Pennsylvania's vote changed. The editor of Adams's Works offers an explanation in a note: Dickinson, "with three more out of seven old delegates of Pennsylvania, voted in committee of the whole, against independence on the first instant. On the second, he and Mr. Robert Morris absented themselves, which reversed the condition of parties and determined the favorable vote of the State."³⁰ The editor wrote in 1851. The Journal does not record who attended, and this lesson did not find the names of the five who voted on July 1 in a source from 1776. The explanation is plausible, since an absence by two members of a divided delegation would change its vote, but it comes from a later editor.

Adams wrote to his wife the next day. In the first of two letters dated July 3 he said "Yesterday the greatest Question was decided, which ever was debated in America ... A Resolution was passed without one dissenting Colony" that the colonies "are, and of right ought to be free and independent States." In the second he wrote "The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America," and predicted that it would be celebrated "by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival," with "Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations."⁵³¹ The two letters are the best contemporary evidence of how a delegate saw the day. The date Adams expected to be remembered was July 2. The editors of the Adams Papers note that a newspaper writer in 1795 cited these letters to argue that the anniversary should move to July 2.³¹

July 3 and 4: The Declaration Is Debated and Adopted

On Wednesday, July 3 the Journal records letters from New Jersey, orders for the defense of Monmouth County and the Pennsylvania flying camp, terms for shipwrights going to Lake Champlain, and then: "Agreeable to the order of the day, the Congress resolved itself into a committee of the whole, to take into their farther consideration, the Declaration; and, after some time, the president resumed the chair, and Mr. Harrison reported, that the committee, not having finished, desired leave to sit again."³²

On Thursday, July 4 the Journal opens with an order about flints and militia. It then records the committee of the whole's report: "Mr. Harrison reported, that the committee of the whole Congress have agreed to a Declaration, which he delivered in. The Declaration being again read, was agreed to as follows." The text follows, headed "The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America."²¹ The Journal's July 4 entry says nothing on how the title could be "unanimous" with New York's delegates not voting. New York's convention had not yet acted. Its approval of July 9 came five days later, and Congress's July 19 order on the engrossed copy kept the same title.¹⁷³³

Debate on the text, according to Jefferson, "having taken up the greater parts of the 2d, 3d, and 4th days of July, were, on the evening of the last, closed." The National Archives says the revision "continued through all of July 3 and into the late morning of July 4."⁶²⁹ Those accounts differ a little, since Jefferson says the evening of July 4 and the Archives says late morning. The Journal records the Declaration as agreed to on July 4 and gives no hour. Lesson 3 sets out what Congress changed in those sessions.

After the text, the Journal reads: "||The foregoing declaration was, by order of Congress, engrossed, and signed by the following members:||" and prints fifty-six names. Ford prints the passage between double vertical lines and does not explain the marks on the pages this lesson read. His note says the text used is that of the engrossed original in the Department of State.²¹ Elbridge Gerry wrote to General Warren on July 5 about the day's result: "after a day's debate, all the Colonies, except New York, whose Delegates are not empowered to give either an affirmative or negative voice, united in a declaration long sought for, solicited, and necessary the Declaration of Independency."⁴

The July 4 entry also contains orders for publication: "That the declaration be authenticated and printed. That the committee appointed to prepare the declaration, superintend and correct the press. That copies of the declaration be sent to the several assemblies, conventions and committees, or councils of safety, and to the several commanding officers of the continental troops; that it be proclaimed in each of the United States, and at the head of the army." It also appoints Franklin, Adams and Jefferson to bring in a device for a seal.²¹ Lesson 3 follows the printing and the signing.

July 5 to August 2: New York, New Delegations and the Signing

The days after July 4 add four events to the Journal. Each is a step in making the Declaration the act of all thirteen states.

New York, July 9 and July 15. The New York convention, meeting at White Plains on July 9, resolved unanimously that "the reasons assigned by the Continental Congress for declaring the United Colonies Free and Independent States, are cogent and conclusive; and, that while we lament the cruel necessity which has rendered that measure unavoidable, we approve the same, and will, at the risque of our lives and fortunes, join with the other colonies in supporting it." It also authorized its delegates "to concur and adopt all such measures as they may deem conducive to the happiness and welfare of the United States of America." Congress had the resolutions in a letter of July 11 and recorded them in the Journal for July 15.¹⁷ That entry is the Journal's record that New York joined. The reading in Congress was eleven days after July 4. Not every New Yorker went along: Ford's note to the July 17 entry records that on July 16 John Alsop, one of New York's delegates in Congress, sent his resignation to the New York convention, "disapproving the Declaration of Independence."³⁴

Maryland, July 18. The Maryland delegates presented "credentials of a new appointment" from the convention at Annapolis, dated July 4, naming seven deputies, including Matthew Tilghman, Thomas Johnson Jr., William Paca, Samuel Chase, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton and Robert Alexander.³⁵ The appointment is dated on the day of adoption.

The engrossing order, July 19. "Resolved, That the Declaration passed on the 4th, be fairly engrossed on parchment, with the title and stile of 'The unanimous declaration of the thirteen United States of America,' and that the same, when engrossed, be signed by every member of Congress."³³

Pennsylvania, July 20. The Pennsylvania delegates produced credentials of a new appointment dated July 20. The convention chose nine: "Dr. Benjamin Franklin, Colonel George Ross, George Clymer, Esqr Robert Morris, Esqr Colonel James Wilson, John Morton, Esqr Dr. Benjamin Rush, Colonel James Smith, and George Taylor."²⁰ The Journal does not say who was left out. Jefferson says the convention "named a new delegation on the 20th, leaving out Mr. Dickinson, who had refused to sign, Willing and Humphreys who had withdrawn, re-appointing the three members who had signed, Morris, who had not been present, and five new ones."⁷

August 2: the signing. The Journal for Friday, August 2 reads "The declaration of independence being engrossed and compared at the table was signed [by the members]." Ford's note explains that the bracketed words "are taken from the Secret Journals" and refers readers to Friedenwald's study for the whole question of signing.³⁶ The entry has no list of names. The National Archives says Timothy Matlack "was probably the engrosser" and says "One of the most widely held misconceptions about the Declaration is that it was signed on July 4, 1776, by all the delegates in attendance."²⁹

Signing took longer than one day. The Journal's list of fifty-six names is the list as it appears on the parchment. Jefferson stated in 1819 that Thornton of New Hampshire's signature "was permitted so late as the 4th of November."⁷ This lesson did not confirm that date in the Journal and treats it as Jefferson's statement.

Where the Memoirs and the Journal Disagree

The comparison of the Journal with the memoirs turns up several disagreements. The lesson lists them so that a reader who meets any one of them can see what the documents say.

The date of the postponement vote and the recess. The National Archives gives June 11, a vote of seven colonies to five and a three-week recess. The Journal puts the postponement on June 10, has no vote count and has entries for all of the intervening days.²⁴²³³⁷

Lee's departure. Adams's editor says Lee "was called home on the tenth of June," and the Archives says Lee returned home during the break "for various reasons."³⁸²² The Journal records no departure. Lesson 2 gives more detail.

Signing on July 4. Jefferson in his Autobiography and in his letter to Wells says the Declaration was "signed by every member present, except Mr. Dickinson," on July 4, and says the signature of the others who were not present came later. The Journal for July 4 records no signing. The Journal for August 2 records that the engrossed declaration "was signed," and the Archives calls signing on July 4 by all delegates "one of the most widely held misconceptions."⁷³⁶²⁹ Jefferson in the same letter calls July 4 the day of the "general signature," with the New York convention acting five days later, and he also says New York did not sign until July 15. The Journal's entry for July 15 records the New York convention's resolution and records no signing.⁷¹⁷

"Without one dissenting Colony." Adams on July 3 said the resolution passed "without one dissenting Colony." Jefferson and the Archives say New York did not vote. The statements agree if abstention is not dissent.⁵⁶²⁹

Day the debate ended. Jefferson says the debate closed "on the evening" of July 4, and the Archives says "late morning."⁶²⁹ The Journal gives no hour.

Governor McKean's recollection. Jefferson wrote in 1819 that McKean's 1817 letter "confounded two questions" by assigning the July 1 vote on the Virginia motion to the Declaration itself.⁷ This lesson did not read McKean's letter.

The pattern is that the Journal is the better evidence for what Congress ordered, and letters written in the days themselves are the better evidence for what people thought and did. Jefferson's notes are the only source this lesson found for the votes by colony, so their weight is the weight of a single witness writing with his own notes in front of him. Adams's letter of July 3 and Gerry's letter of July 5 agree with Jefferson on the main facts. They do not confirm each colony's vote.

Key Documents

The documents below are the main records of the debates, with what each one records and where it differs from the others.

Why This Matters to Idaho Officials and Voters

The Idaho Constitution requires each house of the Legislature to "keep a journal of its proceedings," and it adds that "the yeas and nays of the members of either house on any question shall at the request of any three members present, be entered on the journal."³⁹ It also requires that "the business of each house, and of the committee of the whole shall be transacted openly and not in secret session."⁴⁰

The Continental Congress had a committee of the whole, as the Idaho Legislature does. Its Journal for 1776 names no mover on June 7, no speaker on any day and no vote by colony on July 1, 2 or 4. A reader who wants to know how Idaho's senators or representatives voted on a bill can look at the journal and, if three members asked, at the recorded yeas and nays. A reader who wants the same about the Declaration has to rely on Jefferson's notes of 1819 and 1821, which are one man's account.

The lesson for Idaho officials and voters is practical. A recorded vote is a public record that does not depend on anyone's memory, and a vote that was never recorded can be disputed for centuries. When a county commission or a city council acts on a matter that will be argued over later, the minutes should state the motion, who made it, who seconded it and how each member voted. When a news report refers to a past vote, it should say whether the source is the journal or someone's later account.

Using This in Reporting and Civic Life

A reporter checking a claim about the vote

Reporter Dana Whitfield of an invented newspaper reads in a pamphlet that independence passed "7 to 5 on June 11, then Congress left town for three weeks." Dana opens the Journal. The postponement is on June 10, with no count, and the Journal has entries for every working day through June 28. She writes that the pamphlet repeats the National Archives history, that the Journal does not support the count or the recess, and that she could not find the Archives' source on its page.²⁴²³³⁷

When she calls the Archives to ask what it relied on, she asks for the document, not for an assurance.

A teacher on July 2 and July 4

Teacher Marcus Delgado of an invented school asks which day is the right one to celebrate. He reads his students the Journal for July 2 ("agreed to as follows ... free and independent States") and for July 4 ("The Declaration being again read, was agreed to") and John Adams's letter of July 3 predicting that July 2 would be remembered. He explains that the resolution of independence and the Declaration are two separate acts on two separate days, and he leaves the choice of which to mark with the class.²²¹³¹

A county clerk and the minutes

County Clerk Ruth Okafor of an invented Idaho county is asked to settle an argument about who voted for a road levy at a meeting three years ago. The minutes record the motion and the result and do not list members' votes. Ruth tells the commissioners that Idaho's constitution lets three members of either house of the Legislature require the yeas and nays to be entered, that a county board follows its own rules, and that the board can decide from now on to record each member's vote on any money question.³⁹ She prepares the rule for adoption.

A voter on the "unanimous" label

Voter Tomas Reyes of an invented town hears that the Declaration was "unanimous." He reads the Journal. The title is "The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America," and New York's delegates did not vote on July 2. Tomas finds that New York's convention approved on July 9 and that Congress recorded it on July 15. He concludes that "unanimous" was true of the thirteen states by the time of the July 19 engrossing order and was not true on the morning of July 2.²¹¹⁷³³

Related Modules

• Declaration, Lesson 1: The Road to Independence: the events before May 1776.
• Declaration, Lesson 2: The Lee Resolution and the Committee of Five: the Virginia instruction, Lee, and the committee.
• Declaration, Lesson 3: The Drafts: Jefferson's text, the changes made by Adams, Franklin and Congress, and the printing.
• Declaration, Lesson 5: The Text, Clause by Clause: the adopted words.
• Declaration, Lesson 6: Colony Charters and the First State Constitutions: the governments the colonies were told to adopt.
• Declaration, Lesson 7: State Declarations of Rights: Virginia's declaration of May and June 1776.
• Articles of Confederation: the committee of June 1776 and the dispute over voting by colony.

Sources & Further Reading

Primary Sources

• Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 5 (1906)
• Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 4 (1906)
• Project Gutenberg, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 1 (Autobiography and letter to Wells)
• Works of John Adams, vol. 3 (Autobiography)
• Massachusetts Historical Society, John Adams to Abigail Adams, July 3, 1776 (first letter)
• Massachusetts Historical Society, John Adams to Abigail Adams, July 3, 1776 (second letter)
• Avalon Project, Virginia Convention, May 15, 1776
• NCpedia, The Halifax Resolves, April 12, 1776
• Idaho Constitution, art. III, sec. 12
• Idaho Constitution, art. III, sec. 13

Secondary Sources and Further Reading

• National Archives, The Declaration of Independence: A History
• National Archives, Prologue, "Lee Resolution"
• Library of Congress, Declaring Independence: Essay
• JYF Museums essay on the factors behind the July 1776 vote (unsourced; used only as a flagged pointer)

Footnotes

1. Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 5 (1906), entry for June 7, 1776, https://archive.org/details/journalsofcontin05unit. The entry records: "Certain resolutions respecting independency being moved and seconded, Resolved, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved. That it is expedient forthwith to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign Alliances. That a plan of confederation be prepared and transmitted to the respective Colonies for their consideration and approbation." It then records "Resolved, That the consideration of them be referred till to morrow morning; and, that the members be enjoined to attend punctually at 10 o' Clock." Ford's notes describe the endorsement on Lee's original, "in three writings," that the first resolution "be postponed to this day three weeks" and that a committee prepare a declaration; say the postponement "was made to give an opportunity to the Delegates from those Colonies which had not as yet given authority to adopt this decisive measure, to consult their constituents"; and say "The motion was seconded by John Adams."
2. Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 5, entry for July 2, 1776, https://archive.org/details/journalsofcontin05unit. The entry records that Congress "resumed the consideration of the resolution agreed to by and reported from the committee of the whole; and the same being read, was agreed to as follows: Resolved, That these United Colonies are, and, of right, ought to be, Free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connexion between them, and the state of Great Britain, is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." Ford's note says the report is "in the writing of Charles Thomson." The same entry records that the committee of the whole on the declaration, "not having had time to go through the same," asked leave to sit again. The Journal gives no count of the votes.
3. Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 5, notes to the entry for July 1, 1776, https://archive.org/details/journalsofcontin05unit. One note says a June 11 letter from the Provincial Congress of New York to the New York delegates, against their authority to vote for independence, "was read before the Congress in Committee of the Whole." Another quotes John Adams to Samuel Chase, July 1, 1776: "that debate took up most of the day, but it was an idle misspense of time, for nothing was said but what had been repeated and hackneyed in that room before a hundred times for six months past. In the Committee of the Whole, the question was carried in the affirmative, and reported to the House. A Colony desired it to be postponed until to morrow, when it will pass by a great majority, perhaps with almost unanimity; yet I cannot promise this, because one or two gentlemen may possibly be found who will vote point blank against the known and declared sense of their constituents."
4. Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 5, note to the entry for July 4, 1776, https://archive.org/details/journalsofcontin05unit, quoting Elbridge Gerry to General Warren, July 5, 1776: "A determined resolution of the Delegates from some of the Colonies to push the question of Independency has had a most happy effect, and after a day's debate, all the Colonies, except New York, whose Delegates are not empowered to give either an affirmative or negative voice, united in a declaration long sought for, solicited, and necessary the Declaration of Independency." The note adds that the Declaration "was printed in the Pennsylvania Evening Post, 6 July, 1776, and in the Pennsylvania Gazette, 10 July, 1776."
5. John Adams to Abigail Adams, July 3, 1776 (first letter), Adams Family Correspondence, vol. 2, Massachusetts Historical Society, https://www.masshist.org/publications/adams-papers/index.php/view/AFC02d015: "Yesterday the greatest Question was decided, which ever was debated in America ... A Resolution was passed without one dissenting Colony 'that these united Colonies, are, and of right ought to be free and independent States ...' You will see in a few days a Declaration setting forth the Causes, which have impell'd Us to this mighty Revolution."
6. Jefferson, Autobiography, Project Gutenberg, https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45847. In his notes and in the narrative Jefferson reports the vote of July 1: "carried in the affirmative by the votes of New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia. South Carolina and Pennsylvania voted against it. Delaware had but two members present, and they were divided. The delegates from New York declared they were for it themselves, and were assured their constituents were for it; but that their instructions having been drawn near a twelvemonth before, when reconciliation was still the general object, they were enjoined by them to do nothing which should impede that object. They, therefore, thought themselves not justifiable in voting on either side, and asked leave to withdraw from the question; which was given them." He adds that Edward Rutledge of South Carolina "requested the determination might be put off to the next day, as he believed his colleagues, though they disapproved of the resolution, would then join in it for the sake of unanimity"; that on the next day "South Carolina concurred in voting for it"; that "a third member had come post from the Delaware counties, and turned the vote of that colony in favor of the resolution"; that "Members of a different sentiment attending that morning from Pennsylvania also, her vote was changed, so that the whole twelve colonies who were authorized to vote at all, gave their voices for it"; and that "within a few days the convention of New York approved of it." Jefferson wrote this narrative in 1821 or later, from his own notes. Of the arguments in the committee of the whole on June 8 and 10 he lists the speakers: for delay, "Wilson, Robert R. Livingston, E. Rutledge, Dickinson, and others"; for a declaration, "J. Adams, Lee, Wythe, and others."
7. Jefferson to Samuel A. Wells, May 12, 1819, printed with the Autobiography, Project Gutenberg, https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45847. Jefferson says that he is giving extracts "from a written document on that subject; for the truth of which I pledge myself to heaven and earth; having, while the question of Independence was under consideration before Congress, taken written notes, in my seat, of what was passing, and reduced them to form on the final conclusion." The extracts repeat the account of June 7 to July 2 summarized above. He then states of signing that the Declaration "was signed by every member present, except Mr. Dickinson" on July 4, that the later signatures were of members "not then present, and some of them not yet in office" from New York and Pennsylvania, that "New York did not sign till the 15th, because it was not till the 9th (five days after the general signature), that their Convention authorized them to do so," and that the Pennsylvania convention on July 20 named a new delegation "leaving out Mr. Dickinson, who had refused to sign, Willing and Humphreys who had withdrawn." He adds that the signature of Thornton of New Hampshire "was permitted so late as the 4th of November." Jefferson wrote the letter 43 years after the events, and he refers to Governor McKean's 1817 letter as having "confounded two questions."
8. Adams, Autobiography, Works, vol. 3, pp. 44 to 45, https://archive.org/details/worksofjohnadams0003char. Adams writes that the resolutions and "the names of the gentlemen who moved and seconded them" were not entered in the Journal and says "Mr. Hancock was President, Mr. Harrison, chairman of the committee of the whole house, Mr. Thomson, the secretary, was cousin to Mr. Dickinson, and Mr. R. H. Lee and Mr. John Adams were no favorites of either." That is Adams's explanation, offered years later, and the Journal itself gives no reason.
9. Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 4 (1906), entry for May 10, 1776, https://archive.org/details/journalsofcontin04unit. The Journal records that the committee of the whole report was read and agreed to: "Resolved, That it be recommended to the respective assemblies and conventions of the United Colonies, where no government sufficient to the exigencies of their affairs have been hitherto established, to adopt such government as shall, in the opinion of the representatives of the people, best conduce to the happiness and safety of their constituents in particular, and America in general," and that "a committee of three be appointed to prepare a preamble to the foregoing resolution," the members chosen being John Adams, Edward Rutledge and Richard Henry Lee.
10. Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 4, entry for May 15, 1776, https://archive.org/details/journalsofcontin04unit. The preamble reads in part: "Whereas his Britannic Majesty, in conjunction with the lords and commons of Great Britain, has, by a late act of Parliament, excluded the inhabitants of these United Colonies from the protection of his crown ... it is necessary that the exercise of every kind of authority under the said crown should be totally suppressed, and all the powers of government exerted, under the authority of the people of the colonies." The entry orders "That the said preamble, with the resolution passed the 10th instant, be published." Ford's note says "This preamble was drawn up by John Adams," citing the Autobiography.
11. John Adams, Autobiography, in Charles Francis Adams, ed., The Works of John Adams, vol. 3 (Boston, 1851), pp. 44-46, https://archive.org/details/worksofjohnadams0003char. Adams writes that the preamble committee asked him as chairman "to draw something very short," that Duane called the measure "a machine for the fabrication of independence," and that Adams answered, smiling, "I thought it was independence itself, but we must have it with more formality yet." This is Adams's later recollection, not part of the Journal.
12. Preamble and Resolution of the Virginia Convention, May 15, 1776, Avalon Project, https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/const02.asp (quoting Peter Force, American Archives, 4th series, vol. 6, p. 1523). The text includes both unanimous resolutions: the instruction to propose independence, with the proviso that "the power of forming Government for, and the regulations of the internal concerns of each Colony, be left to the respective Colonial Legislatures," and the appointment of a committee to prepare "a Declaration of Rights, and such a plan of Government as will be most likely to maintain peace and order in this Colony." It names 28 committee members, counted for this lesson.
13. The Halifax Resolves, April 12, 1776, NCpedia, https://www.ncpedia.org/history/usrevolution/halifax-resolves. The resolve empowers North Carolina's delegates "to concur with the other delegates of the other Colonies in declaring Independency, and forming foreign Alliances."
14. Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 5, note in the entry for June 17, 1776, https://archive.org/details/journalsofcontin05unit, quoting Josiah Bartlett to John Langdon, June 17, 1776: "The Affair of a Confederation of the Colonies is now unanimously agreed on by all the members of all the Colonies. ... The affair of voting, whether by Colonies as at present, or otherwise, is not decided, and causes some warm disputes."
15. Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 5, entry for July 1, 1776, https://archive.org/details/journalsofcontin05unit. The entry records the Maryland convention resolution of June 28 ("Resolved, Unanimously, That the Instructions given by the Convention December last, (and renewed by the Convention in May,) to the Deputies of this Colony in Congress, be recalled, and the Restrictions therein contained, removed"); that Congress resolved itself into a committee of the whole "to take into consideration the resolution respecting independency" and referred the Declaration to it; that the committee "have agreed to the resolution" and asked leave to sit again; and that "The resolution agreed to by committee of the whole being read, the determination thereof was postponed, at the request of a colony, till to morrow." The entry names no colony and gives no vote.
16. Jefferson Birthplace/JYF Museums essay table of colony actions, https://www.jyfmuseums.org/learn/research-and-collections/essays/what-factors-finally-pushed-the-second-continental-congress-to-declare-independence-in-july-1776. Read through a summarizing fetch tool; the page gives no sources. It lists dates for Rhode Island (May 4), Connecticut (June 14), New Hampshire (June 15) and Delaware (June 15) that this lesson could not confirm in a primary source, and this lesson does not rely on them.
17. Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 5, entry for July 15, 1776, https://archive.org/details/journalsofcontin05unit. Among the papers from the New York convention it records: "In convention of the representatives of the state of New York, White Plains, July 9, 1776. Resolved unanimously, That the reasons assigned by the Continental Congress for declaring the United Colonies Free and Independent States, are cogent and conclusive; and, that while we lament the cruel necessity which has rendered that measure unavoidable, we approve the same, and will, at the risque of our lives and fortunes, join with the other colonies in supporting it." It also records the resolution "That the delegates of this state, in the Continental Congress, be, and they hereby are authorized to concert and adopt all such measures as they may deem conducive to the happiness and welfare of the United States of America."
18. Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 5, entry for June 28, 1776, https://archive.org/details/journalsofcontin05unit. The entry records that Francis Hopkinson "produced the credentials of their appointment," dated June 21, which "empower you to join with them in declaring the United Colonies independent of Great Britain, entering into a Confederacy for Union and common Defence, making Treaties with foreign Nations for Commerce and Assistance," if the delegates "shall judge it necessary or expedient"; that Hopkinson was added to the confederation committee; and that "The committee appointed to prepare a declaration, &c. brought in a draught, which was read: Ordered, To lie on the table." Ford then prints the text of the first draft and the reported draft in parallel columns, with notes; the scanned columns are badly mixed.
19. Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 5, entry for Tuesday, June 25, 1776, afternoon session, https://archive.org/details/journalsofcontin05unit: "A Declaration of the deputies of Pensylvania, met in provincial conference, was presented to Congress, and read; expressing their willingness to concur in a vote of Congress, declaring the United Colonies Free and Independent States."
20. Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 5, entry for July 20, 1776, https://archive.org/details/journalsofcontin05unit. The Pennsylvania delegates produced credentials of a new appointment by the state convention, dated Saturday, July 20, 1776, choosing "Dr. Benjamin Franklin, Colonel George Ross, George Clymer, Esqr Robert Morris, Esqr Colonel James Wilson, John Morton, Esqr Dr. Benjamin Rush, Colonel James Smith, and George Taylor, Esqr." The entry does not name the delegates they replaced.
21. Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 5, entry for July 4, 1776, https://archive.org/details/journalsofcontin05unit. The Journal records that "the committee of the whole Congress have agreed to a Declaration, which he delivered in," that "The Declaration being again read, was agreed to as follows," and prints it under the title "The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America." After the text the entry reads "||The foregoing declaration was, by order of Congress, engrossed, and signed by the following members:||" and lists fifty-six names. Ford's note says "The text used is that of the engrossed original in the Department of State." The entry then orders "That the declaration be authenticated and printed," that the committee "superintend and correct the press," that copies be sent to "the several assemblies, conventions and committees, or councils of safety, and to the several commanding officers of the continental troops," and that it "be proclaimed in each of the United States, and at the head of the army," and names Franklin, Adams and Jefferson "a committee, to bring in a device for a seal."
22. National Archives, "Lee Resolution," Prologue, Winter 2002, https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2002/winter/lee-resolution-1776. The article says John Adams seconded the motion, that "on June 11, a twenty-day recess was called," and that Lee had returned home during the break "to help Virginia form its state government or to attend to his ailing wife or for both reasons, according to various historical accounts."
23. Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 5, entries for June 8 and June 10, 1776, https://archive.org/details/journalsofcontin05unit. June 8: the resolutions were referred to a committee of the whole, which, "not having come to any resolution thereon, desired leave to sit again on Monday next." June 10: the committee of the whole "have come to a resolution," after which Congress "Resolved, That the consideration of the first resolution be postponed to this day, three weeks [July 1], and in the mean while, that no time be lost, in case the Congress agree thereto, that a committee be appointed to prepare a declaration to the effect of the said first resolution." The entry then records "Resolved, That the committee be discharged." The Journal gives no count of votes on June 8 or June 10.
24. National Archives, "The Declaration of Independence: A History," https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-history. The page quotes Jefferson in 1823 that the committee "unanimously pressed on myself alone to undertake the draught. I consented; I drew it; but before I reported it to the committee I communicated it separately to Dr. Franklin and Mr. Adams requesting their corrections," and that he then "wrote a fair copy, reported it to the committee, and from them, unaltered to the Congress." It also says consideration of the Lee Resolution was postponed on "June 11 ... by a vote of seven colonies to five, with New York abstaining," and that Congress "then recessed for 3 weeks." The Journal does not support those statements (see the text of this lesson).
25. Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 5, entries for June 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26 and 27, 1776, https://archive.org/details/journalsofcontin05unit. This lesson read the opening of each entry and searched the whole run of entries for the words "declaration" and "independ." Apart from the entries for June 12 (committees on confederation and treaties), June 25 (the Pennsylvania conference declaration) and June 28, none of them records anything about the Declaration. The June 20 entry records the standing rule that "adjournments from the Friday evening, be always to Monday morning." The entries for June 13, 14 and 15 include letters from Thomas McKean and orders about the militia of Delaware.
26. Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 5, entries for June 11 and 12, 1776, https://archive.org/details/journalsofcontin05unit. The June 11 entry records that "the committee, to prepare the declaration, consist of five members: The members chosen, Mr. Jefferson, Mr. J. Adams, Mr. Franklin, Mr. Sherman, and Mr. R. R. Livingston," and orders committees on a confederation and on a plan of treaties. The June 12 entry names the confederation committee (one member from each colony, with New Jersey left blank) and the treaties committee (Dickinson, Franklin, J. Adams, Harrison and R. Morris).
27. Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 5, note to the entry for June 11, 1776, https://archive.org/details/journalsofcontin05unit, quoting William Whipple to John Langdon, June 10, 1776: "Congress never were so much engaged as at this time; business presses on them exceedingly. We do not rise sometimes till six or seven o'clock."
28. John Adams, Autobiography, in Works of John Adams, vol. 3, p. 57, https://archive.org/details/worksofjohnadams0003char. Adams writes that "The New Jersey gentlemen, however, still insisting on hearing at least a recapitulation of the arguments, and no other gentleman being willing to speak, I summed up the reasons, objections, and answers, in as concise a manner as I could, till at length the Jersey gentlemen said they were fully satisfied and ready for the question, which was then put, and determined in the affirmative." The scanned page is partly garbled and this lesson could not read the sentence that fixes the day; the editor's text places the New Jersey delegates, who arrived on June 28, at the debate.
29. National Archives, "The Declaration of Independence: A History," https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-history. The page quotes the July 19 order and the August 2 Journal entry, says Timothy Matlack "was probably the engrosser," says "One of the most widely held misconceptions about the Declaration is that it was signed on July 4, 1776, by all the delegates in attendance," and says the July 4 printing "had included only the names of John Hancock and Charles Thomson" and that the names of subsequent signers "were kept secret for a time because of fear of British reprisals." It also says "On July 9 the action of Congress was officially approved by the New York Convention," that on July 2 the Lee Resolution "was adopted by 12 of the 13 colonies, New York not voting," and that the revision "continued through all of July 3 and into the late morning of July 4."
30. Charles Francis Adams, editor's note, Works of John Adams, vol. 3 (1851), p. 57, https://archive.org/details/worksofjohnadams0003char. The note says Dickinson, "with three more out of seven old delegates of Pennsylvania, voted in committee of the whole, against independence on the first instant. On the second, he and Mr. Robert Morris absented themselves, which reversed the condition of parties and determined the favorable vote of the State." It also says the new Pennsylvania members "were not elected until the 20th, nearly three weeks afterwards." This is a nineteenth-century editor's statement. This lesson found the Pennsylvania instruction and the names of the seven old delegates only in secondary text and did not confirm the absences from the Journal, which does not record attendance.
31. John Adams to Abigail Adams, July 3, 1776 (second letter), Adams Family Correspondence, vol. 2, Massachusetts Historical Society, https://www.masshist.org/publications/adams-papers/index.php/view/AFC02d016: "The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America.--I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival." The editors' note says the two letters were first printed in 1792, and that in 1795 a newspaper writer cited them to argue that July 2 should be the anniversary.
32. Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 5, entry for July 3, 1776, https://archive.org/details/journalsofcontin05unit. The entry records that Congress resolved itself into a committee of the whole on the Declaration, and that Mr. Harrison "reported, that the committee, not having finished, desired leave to sit again." The rest of the entry is about the defense of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, shipwrights for Lake Champlain and the Indian commissioners.
33. Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 5, entry for July 19, 1776, https://archive.org/details/journalsofcontin05unit: "Resolved, That the Declaration passed on the 4th, be fairly engrossed on parchment, with the title and stile of 'The unanimous declaration of the thirteen United States of America,' and that the same, when engrossed, be signed by every member of Congress."
34. Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 5, note to the entry for July 17, 1776, https://archive.org/details/journalsofcontin05unit: "On July 16 John Alsop sent his resignation to the New York Convention, disapproving the Declaration of Independence."
35. Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 5, entry for July 18, 1776, https://archive.org/details/journalsofcontin05unit. The Maryland delegates laid before Congress credentials of a new appointment by their convention, dated Annapolis, July 4, naming Matthew Tilghman, Thomas Johnson Jr., William Paca, Samuel Chase, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton and Robert Alexander to represent the colony "in as full and ample Manner as the Deputies of this Colony might have done under any appointment heretofore made."
36. Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 5, entry for Friday, August 2, 1776, https://archive.org/details/journalsofcontin05unit: "The declaration of independence being engrossed and compared at the table was signed [by the members]." Ford's note says "The last three words are taken from the Secret Journals" and refers readers to Friedenwald, The Declaration of Independence, pp. 121-151, for "a full account of the question of signing the Declaration." The entry contains no list of names.
37. Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 5, https://archive.org/details/journalsofcontin05unit. Counted for this lesson from the printed entries: the volume has separate entries for June 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28, fourteen days in all. The June 28 entry records that "The committee appointed to prepare a declaration, &c. brought in a draught, which was read: Ordered, To lie on the table."
38. Charles Francis Adams, editor's narrative, Works of John Adams, vol. 3, pp. 56-57, https://archive.org/details/worksofjohnadams0003char. The editor says Lee "was called home on the tenth of June" and that his exertions "were suspended, three days after the presentation of his resolution, by his departure for Virginia." This is a nineteenth-century editor's statement; this lesson found no entry in the Journal recording Lee's departure.
39. Idaho Constitution, art. III, sec. 13, Idaho Legislature, https://legislature.idaho.gov/statutesrules/idconst/ArtIII/Sect13/: "Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings; and the yeas and nays of the members of either house on any question shall at the request of any three members present, be entered on the journal."
40. Idaho Constitution, art. III, sec. 12, Idaho Legislature, https://legislature.idaho.gov/statutesrules/idconst/ArtIII/Sect12/: "The business of each house, and of the committee of the whole shall be transacted openly and not in secret session."