7 Things sure did not know about the United States Declaration of Independence

7 Things sure did not know about the United States Declaration of Independence.

7 Things sure did not know about the United States Declaration of Independence

On July 4, the United States, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which took place in 1776. The anniversary is celebrated a good chance to learn more about one of the most important founding documents of the world power American.

The Declaration of Independence was not signed on July 4: the July 4, 1776, after 12 of the 13 colonies voted in favor of independence, the United States Congress officially adopted the Declaration of Independence . However, signing the document about a month later was performed.

When news of the Declaration of Independence arrived in New York, caused an uproar: George Washington, then commander of the Continental Forces in New York, read the document before a large crowd, later that day, he knocked down a statue of George III who was nearby.

8 out of the 56 signatories were British: among members of Congress who signed the Declaration of Independence, the English Button Gwinnett and Robert Morris, the Francis Lewis Welsh, Scottish James Wilson and John Witherspoon, the Irish George Taylor and Matthew Thornton were and northern Irish James Smith.

One of the signatories later retracted: the November 30, 1776, Richard Stockton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence was captured and imprisoned by the British. After months of hunger and mistreatment, Stockton retracted his signature and swore allegiance to King George III.

There were 44 years of age difference between the smallest and largest of the signatories: Benjamin Franklin, the undersigned older, was 70 years old when he scored his name in the paper. The lawyer Edward Rutledge of South Carolina, the youngest signer, was 26 years old.

Two additional copies were found in the last 25 years: in 1989, a man in Philadelphia found one of the first copies of the Declaration of Independence behind a portrait of $ 4 acquired in a flea market. In 2009, another copy was found in a box of papers in the National Archives of the United Kingdom.

There's something written on the back of the document: in the bottom of the back it reads "Original Declaration of Independence dated July 4, 1776". Nobody knows who this added or when, but it is believed that was made as a label for when the document should be rolled up and move.