“ There is only one copy of the absorbed and signed Declaration of Independence , in the National Archives in Washington , D.C. , ” Harvard University ’s websiteexplains . “ This transcript was produced and signed several weeks after the Declaration of Independence was first publish . ”
John Dunlap , the printer of the first written matter of one of the most renowned papers in human history , did get 200 other written matter of the original , however – and only 26 of them were intend to survive today . Now , in a arresting reveal , it seem that a small archive in Sussex , England , has got a rare transcript of the Declaration of Independence all to itself .
hold all the signature of the original , this written matter – the twenty-seventh – is really far more significant than the other copies . These were all printed copy , but the so - calledSussex Declarationis a handwritten sheepskin transcript , just like theoriginal . It ’s also the same sizing as the Declaration kept within the US National Archives , and dating evidence indicate it was made briefly after the master copy was mold .
The Sussex Declaration . West Sussex Record Office Add Mss 8981
The fact that the UK seems to have the papers most similar to the original is somewhat ironic – after all , the entire function of the document was to signal the secession of the thirteen American colonies from the rule of the Kingdom of Great Britain .
The Sussex Declaration was found by two Harvard researchers , who were plainly attend through the archives to come up average transcript of the archetype . They apace realise that the handwritten lambskin production of this particular and antecedently unnoticed version , held within Chichester ’s West Sussex Record Office , evoke it was designed for a special occasion .
“ [ It is ] believed to have been halt originally by the Third Duke of Richmond , know as the “ Radical Duke ” for his support of the Americans during the Revolution , ” the team mark in astatement . “ The parchment is , however , American and is most potential to have been produced in New York or Philadelphia . ”
This ofttimes - misinterpreted painting by John Trumbull depict the draftsmanship citizens committee presenting its employment to Congress . J. Trumbell / Public knowledge domain
introduce their workplace at a group discussion at Yale this calendar month , the pair said that the date , location , typography and fashioning of the Sussex Declaration suggests that it was commissioned by James Wilson , one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and one of the signatories of the Declaration . He was also one of the six original justices appointed to the Supreme Court by George Washington .
The curious placement of the touch on the Sussex Declaration led the team to this finis . Unlike every other copy , the signature tune here are not grouped by DoS . alternatively , they appear randomly , with no discernible pattern .
Wilson was a proponent of the nationalistic argument that the US was n’t primarily a collection of individual states , but a collection of adequate citizens – e pluribus unum , in effect . Wilson ’s transcript of the Declaration , then , would likely have jumble up signatures to show that ideal .
The willy-nilly position theme song on the Sussex Declaration . West Sussex Record Office Add Mss 8981
The discovery was made in 2015 , but only after careful depth psychology was it let on to the public in 2017 – and it could not have been a more pertinent class .
The text of the Sussex Declaration , write for a few punctuation mark changes , is precisely the same as the original . Both list the grievance commit by King George III , and one particular line stands out : “ let Facts be submit to a forthright Earth . ”
Thisrefersto the dispersion and discussion of the unbiased truth of the subject . Back then , this relate to the actions of the King , but in the age of Alternative Facts , this telephone line rings true more than ever .
