A second parchment copy of
the Declaration of Independence was recently discovered in a records office in Southern
England. The only other parchment copy
is in the National Archives in Washington D.C. There are several differences
between the two documents; the most obvious is that the newly discovered
version is printed horizontally rather than the vertical version in the
National Archives. However the most important difference is that the signatures
at the bottom are seemingly in random order rather than being grouped by state.
In fact there is no mention of which state each of the signers belonged to at
all. This raises the question about whether America was founded as a single
sovereign republic or as a collection of thirteen separate colonies.
After analyzing the newly
discovered Declaration it was dated to the 1780s. This was a period of much
debate over how to govern our young nation between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists
as the inherent problems in the Articles of Confederation were increasingly becoming
apparent. The lack of signatures grouped
by states suggests a Federalist leaning towards a strong central government of
the US Constitution rather than the Anti-Federalist Articles of Confederation.
Another question raised by
this newly discovered document is how it came to be in England. It is believed
to have been commissioned by founding father James Wilson who later went on to
be one of the six original Supreme Court justices appointed by George Washington.
It may have been given to Charles Lennox, the Third Duke of Richmond, often
called “Radical Duke” due to his support of the American Revolution. However it
got there it remained tucked away in a records office in Sussex for over two
centuries. Surprisingly, it is in better condition than the one in the National
Archives which has faded over time to the extent that portions are no longer
legible. No word on whether this copy will remain in England or if it will ever
find its way back to the United States.
No comments:
Post a Comment