American History Tidbits

Six And A Half Williams

So, being the nerd that I am, I have a copy of The Unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America hanging on my wall above my bed. (That's the full title of the Declaration of Independence by the way). When I sit up in bed, the signatures are right at eye level, so I like to sit there and study them.

Most of the colonies didn't want to declare independence for varying reasons. John Adams, however, was very insistent that they did, but nobody liked him, so they ignored him when he brought it up. Eventually, Richard Henry Lee from Virginia brought a resolution to Congress suggesting that they declare independence. This began the process of drafting.

The Declaration was written by the Committee of Five which consisted of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, and Thomas Jefferson (who is credited for writing out the full draft). Once finished, Jefferson presented his full draft to Congress. The delegates read it over and made many changes. They debated for a long time over many issues that Jefferson addressed in his draft, including slavery. The southerners ended up making them remove the section about eradicating slavery as it was essential to their economy.

The reason they had to debate and change so much of the Declaration was because the decision had to be unanimous for it to be passed since declaring independence from the mother country was such a big thing. Each colony had to ratify it, and eventually they did. Once the Declaration had been edited and ratified, they ended up, of course, signing it.

Fifty-six men signed the Declaration of Independence, John Hancock being the most famous signer due to the fact that he wrote his name "big enough for King George to read it without his glasses" (probably not the exact quote, but you get the gist. Also, I don't think they ever really sent it to him, but whatever.) Even though he was a part of the Committe of Five, Robert Livingston did not sign the Declaration because he believed it was too early to declare independence. The four other members of the committe did sign it though.

The two most common names on the Declaration are Thomas and William, each with six delegates. However, depending on how you view my personal favorite signer, William Williams, the name William appears seven times. I like to look at William Williams's signature and just imagine what his life must have been like with such a redundant name. It makes me chuckle. Other common names on the Declaration include John and George, both with five delegates. Looking back through history, these four names (John, Thomas, George, and William) along with James are quite common.

I also like to study each delegate's signature. Each man had his own way of writing, and each signature is unique, and some are quite fancy like Ben Franklin's and William Floyd's. And can I just say that John Adams had impeccable handwriting? I enjoy looking at the signatures and thinking about how all these great men gathered in one place and wrote their names not just on a piece paper, but in history itself.

I also reccomend the musical 1776 to anyone who likes history and the Declaration of Independence. It's a very fun musical, and it's very historically accurate. However, the musical shows the delegates signing the Declaration on the fourth of July. While most people believe that this is the day the Declaration was signed, it is merely a common misconception. America officially declared independence on the fourth, but the Declaration wasn't actually signed until the second of August (I should have posted this two days ago, oops). This doesn't really affect Independence Day, however, since we're not celebrating the signing on that day, just the part where we declared independence. We should have a national holiday on the second of August, though. We should call it Signing Day, and that way we can clear up the misconception that a large portion of the country believes. I don't know, just a thought. I bet we could get Nicholas Cage in on it though.