 Greetings from the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C., which sits on the ancestral lands of the Nacotcha Tank peoples. Happy 4th of July. At past July 4th, the National Archives Education and Public Program staff have presented activities and programs inside the National Archives Building that have been enjoyed by thousands of families. Although we are unable to do that this year, we are pleased that we can welcome you virtually. We hope that from wherever you are celebrating, you will enjoy the following program, Combining History, Education, Crafts, Food, and an opportunity for you to meet and ask questions of some very famous Americans. Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States and author of the Declaration of Independence. Martha Washington, the founding mother of the United States and wife and advisor to the first President of the United States, George Washington. Ned Hector, an American artillery man who fought and helped win American independence during the Revolutionary War. Throughout the program, we will hear from Breanne Robertson, Education Specialist with the National Archives D.C. staff who will discuss many lessons in our DocsTeach website and share related documents from our collection. She will be joined by Sarah Lyons-Davis, an Education Specialist with the National Archives at New York City who will demonstrate educational activities. To get the most out of today's program, please visit archives.gov and download a variety of fun materials and activities for your family to enjoy. And now it's my pleasure to turn the program over to Patrick Madden, Executive Director of the National Archives Foundation. The Foundation supports the work of the National Archives, especially its education and outreach programs. Check out their website, archivesfoundation.org, to learn more about them and join online. Patrick? Thank you, David. And on behalf of the National Archives Foundation, happy July 4th. Thank you for spending part of your holiday with us today. We're thrilled that folks from all 50 states have registered to participate in today's program. This is your archives and you couldn't pick a better day to spend with us. Before we start, we want to thank our sponsors, John Hancock, AARP, and Dicama, who have helped make today's programs possible. We have a busy day ahead of you, an exciting lineup starting right now at 11 all the way until 4 o'clock. And then at 4 p.m., the Archives will broadcast its annual ceremony, the reading of the Declaration of Independence. This is the 51st year the National Archives has presented the reading and the second year we will present it virtually. In a minute, you're going to meet President Thomas Jefferson. I hope you've had a good breakfast and you're ready to ask some tough but yet patriotic questions. To ask your questions, we're going to be using the YouTube chat. So for a little practice right now, I encourage you to put your hometown and state in there and I'll give you a shout out later on in the program. Before we jump into the program, the National Archives Foundation is also hosting a block party at the National Archives building downtown as we things are opening up in Washington, D.C. I'd like to welcome my colleague, Liana Askelies, who is on Constitution Avenue. We've got a lot of exciting things going on. Liana, are you there? Hi, Patrick. Can you hear me? Yes. All right. Hi, everybody. Hi, from Constitution Avenue and Happy Courts of July. We have a great celebration going on. There's a long line to sign the Declaration of Independence. We can get over here and show everybody is adding their signature to the document today. And then we have professional whistler who is singing some patriotic tunes for us this morning. And Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson just arrived to the party. So visitors can meet members of the original Continental Congress. We've also got crafts and chalk joins and Uncle Stam Stiltwalkers. Say hi and Happy Courts. OK, and I'll let you guys get back to your programming. Have a good course and. Terrific. Thanks. So if you're in the Washington, D.C. area, the program will be going on all morning with craft and music. And then this afternoon we'll have some live music on the stairs of the National Archives building. So we don't have the reading program out front, but we do have some activities for those of you who are in town. And it's not 100 degrees in Washington, D.C., which is unusual on the July 4th. So go down and join some of my colleagues down there. For those of you who are here with us virtually across the country, when was the last time you hung out with a former president? Well, today's your lucky day. May I formally introduce the author, lawyer, architect, inventor, farmer, former ambassador to France, Secretary of State and our third president of the United States, Mr. Thomas Jefferson. Mr. President, happy July 4th. Are you with us? Thank you, Mr. Madam, Mr. Madden, I believe I am, although in my day, it wasn't such a complicated question to ask someone that. Absolutely. Well, you look good and you sound good. To July 4th is a big day for our country. If it wasn't for your efforts, we we wouldn't be here. I know you want to share a bit about your life and the times. So I'm going to turn the program over to you. I do indeed. Thank you, sir. It is my honor to be here today. The Declaration of Independence was not a goal achieved. It was a challenge. Not just declared, but accepted. It was not an end. It was a beginning. A long and complicated road led to that beginning by the time that we were debating in June of 1776, the independence, that declaration would eventually announce more distance had been traveled, both literally as well as figuratively by Americans. And I could possibly tell of in my short time with you today. I will therefore begin my own part of the story with my return to Philadelphia in the spring of 17 and 76. I had served in the Continental Congress the preceding year and returned to my home and family at Monticello in Virginia for the winter. By the time that I arrived in Philadelphia in the middle of May of 76, though, the Congress had already made great decisions. Just a few days earlier, on the 10th of May, I was still on the road to Philadelphia. I started that day in Leesburg, Virginia and ended it in Fredericktown, Maryland. Well, I made a slow progress toward Philadelphia by horse. The Continental Congress was making its own progress toward independence by means of debate and resolution. On that day, their first session, Congress passed a resolution recommending that the colonies establish their own respective governments. The creation of our own constitutions was at the very heart of this revolution, for it meant that we were not merely rejecting the British government. We were inventing our own. A committee was immediately formed to compose a preamble to that resolution. As I traveled through McAllister's town, what Pennsylvanians in your day would know as Hanover on May 11th, followed by Lancaster on the 12th and Chester Brook on the 13th. The committee had composed and the Congress debated that preamble. It was only by coincidence that my arrival in Philadelphia on May 14th happened on the same day that in 1607, James Fort, later to be called Jamestown, was founded in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It was on my first full day in Philadelphia, May 15th. The Congress in Philadelphia published both resolutions along with the preamble, which stated that the king and parliament had excluded the inhabitants of the United Colonies from the protection of his crown. It went on to state that it is necessary that the exercise of every kind of authority under the crown should be totally suppressed and all the powers of government exerted under the authority of the people of the colonies for the preservation of internal peace, virtue and good order, as well as for the defense of their lives, liberties and properties against the hostile invasions and cruel depredations of their enemies. On the same day in my state, Virginia, the Virginia Convention voted on a similar statement along with instructions to their delegates in Philadelphia to propose a resolution for independency. The May 15th Virginia resolution asserted that in this state of extreme danger, we have no alternative left but an abject submission to the will of those overbearing tyrants or a total separation from the crown and government of Great Britain, uniting and exerting the strength of all America for defense and forming alliances with foreign powers for commerce and aid in war. Those of you who are familiar with the text of the July 4th Declaration, you might hear in the words of the May 10th and 15th preamble and resolutions a remarkably similar message. That is because by the time I completed my journey on the road to Philadelphia in 1776, the Congress in that city. As well as the convention in my home colony and in addition to individuals and representative bodies across the 13 colonies had already made great strides on the road to the Declaration of Independence. The conversation in the assembly room of the Pennsylvania State House with what you now call Independence Hall, where you see me here today, was therefore no longer a debate over whether or not these 13 colonies would or even should become free and independent states. When I rejoined that Congress after May 15th, the real debate was over when and how we would become independent. It was no longer a debate over whether or not we should engage in war. The reality of armed conflict became a task for my daily review when I was placed on the committee to investigate and report on the failed invasion of Quebec the previous winter. By the time that Richard Henry Lee proposed the resolution for independence on June 7th, we were already at war. We were already creating our own governments and we were already seeking alliances with foreign nations. The June 7th resolution was not merely a matter of thorn, however. It moved us one step closer to independence. It sparked a new intensity of debate about the timing and the means. The debate was so intense that after only a few days, Congress decided to allow for some time away from the debate floor. The few weeks of informal negotiations would allow for work to begin on a form of government that would bring all the colonies together. It would also allow for early planning of a military and a naval force for the United Colonies. And in addition to that, it would allow for the creation of a public articulation of what exactly we intended to accomplish and why. Congress created a committee for each task. With the vote of my fellow delegates as my direction for action, I joined the third such committee on June 11th. Although we postponed the debate on independence until July the 1st, Congressional business continued through the month of June. While I was working on my drafts of the Declaration of Independence, I continued my duties on other committees, as did Mr. Adams and Mr. Livingston, Mr. Sherman, Dr. Franklin. I had no idea that my work on that particular document would eventually become seen in America as more important than other documents I had taken part in writing for Congress. I did not save all of the various drafts that I wrote. The choice I now regret. At the end of June, I showed my drafts to Dr. Franklin and John Adams. They made a few changes. I drew up a fair copy and it was ordered to lie on the table so that the other delegates would have ample opportunity to review it. We began our final debate on independence on July 1st. As was usual for me, I was a witness and recorder only of those debates, not a participant. I did my best work in committee with a small group of people, or alone with a quill and paper. Even though the debates were not about an absolute difference of whether or not we were ever to become independent, they were passionate. My friend John Dickinson was one of the leaders arguing for delay. When I refer to him as a friend, I mean that we would become friends over the years that follow. I hope it does not seem strange to you that two people who have disagreed passionately about political questions can also respect one another and even be friends. Our mutual respect and friendship was possible because our disagreement was based on an honest wish to serve our country, not any individual party, even while we were redefining that country. And it was also based on a rigorous dedication to demonstrable facts. Mr. Dickinson was always a man of reason and science, and he believed the same of me, that enabled our simultaneous disagreement and also respect and friendship. As one of the leaders of the conservatives in Congress, he argued with some justification that we were not ready for independence and the struggle that would achieve it. We had only just begun to form our governments, our armies, navies, and foreign alliances. Without those things, he asserted, how could we hope to defeat the mightiest military in the world and stand on our own as an independent nation, group of separate but friendly nations? He had a point. He made his point so well in those debates, that John Adams, who was the chief spokesman for the radicals in Congress, such as myself, who believe we should have independence as quickly as possible. Mr. Adams was concerned that Mr. Dickinson's measured and informed logical argument would convince enough delegates that a delay of another year would be beneficial to our cause. But Mr. Adams fervently believed that any further delay would be disastrous. He and other radicals argued that a formal declaration of independence would not declare us to be anything other than what we already were. The text of May 10th and the 15th resolutions that I shared with you earlier made it clear that we were already on our own and that we were not going back. On a very practical level, no European government would agree to help us if there was any chance that we might change our minds and run back to the arms of England, leaving those nations on their own to face the vengeance of an angry and powerful Great Britain. It was on the afternoon of July the 2nd that Congress voted without a dissenting colony for independence. I saw no reason to disagree with John Adams' belief that at the time, at least, that July the 2nd would be going to become, as he put it, the great anniversary festival. Once we had officially decided that we were independent, the next step was to decide on how to tell our fellow Americans and the world about that decision. It was therefore in the afternoon of July the 2nd that Congress began debating the declaration. It continued the debates and those changes through the day and also the day of the 3rd. I remained silent throughout those debates as well, even though I was unhappy about many of those changes. You see, I understood that though my wishes may have lent otherwise, having all, as Mr. Adams put it, 13 clocks strike as one. Having us act as one people was more important than any individual's opinion, even the opinion of the individual who wrote it. Although I did make multiple copies of my final draft of the document and I dispersed them amply, so as to make sure that my contemporaries and those of future generations will be able to make up their own mind as to which one was better. By the morning of the 4th, Congress had done their work on the final draft. The vote was, again, without a senting state. New York abstained due to a volatile political situation mistake, but they caught up with us within the next week. It brings me much joy to know that you are celebrating today. But we did not celebrate on the 1st, 4th of July, so I respect any of you who today choose, but today is not a day of jubilation. The votes on July 2nd and 4th did not represent the attainment of a victory. They represented the setting foot on a new road in a long struggle. The mood at the time was not jubilant. It was somber. We immediately brought the Declaration of John done that for printing within a few weeks we had ordered the Declaration to be engrossed on parchment by Timothy Matlack, and we had set a formal signing date August 2nd, even though not all the men who signed the Declaration were present at the signing ceremony on August 2nd, and not all the men who had voted for the document even had the opportunity to fix their names to it, the act of affixing our signatures was anything but an empty gesture. We all knew that we were signing our own death warrant. By putting our names to that Declaration and sending it to King George III, we were making peculiar targets of ourselves and we knew it. Thomas Hayward Jr., Arthur Middleton, Edward Rutledge, the All South Carolina as well as George Walton of Georgia were all imprisoned by the British as prisoners of war after being captured during their military service defending the United States. Richard Stockton, signer from New Jersey was captured and imprisoned specifically because he had signed the Declaration. He was dragged from his bed at night by loyalists. Both the sons of New Jersey's Abraham Clark, both of his sons were captured and imprisoned by the British. The Elders of New Jersey the eldest son of New Jersey's John Witherspoon was killed in battle in Germantown a Thomas McKean who signed for Delaware wrote about how he had been hunted like a fox by the enemy compelled to remove his family five times in three months and at last fixed them in a little log house on the banks of the Susquehanna but they were soon obliged to move again on account of the incursions of the Indians. I could tell you a similar story about my own health and my own family from later in the war. The home of New York's Sina Lewis Morris was first occupied then looted then burned by the British. My point is not that all of these sacrifices were due solely to the signatures that these men placed on the Declaration of Independence. Rather it is to say that their signatures carried deep meaning. They committed themselves publicly to a cause and they suffered for that cause. The Declaration of Independence was one of the ways in which we were able to make that commitment. Others found different but no less effective means to dedicate themselves to the same cause. I ask you how will you choose to dedicate yourself to the greater cause not merely of American independence but of the true revolution for equality that made that revolution not merely a rebellion for the United States of America. I haven't said all that. What I'm going to do now is pause and turn back to my good friend Mr. Madden for I understand that my time for my prepared remarks is quite limited and we wanted to do something that's much more important than my talking and that is invite those who are gathered here today to ask me a few questions. Mr. Madden would you like to direct this aspect of our conversation? Mr. Jefferson, that was terrific. It gives us a lot to think about and context for what you are thinking about at the time. I want to encourage folks who are watching to add their questions into the chat box and President Jefferson will be pleased to know we have people from all over the country watching some of which you may be familiar with and some of you may not definitely Maryland, Virginia and the rest of Columbia. We have Hewlett, New Jersey Richmond, Virginia Sun Lakes, Arizona Oak Park, Illinois Fairfield, California Frisco, Texas a couple of folks from Florida as well. Our country is watching and listening to your words today as we talk about the words that you wrote many years ago. We are already getting some of the questions so I'm excited to see that. Talk about to children about your work is what kind of pen did you use to write the declaration? I'm glad we are starting with a very simple question. I used a quill pen. We commonly use the feathers of winged animals. Geese were among the most common to use where one would take, perhaps you have heard modern day individuals may have heard of the term pen knife and wondered why it was called that. Gentlemen such as myself who wrote quite a bit would carry such a knife with him to carve the end of that feather not the end that is a soft end but the end that was closest to the fowl from which we plucked the feather so we could carve it in just such a way where the feather was able to soak up some of the ink and then disperse it correctly on the page. Let me jump into some of the questions about you mentioned that there wasn't a celebration on the first July 4th but when did you first celebrate July 4th? I didn't start celebrating what you call Independence Day until years later when I arrived in France Dr. Benjamin Franklin who became my mentor for my first year representing the United States there I arrived in 1784 he had already begun to host an annual the 4th of July dinner at his home in Passe which used to be outside of Paris at least at the time the French at the time held a greater significance symbolically for that document than many Americans did though celebrations had begun already in the United States though the French seem to be looking forward accurately as to how important the document would become as it wasn't even until after I returned home from France it wasn't until the 1790s until my name became widely associated with the document and gave me a certain level of fame that gave a lot of strength to those who wish to put me forward as a candidate for political office on a national level very good we have a question about King George how did he respond to receiving the declaration I was unable to tell how he responded when he first received it I'm afraid that executives of nations and sovereigns were not in my day able to make their immediate reflections as universally and instantaneously known by the people of the land as the twittering of the birds in the trees however I have reason to believe he didn't appreciate it when I eventually met him it was when I joined John Adams he was representing the United States in England at the time at the court of saint change I joined Mr. Adams just over a month in London nothing could have been ruder than the reception given to me then how King George III treated me when I met him I admit to you that I would not have been surprised if our meeting had been awkward maybe that would give some indication of how he received the document the document obviously mentioned the list of grievances were those in order of importance to you to Mr. Adams Dr. Franklin how did the organization the grievances work I tried to organize the grievances by categories there were some that were specifically about starting out regarding legislation laws specific acts of the king acts of parliament later so we referred to parliament as a foreign jurisdiction not recognized by our laws there was another section for instance on what I think the easiest way for me to do this is to speak in terms of your day briefly on what you and your day would call war crimes there was a section then on them one of the grievances that I included in that section was cut it was a grievance that condemned slavery but it was under that rubric if you will of actions that we all know that war is a terrible thing violence is committed on both sides in a war but there are certain acts that the law of nations and that the republic of letters around the world acknowledged to be even beyond what is acceptable in war time I had included that mention of slavery and condemnation of slavery in the subset of grievances that were condemning those actions on the part of the British crown up until July of 1776 it was an awkward fit Congress removed that paragraph entirely when they could have kept the subject matter in and just moved the subject matter elsewhere so it was therefore the grievances are broken down by category rather than list of which is most important which is most important okay I have interesting questions a little specific about your draft I've not heard before in the draft your draft the declaration you used all caps for United States we know this is the first that phrase is first used in the declaration but in the final version it's used it's sort of a smaller almost like an adjective now is that just a matter of the engrossment or can you talk a little bit about that I want to be very careful when I address this subject because this is I need to acknowledge that I understand I'm in a very different circumstance in context than I ever was in my lifetime ability to converse today is predicated upon that of course after all we could have no such gathering during the yellow fever epidemics in Philadelphia when the capital had to be moved from Philadelphia to Germantown Pennsylvania acknowledging that then structural specificity in grammar and in syntax by your day has become much more standardized than in my day it would be easy then for people in your day to place the import of structural specificity that you have been trained in you become accustomed to into my day where I fear that those of you who are punctilious about your writing rules would think that I was a terrible speller I even took to later in my life I just didn't bother capitalizing the first letter of every sentence because the Romans didn't do it it wasn't done in Latin so I didn't want to do it either because writing wasn't as formalized as I spelled things in different ways there was not formalized so that being said I feel we would fall into a dangerous dichotomy if some people would say that there should be an emphasis on either saying united is more important so we capitalize both or states is more important so we make the you and united a lower case you and therefore it's less important I think this is a deadly and false dichotomy we are states we retain our individual identity but especially over the years by 1787 and the next year the ratification of the constitution we have joined together with a constitution that continues to acknowledge that we are states just like we are individuals throughout the country but we are united we are defined by being united my motto for the United States is the one that the committee of Dr. Franklin Adams and I proposed in the summer of 1776 it was a one adopted by the congress you may have changed it over the years I know a little of that but our motto was e pluribus unum out of many one we are not one in spite of our diversity in spite of the individuality of the states or of the citizens we are united acknowledging that we are not strong in spite of those differences we are strong simplistically because of them we are strong only if we acknowledge those differences and we engage in the difficult conversations where we do as we did in 76 in Philadelphia and 87 in Philadelphia we work through those differences and find some place where we can take action together united even while acknowledging that we are in fact our own people and our own states very good we only have just a couple more minutes and this is changing topics a little bit you were somebody who studied many subjects mastered many professions and subjects so we have a guest who's asked about the building of Monticello can you briefly talk about talk about that oh how delightful thank you for asking about about my home my home was a project as it turned out half a lifetime and I never truly finished it never truly completed I did more or less complete one version of it during the revolution and just toward the end of the revolution but that was created with an eye toward one person and that person wasn't me it was created with the very center of that picture of happiness that the building represented being my wife Martha Jefferson she passed away toward the end of the war I'm afraid and I had various other reasons as well to want to change the building that reminded me so much of her when I traveled away to France I got a lot of new ideas about architecture and and government it was upon my return from France and my one of my retirements from government that I began redesigning Monticello based on ideas that I gained during my time in France especially as well as northern Italy so from oh the mid 1790s well until the mid 1820s I then continued to work on my home it was never fully complete but I do love building things up and tearing them down again excellent well we've come to the end of our time I know you have a busy day today do you have any closing thoughts for our audience I do I do have some I've had time to contemplate today and well I hope many of you for many of you today is a day of reflection I mentioned earlier that I deep respect that others of you perhaps do not feel as inspired to to celebrate today and I reach out to you saying I know how you feel as I told you about the first July 4th and I also say that to those of you who are celebrating perhaps you can take a page from the document written by those who are not and read it for a moment and utilize today as a day also of reflection and contemplation but I hope also those of you who feel not so much of an impetus toward joy today and jubilation may be able to take a page written from the documents of those who are celebrating and enlighten your hearts a bit with them you see when I wrote the declaration of independence when I included the words all men are created equal I did not mean merely myself we voted on those words on July 4th of 1776 as the reason for our revolution and the basis for what it means to be an American what it means to be America when I wrote all men I meant all of mankind all human beings not just males who look like me but I knew that we hadn't yet gotten to the point at which we treated everybody equally I knew that it was going to take a long time before America got there I believed that the earth belongs to the living so when I wrote all men are created equal I didn't mean just the people who lived at the same time that I lived I meant everybody I meant you so when you think of those words all men are created equal remember that means that you are equal to any of the people who founded the United States of America and that means that you have the ability and the response ability to act like you are founders of the United States do what we did change those things that you think need to be changed don't let anybody tell you that you are not patriotic because you want to change the country that you love you tell them that you are founders as well just like Thomas Jefferson and that means that you don't have to live in Thomas Jefferson's America this is your country you belong here act like it make it your own maybe you won't change everything that you want to in the next year or even throughout your entire life I certainly didn't do that but if you keep trying eventually you might change the entire country I know that you can do this because I did it and you are my equals thank you my friends thank you President Jefferson again a wonderful way for us to start our program today we really appreciate you joining us and please enjoy the rest of your 4th of July I hope you enjoy the rest of your 4th of July as well Mr. Madden thank you now I'm going to turn it over to our friends from the education department of the National Archives Breanne Robertson will share some more of the history about the founding and drawing from the records of the archives and we've got a fun craft in here as well take it away thank you Patrick if you've ever visited the National Archives in Washington DC you have likely been in our rotunda which holds the founding documents of the United States the Declaration of Independence the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights the Declaration of Independence announced its intent to the world the 13 colonies would no longer be under British rule they would separate and form a new and independent nation the United States of America today we think of Thomas Jefferson as being the author of the Declaration of Independence but when the Continental Congress adopted the proclamation on July 4th 1776 Jefferson was not credited publicly then or for several years afterward a committee made up of John Adams, Ben Franklin Thomas Jefferson, Roger Sherman and Robert Livingston had the task of drafting the document the group regarded Jefferson as the most talented writer and asked him to write the first draft John Adams for example remembered telling Jefferson you can write 10 times better than I can the committee edited Jefferson's draft and presented a second version for the Continental Congress to consider the Congress made further edits to the proclamation before voting to adopt it it is important to note that the name of the document changed during the editing process the proclamation now announced it was the work of the unanimous 13 states the Declaration of Independence concludes with these words we therefore the representatives of the United States of America in general Congress assembled appealing to the supreme judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions due in the name and by authority of the good people of these colonies solemnly publish and declare that these united colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states and for the support of this declaration with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence we mutually pledged to each other our lives our fortunes and our sacred honor the signers of the declaration were risking everything their lives their fortunes and their honor because they felt that the cause of an independent country that would have a fair and just government was even more important when the declaration was approved and adopted John Dunlap the official printer of the Continental Congress got to work making the first printing for Congress to enter in the Journal of the Continental Congress July 4th entry Dunlap then made copies of the declaration that would be sent out and read to the public broadsides were like the newspaper of the day they were sheets of paper printed on one side and distributed to the people there were many broadsides printed for spreading news and many printers in 1776 but since John Dunlap was the official printer for Congress his broadside is referred to as the Dunlap broadside because news about the declaration of independence was so significant for the colonists to know Dunlap printed around 200 copies those copies were sent throughout the colonies and read in cities and towns so that everyone would know that Congress planned to break away from British rule local newspapers and printers also published copies so that citizens as far north as Exeter, New Hampshire and as far south as Charleston, South Carolina could read or hear the words of the declaration remember in 1776 there were no phones TVs or computers to share information so broadsides were commonly used to spread news the average broadside was not just read to the public but posted in public spaces for all to read imagine what it would be like to go into your town and look at the outside of a building to read your news the average broadside was about 20 inches high by 16 inches wide roughly the size of a small poster today the National Archives has the official copy of the Dunlap broadside the one that was entered into the Journal of Congress back on July 4th 1776 our version is one of 26 copies known to currently exist so now that you know what a broadside is and what the Dunlap broadside signifies let's take a closer look at the Dunlap broadside and compare it to the written version of the declaration the original draft of the declaration was also officially copied onto parchment and signed that is known as the engrossed copy of the declaration of independence and it is on display in the rotunda of the National Archives in Washington DC and it's permanent home okay so let's compare you can see the Dunlap broadside is slightly smaller than the written declaration note the header it tells us what this document is and what day it was finalized where are all the signatures that's right this is a printed document so a full listing of the signers of the declaration are not listed in the broadside the broadside was printed to share the words of the declaration the words are what was important for the colonists to hear not only are there no signatures but there are also only two names listed on the document that of John Hancock president of the continental congress and Charles Thompson the secretary the engrossed version of the declaration is the official document written on parchment that the delegates actually signed Timothy Matlack an assistant to Thompson set to work with pen ink and parchment writing out the words in a large clear hand his penmanship is a formal style called English roundhand or copper plate it's precise lines made it suitable for engraving or printing the preparation of the document in this manner was an important step in announcing American independence to both citizens and foreign governments although the printing press began to replace handwritten documents at this time Matlack's handwritten document lends a sense of elegance, authority and most important anonymity to the declaration of independence in colonial America a person's handwriting revealed a lot about his or her identity not everyone was literate and those who were learned different styles of penmanship depending on their place in society merchants tended to write strong loopy log books women's letters were intricate and shaded and upperclassmen had the standing to develop a personalized style as we spoke about earlier John Hancock was one of only two names listed on the broadside he was a respected patriot and was unanimously elected as president of the second continental congress Hancock was also the first to sign the engrossed version of the declaration his signature was large and ornate because of this his name has become synonymous with putting one signature on a document the formality and skill of the engrossed copy then strengthened the persuasiveness of the declaration by distancing its arguments from any individual the document not only helped protect the identities of the signers their names were kept secret until 1777 but it also announced the official standing of the new government by giving elegant visual expression to its collective voice the delegates who signed this document did not include everyone who had a part in the creation of our country the everyday men and women who may not have had a voice in the continental congress and halls of power also contributed to the independence of our nation in incalculable ways we know that there are limitations of the phrase all men are created equal the reality of the time was that women and persons of color were not included they fought for freedom from the king and Great Britain while also risking their lives and places in society for what they believe to be right Ned Hector, a man of African-American descent is a revolutionary war artillerymen whose courage during the retreat from the battle of Brandywine helped save horses wagon and armaments for the continental army we'll hear from him a little later in our program the founders did not live by the words they engrossed in these documents yet they provide the people of America today with a vision of what kind of country we may become the Declaration of Independence provides us with a basic understanding of the inalienable rights of all people and the duty of the government to secure and protect those rights its words have a universal quality that has inspired Americans throughout our history the Bill of Rights the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution protects Americans rights to fight for change and help realize the ideal that all men are created equal to make we the people mean all the people after the Civil War several amendments to the Constitution were ratified extending civil rights to African Americans beginning with the 13th amendment which abolished slavery the 14th amendment extended citizenship to formerly enslaved individuals born in the United States Congress chose to address civil rights with a constitutional amendment and on June 13th 1866 Congress approved a joint resolution proposing the 14th amendment to the Constitution including three significant provisions of equal protection under the law due process and citizenship the citizenship clause ensures that anyone born in the United States regardless of race color or familial status was automatically a U.S. citizen the clause made citizenship a fixed condition the issue out of the realm of politics where laws could be overturned and rights revoked by February 3rd 1870 three quarters of the states ratified the 15th amendment promising that the right of male U.S. citizens to vote shall not be denied or abridged on account of race color or previous condition of servitude while a great victory for black men many others including women and members of native communities were still excluded citizenship was not extended to American Indians until the 1924 Snyder Act and even after that many states use Native Americans unique status to deny suffrage as U.S. citizens it was not until 1962 that all states guaranteed voting rights to native peoples however full delivery of the promise of the 15th amendment was postponed as some states took steps to limit or deny black men their constitutional right to vote several states enacted discriminatory practices disenfranchising communities and putting obstacles to voting in place such as poll taxes and literacy tests it would be almost another hundred years before further acts were passed to strengthen protections of this amendment the voting rights act of 1965 focused primarily on enfranchising African Americans in the south the act and its extensions also safeguarded the voting rights of many other minority Americans within months of the voting rights act of 1965 being signed a quarter of a million African American voters were registered to vote this photograph of a polling place in Alabama reflects the unprecedented numbers of voters that turned out much like the original revolutionary acts that established the United States these actions were supported by people working for what they believed to be right and working for expanded protections under the law these momentous decisions were made on both a personal and community level with great risk to both now let's go to our National Archives Educator Sarah Lyons Davis in New York where she's going to show us how to write and round-hand script like Timothy Malak the engrosser of the Declaration of Independence Pinkie Brand at the end of the American Revolution not all delegates to the Second Continental Congress signed the declaration because they felt reconciliation with Britain was still possible would you have signed you can walk through the exercise and make this decision yourself on Doc's Teach the online tool for teaching with documents from the National Archives in the activity to sign or not to sign you can imagine that you are a member of the committee tasked with writing the Declaration of Independence consider the arguments made by members of the Second Continental Congress and ultimately decide to add your signature or not while you think about that decision you may want to get your materials together 18th century documents were often signed with quill pens and ink these are not so common now but we have instructions on our website for how you can make your own at home calligraphy pens which have a flat tip are available for purchase at craft stores but don't worry if you don't have either of these on hand any pen or pencil will do round-hand script like the one Timothy Malak used in the engrossed version of the Declaration is a nice blend of print and cursive lettering this means that you can either join your letters when you write words or leave them separate it's up to you so I'm now going to demonstrate how to write in script and hope you'll write along with me first let's warm up our hands by practicing the basic strokes try holding your pen at a slight angle imagine a box around the letter you want to write and tilt the flat tip of your pen so that the narrow edges point to the top right and bottom left corners this will make the ink appear thinner in the middle and taper off at the ends the downward stroke looks like a fancy lowercase i or a very thin s it begins at the top, curves very slightly and falls diagonally to the left the curve stroke is the second basic stroke you'll need to write in round-hand script it looks a bit like a narrow letter c keeping your pen at an angle pull your pen from mid height and draw a half circle practice doing this a few times until you feel comfortable with it now that we've mastered the basic strokes we can start writing words you can use the uppercase and lowercase alphabets we've provided as a guide the blue arrows show the directions of the pen strokes and the numbers tell you how many strokes make up each letter you can always sketch out the letters using your pencil first then simply follow the pencil lines with your pen you're all set to go try writing something exciting like your name or a message to friends and family here's my finished message in honor of the 4th of July you can also print and add your signature to the declaration of independence using the activity packet we've provided or by going to our website remember to share what you create with us you can tweet us using the hashtag archivesjuly4 thanks Brian and Sarah we'll have more crafts and activities throughout the day before we wrap I'm sure a little curious where you might be able to find one of these great God History shirts maybe you're inspired to have your own bust of Thomas Jefferson or you'd like to walk with Thomas Jefferson each day with these great socks those can all be found along with all of our terrific patriotic swag from the National Archives our eStore can be found at nationalarchivestore.org you can check it out after the program and this weekend we've got a great discount going on 25% off if you use the code represent25 that's the word represent and the number 25 to get a discount we also want to thank all of our sponsors today John Hancock, AARP and Daikima without their support of July 4th at the National Archives it would not be possible of course all of you who are members who support and help the foundation throughout the year with our programs and civics outreach if you're not a member you can visit archivesfoundation.org and while you're waiting for our next program at the top of the hour now's a good time to post a tweet about your day use hashtag archivesjuly4 for some patriotic and social love and follow us at any of our social handles I hope you'll tune in briefly at 12 o'clock we've got Martha Washington coming up she has much to say about the founder on behalf of the National Archives and the National Archives Foundation thank you for spending part of your day with us what has passed this prologue wave your flags enjoy your patriotic day and have a happy July 4th