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“In Congress, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America.” Summary:
In 1820, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams commissioned William J. Stone to engrave an exact copy of the Declaration on a copper plate. When Stone finished, in 1823, Congress ordered 200 official copies of his facsimile printed on vellum. (Fewer than 40 are known to have survived, with at least 21 of those housed in institutions and public collections.) All subsequent exact facsimiles of the Declaration descend from the Stone engraving. Historian Peter Force had this second edition of the facsimile struck as part of his Congressional commission for a multi-volume documentary history of America. Most descriptions date the Force printing to 1848, based on the publication of his American Archives: A Documentary History of the United States of America, Series V, Volume I, which included the Declaration facsimile. But Force had already procured the facsimiles 15 years earlier, when Congress authorized the American Archives project. The State Department had negotiated for 1,500 copies, and Force planned to sell additional copies by subscription. He sub-contracted the printing to William Stone, the original engraver. On July 21, 1833, Stone invoiced Force for 4,000 imprints of the Declaration. Very little of the original Declaration is legible today. The Force printing remains one of the best representations of the Declaration as the manuscript looked over 150 years ago, prior to its nearly complete deterioration. The Declaration of Independence. Copperplate engraving printed on thin wove paper. “In Congress, July 4, 1776.” Imprint at bottom left, “W. J. STONE SC WASHn.” [William J. Stone for Peter Force, Washington, D.C., ca. 1833]. 26” x 30”. Inventory# 21397 $38,000 Historical Background:
“Drafted by Thomas Jefferson between June 11 and June 28, 1776, the Declaration of Independence is at once the nation’s most cherished symbol of liberty and Jefferson’s most enduring monument. Here, in exalted and unforgettable phrases, Jefferson expressed the convictions in the minds and hearts of the American people. The political philosophy of the Declaration was not new; its ideals of individual liberty had already been expressed by John Locke and the Continental philosophers. What Jefferson did was to summarize this philosophy in ‘self-evident truths’ and set forth a list of grievances against the King in order to justify before the world the breaking of ties between the colonies and the mother country.” (National Archives Charters of Freedom On-line Exhibit at http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/declaration.html)
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