July 8, 1776 – 1st Public Proclamation of Declaration of Independence

On July 2, 1776, members of the Continental Congress voted to declare the United States independent from Great Britain. It was not until July 4 that the wording of the document was formally adopted that explained the actions of the members of Congress. (This is why John Adams believed the day of celebration of independence should be the 2nd, not the 4th.)

John Hancock submitted an order for 200 broadsides of the Declaration for distribution; they were not ready to be sent on by horseback to the colonies until July 5th. The Declaration appeared for the first time in English (it had previously appeared in a German newspaper on July 5) on the front page of the “Pennsylvania Evening Post” on the evening of July 6.

On July 8, this day in history, the first official public reading of the Declaration of Independence was made by Colonel John Nixon after the Liberty Bell summoned the citizens of Philadelphia to Independence Hall. Later that evening, the Philadelphia and New York Gazettes reported,

. . . our late King’s Coat of Arms was brought from the Hall in the State House, where the said King’s Courts were formerly held, and burnet amidst the acclamations of a crowd of spectators.”

On July 9, General George Washington, then with the Continental Army in New York, received one of Hancock’s broadsides. According to the Pacific Standard, relating the media chronology of “How the Declaration of Independence Went Viral,” Washington instructed various brigade commanders to recite the Declaration loudly to their troops, so that it could be heard by the British naval vessels in the city’s harbor.

The Standard adds:

Washington himself read the document aloud in front of City Hall, inciting a riot where hundreds of soldiers tore down a towering statue of George III. The statue was eventually vandalized to make some 42,000 musket balls for Continental forces fighting under Washington’s command.”