Little Known Facts about Independence Day and the Declaration of Independence

by Karen V. Wasylowski

Were you aware that Independence Day, America's beloved Fourth of July, should really be celebrated on July 2? 

Yes. July 2, 1776 is the day that the Continental Congress actually voted for independence from Great Britain. John Adams, in his writings to his wife Abigail, even noted that July 2 would be remembered in the annals of American history and would be marked with fireworks and celebrations. The written Declaration of Independence was dated July 4 but wasn't actually signed until August 2. So, to be quite clear about this - the Fourth of July is actually the Second of July, and if you really want to stretch out that celebration, we could have fireworks again, on August 2. (Interesting aside - my birthday is August 4. Feel free to celebrate that as well.)

Who Signed first? Who Signed Last? 

John Hancock signed first, with a large hand right in the middle because he was the President of the Congress. It is believed Thomas McKean of Delaware was the last person to sign. When Congress authorized the printing of an official copy with the names attached in January 1777, a full six months later, McKean's name was not included. He signed after that date, or the printer made a mistake by omitting him.

Oldest signer? Youngest? 


Edward Rutledge was the youngest at 26 years of age - or should I say six and twenty? He was from South Carolina and he argued against Jefferson's condemnation of slavery clause, which was eventually blue penciled (don't you just hate copy editors?) Jefferson remained bitter about this deletion until his death. Of course, he was a slave owner himself, which is a bit odd.

Benjamin Franklin, of the famous stove making family, was the eldest to sign at seventy years of age - or should I say zero and seventy? Quite the scamp, Franklin famously said at the signing, "We must all hang together, or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately." (If I had been a delegate I would have been a screaming blur of feet and hands barreling out the door at that remark)

On The Road Again – Just Can't Wait to Get On the Road Again 

 Very like the Traveling Wilbury's the Declaration of Independence was on the road for many years. After the August 2 signing ceremony it stayed in Philadelphia for a while but a British threat on December 12 encouraged the Congress to make a hasty retreat. They reconvened eight days later, in Baltimore, Maryland, Document in hand only to return it to Philadelphia in March of 1777. Throughout the following years the Document traveled with the Continental Congress across the Northeast ending up in Washington, DC in 1800.

THEY'RE BACK! In 1814 with the British again threatening war the Document was moved to an unused gristmill in Virginia. On August 24, as the British burned the White House, it was moved to Leesburg, Virginia - UNTIL September, when it returned to the capital.

No 'United States' mentioned in the Declaration for united States? 


When the Founding Fathers adopted "The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America" [wiki] on July 4, 1776, they didn’t form the nation called The United States of America. The 'United States' was actually formed on March 1, 1781 when the Second Continental Congress ratified the Articles of Confederation.

Is that a fact? 

The middle section of the Declaration is a list of grievances the colonies had against King George III or the British Parliament. The British people, on the other hand, were not held to be at fault.

By the time the Declaration was written the United States had been at war with Great Britain for over a year.

Contrary to the movie, National Treasure, there is no map on the back of the Declaration. There is only a notation to label the document for filing.

Thomas Jefferson took on the duty of drafting the Declaration, asking John Adams and Benjamin Franklin for corrections. His 'rough draft' is in the Library of Congress.

These crazy kids - they never take care of their things!

According to historian Pauline Maier, who wrote 'American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence':

It wasn't taken care of very well in the early years. It was sort of rolled up, carried around with the Second Continental Congress. And then the State Department kept it, and if people came, they'd pull it out and show it to them. None of this, you know, enormous--What do they call it?--at the Library of Congress--argon caskets, you know, these heavy metal, glass cases that have gas in them without oxygen so that the documents don't decompose. And the Library of Congress keeps them sort of in a refrigerator. It's the most precious documents--none of that.

I mean, they just pulled it out and showed it to you, the real thing. And then they got tired of pulling it out, so they pasted it up on a wall in what was then the patent office, and there it remained for 30 years near a very bright window. It faded. And they spent a considerable amount of time trying to figure out what they could do with it. Modern preservation techniques are really a quite recent development. (Source)

The beautiful words of Thomas Jefferson:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

 Have a great Second thru Fourth of July everyone!

Karen V. Wasylowski is the author of 

"Darcy and Fitzwilliam" 

a very, very funny sequel to Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice"  

"It is absorbing.  It is Intoxicating.  It is excellent."

- Jane Austen World

- Jane Austen Today

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The Victorian Wedding versus My Own Wedding

By Karen V. Wasylowski

Today is my wedding anniversary.  Richie and I have been married nineteen years, not very long considering our ages, but an astounding number to me.  It is absolutely frightening that so many years have sped by us - like the blink of an eye really.

We had a huge event, even though we were older than the average couple planning their first wedding ever.  I remember going to the Bridal Shop with my friend and the ten year old receptionist there asking me, "Mother of the Bride?"  I nearly bopped her on the head.

It was the first marriage for both of us and although I was prepared for a small ceremony, with me wearing an appropriate and tasteful suit and nifty Princess Beatrice like hat, my husband-to-be had his own ideas.

"I'm wearing a tuxedo."

"You can't wear a tuxedo.  I'm wearing an appropriate suit."

"What in the world is an 'appropriate' suit?"

"It is a suit appropriate for my advanced age and position in society."

"Well, you can wear an appropriate suit if you like but I'm wearing a tuxedo.  I'm only getting married once in my life and it's going to be in a tux."

After that it was all downhill.  White wedding gown and veil for me, tuxedo for him, four bridesmaids, four groomsmen, two hundred close friends and family, an orchestra, dancing til midnight...  It was one of the best parties I'd ever been to, before or since.

It was the happiest, most blessed, day of my life.

So today, I want to examine Victorian Weddings.  Within a 19th Century American etiquette book: "Our Deportment: or the Manners Conduct and Dress of the Most Refined Society" by John H. Young, A.M., F.B. Dickerson Publisher, 1882, is a section entitled "A Victorian Wedding".  Let's see how Richie and my wedding - a low key, slightly more modern wedding - compares.

"After the wedding invitations are issued, the fiancee does not appear in public."  

 On retrospect, I do suppose the entire "Chippendales" episode involving me, my bridesmaids and a pseudo cowboy called "Joltin' Jake" was a huge mistake.  Just kidding.  The girls and I were pretty tame.  We preferred pigging out on ice cream, frozen snickers bars, and old Robert Redford movies.

Queen Victoria


"The most approved Bridal costume for young ladies is of white silk, high corsage, a long wide veil of white tulle reaching to the feet, a wreath of maiden-blush roses with orange blossoms.  The orange blossoms are only suitable for the ceremony."

No problem there.  My gown was white and my veil was gorgeous.  I lost my shoes sometime during the reception, however, and found out later that my mother had taken them.  She had Alzheimer's and forgot where she put them while I was dancing.  I have nightmares of them being flushed down the toilet or being served to diners in the restaurant next door.  Both ideas are completely possible when your parent has dementia. Richie and I lived through crazier things than this until she passed three years later.

Victoria and Albert

"The bridegroom and ushers wear full morning dress, dark blue or black frock coats, or cut aways, light neckties and light trousers.  The bridegroom wears white gloves.  The ushers wear gloves of  some delicate color."

Not even remotely possible.  Although they all did wear their tuxes, a cattle prod would have been needed to get these fellows into delicate colored gloves.  In fact, they loaded a Confessional with bottles of champagne and kept slipping into the side booths, 'absolving' each other of their sins.  Within a half hour before the ceremony they were thoroughly sin free and foxed senseless.

"Ceremonials for entry into the church in the highest social circles in New York are as follows:  the bridesmaids, each leaning upon the arm of a groomsman, first pass up the aisle to the altar, the ladies going to the left, the gentlemen to the right. The groom follows with the bride's mother, or someone to represent her, leaning on his arm, whom he sets at a front pew on the left.  The bride follows, clinging on the arm of her father (or a near relative) who leads her to her groom."

Not very different from today, except for the groom bringing the bride's mother in - that seems odd.  Most grooms now are already wobbling at the front of the altar, waiting nervously, restrained by their best man, the words "Help Me" invariably chalked onto the bottom of their shoes.  In my case my brother walked me down the aisle since my father had passed away years before.  After two steps he began to stumble (he had knee surgery the WEEK before the ceremony - the rat).  I supported his weight for only one or two steps before he regained his footing.  I told him later I was prepared to drag him by the hair down that aisle.  Luckily I was spared that indignity.

Victoria's engagement ring - the first engagement ring ever made.  A snake was the symbol of eternal love, the emerald was her birthstone.

"A jeweled ring has been for many years the sign of betrothal but at present a plain gold circlet with the date of the engagement, is preferred.  It is removed at the altar by the groom, passed to the clergy man, and used in the ceremony.  A jeweled ring is placed upon her hand by the groom on the way home from the church, or as soon after the ceremony as convenient.  It stands guard over its precious fellow, and is a confirmation of the first promise."

Isn't that the sweetest sentiment?  I tried to convince Richie that matching earrings, bracelet and necklace were traditional also.  No, he didn't believe it either.

"The Bridal Tour

The honeymoon of repose, exempt from all claims of society, is now prescribed by the dictates of common sense and fashion, and the same arbiters unite in condemning the harassing bridal tour.  It is no longer de rigueur to maintain any secrecy as to their plans for travelling, when a newly married couple depart upon a tour."

My heavens, what in the world does that mean?  I remembered in "Oklahoma" the couple was chased out onto the roof - a shivaree they called it in the west.  Did people really terrorize couples like that in Victorian times?  

Richie and my version of 'harassment' was when about thirty of our friends showed up at the hotel the next morning, rousted us out of bed (we both had horrid hang-overs), overfed us at the buffet and dragged us home to open their gifts.  

As I said, it was the best day of my life.  

It was actually the very first day of my life.

I love you Richie.  Happy Anniversary.

Visit my other website,

THE LEAGUE OF BRITISH ARTISTS

And follow the link there to buy my book, 

a very funny and poignant continuation of Pride and Prejudice

"Darcy and Fitzwilliam:

A Tale of a Gentleman and an Officer"

Coming soon - a sequel to my continuation of
Pride and Prejudice

(confused yet?)

"Darcy and Fitzwilliam:

Sons and Daughters"

Downton Abbey (or, Highclere Castle in sheeps clothing)

By Karen V. Wasylowski

Unless you've lived under a log for the past year or so you will recognize this sweet little English house.  It is Highclere Castle, or as we Downton Heads like to call it - Downton Abbey.

The history of this family, as well as the house, is very well known.  It was the Fifth Earl of Carnarvon who financed the Howard Carter expedition into Egypt that resulted in the discovery of none other than King Tutankhamen's tomb.   The house itself, designed by Sir Charles Barry, who also designed the Houses of Parliament, is situated on one thousand beautiful acres, an area roughly the size of Central Park in New York and has been in the Carnarvon family since 1679. 

There are over two hundred rooms, fifty to eighty bedrooms, some cellars, a really keen gallery and, unfortunately, only one ladies room.  But isn't that always the way.

I thought I would dig up some other, lesser known, tidbits about the Abbey.  Like, why is it called an Abbey? Well, as many other of the great English Estate houses, "Highclere is on the site of a former ecclesiastical property. (When then-king Henry VIII turned against the Catholics in the 16th century, he appropriated lock, stock, and barrel.) Used by the bishops of Winchester in the 12th century, even now, it boasts a 'monks’ garden.'" Can a bingo  room be very far off?  (I'm beginning to sound like the Dowager Countess.)

Another fun fact - if there ever was a fire "the evacuation procedure from the upper floors would have resembled an emergency airline deplaning. The maids would have had to slide through tunnels of canvas spread over iron hoops, reports Tom Sykes in the Daily Beast. As such, the danger of getting caught up during escape was significant, and so in case of fire, maids were urged to don sweaters before popping into the chutes."  I would imagine the family could just walk out the doors.

The row of bells we see every week to summon the servants to various aristocratic bedrooms, or to the family parlor or the library or, well, to wherever it is servants need to go, each have individual tones, so that the servants could tell, without looking at the words over the bells, which of the family was summoning them and to where.  My husband believed this to be a brilliant idea and attempted to install a similar system within our own home. The fire is nearly out now.

This last fun fact is my favorite.  Apparently, in the Carnarvon family's never ending quest to meet the unbelievable expense of running a home of this size (can you imagine the heating bill alone?  Energy saving tip - seal off all but 199 rooms and get a space heater.) But I digress...where was I?  Oh yes, well it seems they would like to sell off a bit of the land, develop fringes of the estate.  Now you and I wouldn't think twice about unloading the extra lot next door to us, but these poor folk are forced to butt heads with their neighbor - Andrew Lloyd-Webber, or Baron Andrew Lloyd-Webber now.  Imagine the repercussions.

If my neighbor objects to a Walmart being built on land I sell, or the odd Starbucks, he would have to take me to court - I suppose.  I don't really know, not having anyone actually interested in either my house or my land.

The poor Carnarvons, however, are going mano a mano with another peer of the realm. Or should that be Peer?  Does the problem now go before Parliament?  Is Cameron to be informed?  Must Will and Kate be forced to take sides? Two hundred years ago they would settle it like gentlemen - bet the entire SHE-bang on one hand of Vingt-et-un, or better yet - a duel at dawn in Hyde Park.  Ooh, ooh, better yet again, a hundred year's before that someone would have lost their head, be drawn and quartered - or worse.  I'm nearly certain of my facts.  Well, one can dream can't one?

Today I believe the worst that may happen is this - either Andrew Lloyd-Webber's land will touch a housing development filled with upper middle class Mrs. Bucket's attempting to introduce their various and vocally challenged offspring to him.

Or...the Carnarvon's may be forced to listen to Evita.

Beheading is not sounding so darn bad now, is it?

Karen V. Wasylowski is the author of the Pride and Prejudice sequel, "Darcy and Fitzwilliam".

Featured in June 2011 by the Orange County California Register as one of six books

They selected for a "Great Summer Read"

(also may be read in Spring and during several

week-ends in Fall.  Contact a

physician for Winter reading)

Finally, please visit my blog, The League of British Artists, to catch the latest news regarding your favorite handsome British actors and - occasionally when we must so that we don't appear to be stalkers - actresses.   (You can buy Darcy and Fitzwilliam there too)  (Buy two.)