It was Friday, July 19, 1776.
The Declaration of Independence had been approved, printed, carried across the states and read aloud to crowds and soldiers. It still did not exist in the form Americans recognize today.
Congress changed that.
Lawmakers ordered the Declaration “fairly engrossed on parchment” under the title “The unanimous declaration of the thirteen United States of America” and directed every member of Congress to sign it.
The delegates did not sign the parchment that day. But July 19 set in motion the creation of the official document now preserved at the National Archives.
At the same time, Congress ordered Lord Howe’s letters published, pushed troops toward New York and demanded greater unity among soldiers from different states. In New York, George Washington ordered 300 men into boats for engineering work at Kingsbridge.
The words of independence were becoming permanent. The war was making them costly.
The DX Brief
- Congress ordered the Declaration of Independence engrossed on parchment on July 19, 1776.
- The official title identified it as the unanimous declaration of the 13 United States of America.
- Congress directed every member to sign the engrossed copy, although most delegates signed on August 2.
- Congress ordered Lord Howe’s circular letters and declarations published in newspapers.
- Lawmakers urged Pennsylvania troops toward New Jersey and ordered Maryland troops to march to New York.
- Congress told Maj. Gen. Philip Schuyler to suppress jealousies among troops from different states and promote discipline.
- Washington ordered 300 men with two days of provisions to travel by boat to Kingsbridge for engineering work.
- Washington approved punishments for two deserters and demanded greater punctuality from field officers.
The Declaration goes onto parchment
Congress had approved the Declaration on July 4, and printer John Dunlap had produced the first broadsides that night. Those printed sheets carried the text across the country, but they were not the signed parchment displayed today.
The July 19 resolution ordered the Declaration “fairly engrossed on parchment” under a new title: “The unanimous declaration of the thirteen United States of America.”
To engross a document meant to copy it carefully in a formal hand. Congress also ordered that the parchment, once finished, be “signed by every member of Congress.”
That instruction did not trigger an immediate signing ceremony. Most delegates signed the engrossed copy on August 2, while others added their names later, according to the Library of Congress timeline.
Historians generally credit congressional clerk Timothy Matlack with writing the parchment by hand, although the July 19 resolution did not name the scribe. The resulting document now rests at the National Archives.
July 4 produced the Declaration’s final words. July 19 ordered those words into the permanent national record.
Unanimous in title, divided in the ranks
The new title presented 13 states speaking with one voice. The same congressional journal showed how difficult that unity remained in practice.
Congress directed Maj. Gen. Philip Schuyler to encourage “harmony between the officers and troops of the different states,” suppress “all provincial reflections and ungenerous jealousies of every kind” and promote “discipline, order, and zeal in the public service,” according to the July 19 record.
Those instructions reached beyond manners. The Continental Army drew men from separate governments, each with its own officers, customs and local loyalties. Washington had confronted the same problem days earlier when Connecticut horsemen claimed that their status as troopers exempted them from ordinary guard and fatigue duty.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Washington accepted the loss of about 500 men rather than allow one contingent to choose which duties it would perform.
Congress could call the Declaration unanimous. The army still had to learn how to act that way.
Congress puts Britain’s offer before the public
Congress also decided that Americans should see what Britain’s peace commissioners were offering.
Lord Richard Howe had sent circular letters and declarations to former royal governors. Washington forwarded them to Philadelphia, where Congress reviewed them and ordered copies published in the newspapers.
The resolution accused the “insidious court of Britain” of trying to “amuse and disarm” Americans with hopes of peace. Congress said publication would show that “the valour alone of their country is to save its liberties.”
Howe’s commission could offer pardons after submission, but it could not recognize American independence, according to Harvard’s Declaration Resources project.
Congress answered that limitation with publicity. Rather than hide the British messages, lawmakers sent them to the gazettes and invited Americans to judge the terms for themselves.
Congress pushes troops toward New York
The same day, Congress pressed more men toward the threatened theater.
It urged Pennsylvania to hasten its associators into New Jersey and told Maryland’s delegates to inform the commanding officer that Congress expected him to march his troops to New York immediately.
Congress also elected Samuel Griffin deputy adjutant general of the Flying Camp and gave him the rank of colonel. The mobile reserve was still taking shape as British forces gathered around New York.
The Declaration now carried the title of 13 United States. Congress still had to move state troops fast enough to defend them.
Washington sends 300 men to Kingsbridge
Washington’s July 19 General Orders showed what that defense required on the ground.
He ordered a 300-man detachment to assemble at 6 a.m. with its officers and two days of provisions. The men would travel by boat through the East River to Kingsbridge and carry out whatever work the engineer assigned.
Washington also ordered 30 men to report without arms for work directed from the army’s laboratory.
Discipline remained part of the day’s business. Courts-martial convicted two soldiers of desertion, and Washington approved sentences of 39 lashes for one and 20 for the other.
He also complained of “great remissness” among field officers assigned to the picket and ordered them to report punctually and remain until the guards marched off.
Congress was preparing a parchment meant to outlast the war. Washington was preparing works, guards and soldiers meant to survive the next attack.
Why it mattered
July 19, 1776, gave the Declaration the form Americans would remember.
The famous signatures did not appear that day, but Congress ordered the parchment, chose the title and directed every member to sign. The revolutionary statement was becoming an official national record.
Yet the congressional journal and Washington’s orders exposed how unfinished the new nation remained. Troops still carried state rivalries into camp. Reinforcements still had to move toward New York. Britain still hoped pardons and peace commissioners could weaken the break with the Crown.
Congress answered by calling the states unanimous, publishing Britain’s terms and moving men toward the fight. Washington answered by building defenses and enforcing discipline.
The Declaration had announced a country.
On July 19, Congress began creating the document that would bear its names while the army labored to make those names mean something.
Tomorrow on Road to Independence
July 20, 1776: Washington met a British emissary who tried again to open peace talks, while Benjamin Franklin answered Lord Howe’s pardon offer and Congress honored the defenders of Charleston.
Follow the full Road to Independence series here.
Provided by Dallas Express
