🏘️ Croton Local History
Blog posts, articles, and community histories by local historians
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the heavy crank that lowered the platen and made the impression. . . . even a rural weekly, with barely adequate circulation of only 500 or 600, required a day and most of a night of unremitting labor to produce.” 1 One can only imagine what it was
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like for the printers to insert this same-day news where there was still room, on the last page, just before the advertisements: “This day the CONTINENTAL CONGRESS declared the UNITED COLONIES FREE and INDEPENDENT STATES.” The announcement of
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independence appeared on the last page, above an advertisement for the sale of two ships. Earlier that day, the Continental Congress had taken a decisive step by passing a resolution made by Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee, “That these United
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Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally
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dissolved.” John Trumbull’s Declaration of Independence , depicting the presentation of the draft of the Declaration of Independence to Congress. Two days later, on July 4, 1776, Congress formally approved the Declaration of Independence, setting
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out—as John Adams put it in a letter to his wife Abigail—”the Causes, which have impell’d Us to this mighty Revolution.” 2 These images are courtesy of Seth Kaller Inc., a dealer in rare historic documents based in White Plains. See the website for
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more information on the history of the Declaration of Independence. Coming next: Croton’s connection to the Declaration of Independence. Paisley, Jeffrey. The Tyranny of Printers, Newspaper Politics in the Early American Republic (University of
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Virginia Press, 2003) ↩ Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams, 3 July 1776, at the Massachusetts Historical Society . ↩ Share this: Print (Opens in new window) Print Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email Share on Facebook (Opens in
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new window) Facebook Share on X (Opens in new window) X Share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr Share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn Like Loading... Related Tagged Declaration of
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Independence Published July 2, 2013 July 2, 2014
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On the afternoon of July 9, 1776, at the Court House in White Plains, Colonel Pierre Van Cortlandt voted to approve the Declaration of Independence. He was one of eleven deputies from Westchester County at the meeting of “the Provincial Congress of
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the Province of New-York.” 1 A rare copy of the broadside of the Declaration of Independence, printed by John Holt for the Convention of Representatives of the State of New York, after their meeting of July 9, 1776. Courtesy of the Westchester County
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Archives. The meeting took place at a time of high drama. As the Continental Congress was meeting in Philadelphia to declare independence (on July 2) and to approve the text of the declaration (on July 4) the British were assembling, in the harbor in
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New York City, what historian Wilbur C. Abbott called “the most formidable force yet used by any European power outside of Europe.” 2 “On July 2,” he wrote, “they were in the harbor; and even while the Declaration of Independence was being adopted,
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the army which was designed to make independence impossible was being disembarked on Staten Island . . . It was enough to give the hardiest patriot pause. A hundred and thirty vessels, carrying six thousand veterans from Halifax; troops from the
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British garrisons in the West Indies, Gibraltar, and the British Isles, and eight thousand seasoned soldiers from Germany, well-officered and well-supplied, experienced in war, supported by a fleet—such was the great argument presented by the British
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government against a hasty decision by New York in favor of independence.” New York’s decision on independence was crucial, not only because of the size and strategic importance of the colony, but because New York’s delegation in Philadelphia—lacking
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instructions from the Provincial Congress—had been the only delegation to abstain from the July 2 independence resolution—preventing the vote from being unanimous. The Provincial Congress began the July 9 meeting in the morning by electing officers.
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They then allowed deputies from New York, Albany and Orange counties “take their seats”, but asked that they take measures to procure a copy of their missing “Credentials.” They also took “the general oath of secrecy”—with the exception of Mr.
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Benjamin Smith, who “refused to take the oath” and “accordingly withdrew.” After dispensing with other business “a Letter from the Delegates of the Colony at Continental Congress of the 2nd July . . . on the subject of Independence, and requesting
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Instructions from this Congress, was received and read.” Because events had been moving quickly they then read a second letter from the delegates in Philadelphia—this one “enclosing the Declaration of Independence,” the full text of which they
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recorded in the minutes. The letters and the Declaration were then referred to a committee chaired by John Jay. When the Provincial Congress reconvened that afternoon “the Committee appointed to take into consideration the letter from our Delegates
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in Continental Congress, and the Declaration of Independence, reported the following, which was unanimously agreed to, and is in the words following, that is to say: In Convention of the Representatives of the State of New-York, White Plains, July 9,
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1776. Resolved, unanimously, That the reasons assigned by the Continental Congress for declaring the United Colonies free and independent States, are cogent and conclusive; and that while we lament the cruel necessity which has rendered that measure
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unavoidable, we approve the same, and will, at the risk of our lives and fortunes, join with the other Colonies in supporting it.” The Representatives (of what they now referred to as the State of New-York) also resolved that the Declaration of
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Independence be published “to the beat of a drum” in White Plains and throughout the “State of New-York.” They finished by resolving that “the Delegates of this State in Continental Congress, be, and they are hereby, authorized to consent to and
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adopt all such measures as they may deem conducive to the happiness and welfare of the United States of America .” The Westchester County Archives has graciously allowed us to use an image of their exceedingly rare copy of the broadside, printed in
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New York City by John Holt as a result of the July 9 resolution. 3 The Provincial Congress ordered that 500 copies be printed and “sent to all the County Committees in the State.” Today, there are only five known copies. 4 There is one significant
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word missing from this and all the other July 1776 broadsides and newspaper printings. When the engrossed copy of the Declaration was made on vellum in early August 5 , 1776, the heading was changed as a result of the actions Pierre Van Cortlandt and
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the other patriots took in White Plains. The heading of the vellum copy reads “The unanimous declaration of the thirteen United States of America.” Reading of the Declaration of Independence, White Plains, July 11, 1776. From a painting by George
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