The letter of transmittal to Jefferson-headed: "[S] Department of State Washington 24 June 1824." and signed by John Quincy Adams-reads as follows: "In pursuance of a joint Resolution, of the two Houses of Congress, a copy of which is hereto annexed, and by direction of the President of the United States, I have the honour of transmitting to you two fac simile copies of the Declaration of Independence, engrossed on parchment... Of this Document, unparalleled in the annals of Mankind, the original deposited in this Department exhibits your name as one of the Subscribers - The rolls herewith transmitted are copies as exact as the art of engraving can present of the Instrument itself, as well as of the signatures to it. While performing the duty thus assigned to me, permit me to felicitate you and the Country which is reaping the reward of your labours, as well that your hand was affixed to this record of glory, as that after the lapse of near half a century, you survive to receive this tribute of reverence and gratitude from your children, the presentfathers of the Land." Jefferson (as shown by what is evidently the original draft formerly in the Department of State and now in the Library of Congress) answers him from Monticello, July 18th: "I have received the two copies of the fac simile of the Declî of Indepdce which you have been so kind as to send me under a resolî of Congress, with due sense of respect for this mark of attention to myself I contemplate with pleasure the evidence afforded of reverence for that instrument, and view in it a pledge of adhesion to it's principles, and of a sacred determination to maintain and perpetuate them." # Jefferson and Adams both died on July 4, 1826. Jefferson wrote (See The Writings of Thomas Jefferson by H. A. Washington) on June 24th to Mayor Roger C. Weightman: "The kind invitation I receive from you, on the part of the citizens of the city of Washington, to be present with them at their celebration on the fiftieth anniversary of American independence, as one of the surviving signers of an instrument pregnant with our own, and the fate of the world, is most flattering to myself, and heightened by the honorable accompaniment proposed for the comfort of such a journey. It adds sensibly to the sufferings of sickness, to be deprived by it of a personal participation in the rejoicings of that day. But acquiescence is a duty, under circumstances not placed among those we are permitted to control. I should, indeed, with peculiar delight, have met and exchanged there congratulations personally with the small band, the remnant of that host of worthies who joined with us on that day, in the bold and doubtful election we were to make for our country, between submission or the sword; and to have enjoyed with them the consolatory fact, that our fellow citizens, after half a century of experience and prosperity, continue to approve the choice we made. May it be to the world, what I believe it will be, (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all) the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government. That form which we have substituted, restores the free right to the unbounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion. All eyes are open, or opening, to the rights of man. The general spread of the light of science has already Jaid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God. These are grounds of hope for others. For ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them." Adams replied to a similar invitation from New York City: "[J] Not these United States alone, but a mighty continent, the last discovered, but the largest quarter of the globe, is destined to date the period of its birth and emancipation from the 4th of July, 1776." Following their deaths, Charles Carroll of Carrollton writes (July 19, 1826) from Doughoregan, to Charles H. Wharton: Though I disapproved of M: Jefferson's administration, & was dissatisfied with a part of M: Adam's both unquestionably greatly contributed to the Independence of this country: their services should be remembered, and their errors forgotten and forgiven. This evening, I am going to Baltimore to attend tomorrow the procession & ceremonies to be paid to the memories of those praised & dispraised Presidents . . . I was not in Congress when the vote of Indepence was taken as soon as I took my seat I signed that important declaration which has thus far produced, & I hope will perpetuate the happiness of these States -" (Taken from the facsimile in the collection of Theodore Bailey Myers now in the New York Public Library, Lenox, which states that the original is in the possession of R. C. Davis of Philadelphia.) (Niles' Weekly Register, C and N, of August 5, 1826, contains the oration of General Samuel Smith in the Park at Baltimore on July 20th, and states that he said: "It [the Declaration] passed congress on the 4th July, 1776, and was signed immediately by all present, and being spread upon the table was signed by such as had been absent, as they took their seats in the house And on the 4th of July, 1776, he [Carroll] was elected to congress. He took his seat on the 18th- and immediately signed the Declaration of Independence.") Carroll lived until 1832. On May 23, 1828, Congress granted to him—"[D1] the only surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence" — the privilege of the frank. A like privilege had been given to Adams, February 25, 1801, and to Jefferson, June 28, 1809. 16 See Appendix, p. 346. 17 Taken from the copy in the Department of State. 18 The Declaration was evidently one of these. 19 Taken from the original in the Department of the Interior. 20 For photograph, see The Declaration of Independence by Michael, between pp. 16 and 17, and The Ladies' Home Journal for July, 1898. 21 For photograph, see The Declaration of Independence by Michael, facing p. 16, and The Ladies' Home Journal for July, 1898. 22 On the door of the cabinet (referred to in the text) from which the Declaration was removed appears the following: "[S] The rapid fading of the text of the original Declaration of Independence and the deterioration of the parchment upon which it is engrossed, from exposure to the light and from lapse of time, render it impracticable for the Department longer to exhibit it or to handle it. For the secure preservation of its present condition, so far as may be possible, it has been carefully wrapped and placed flat in a steel case . . . In lieu of the By order of the Secretary original a fac simile is placed here. of State." 23 See facing p. 218. |