The Declaration of Independence

On July 2, 1776, Congress voted to declare independence. Two days later, it ratified the text of the Declaration. John Dunlap, official printer to Congress, worked through the night to set the Declaration in type and print approximately 200 copies. These copies, known as the Dunlap Broadsides, were sent to various committees, assemblies, and commanders of the Continental troops. The Dunlap Broadsides weren’t signed, but John Hancock’s name appears in large type at the bottom. One copy crossed the Atlantic, reaching King George III months later.

The Declaration of Independence is composed of four parts – the Preamble, the List of 27 Grievances, the Resolution of Independence and the Mutual Pledge.

On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. The document was written on parchment and, one by one, 56 representatives from all 13 colonies signed it making this Mutual Pledge:

“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”

On July 11, 1776, Judge John Thomas stood on the steps of the courthouse in the little village of White Plains and read aloud the Declaration of Independence. The British responded by sending a trained army against a poorly trained militia of farmers. 

From October 28 until November 5, 1776, the British soldiers occupied the area then-called the white plains.  The last of the battle encounters was at Miller Hill in North Castle when Col. John Glover and the Marblehead, Massachusetts militia seamen stopped the British soldiers’ northward advance.