Announcing the Declaration of Independence J. Michael Sharman
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On July 6, 1776, the Philadelphia Evening Post published what is believed to be the first announcement of the Declaration of Independence, stating: "This day the CONTINENTAL CONGRESS declared the UNITED COLONIES FREE and INDEPENDENT STATES."[i]
            The language of the Declaration of Independence had been argued over, changes voted on, and the end product finally approved by the Congress on July 2, 1776.
The next day, July 3rd, John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail, that: "It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn act of devotion to Almighty God. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forth for evermore."[ii]
The president of the Congress, John Hancock, on July 4, 1776, signed the approved draft and then had it delivered to a printer, John Dunlap, who made 100 to 200 copies for distribution to the press and to the other colonies.[iii]
John Hancock sent Gen. <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Washington one of those copies on July 8, 1776.
In response, George Washington wrote, "It is certain that it is not with us to determine in many instances what consequences will flow from our Counsels, but yet it behooves us to adopt such, as under the smiles of a Gracious and all kind Providence will be most likely to promote our happiness."[iv]
The day after he had received Hancock's letter and the Declaration, George Washington issued these General Orders on July 9th, 1776:[v]
The blessing and protection of Heaven are at all times necessary but especially so in times of public distress and danger--The General hopes and trusts, that every officer and man, will endeavour so to live, and act, as becomes a Christian Soldier defending the dearest Rights and Liberties of his country.
The Hon. The Continental Congress, impelled by the dictates of duty, policy and necessity, having been pleased to dissolve the Connection which subsisted between this Country, and Great Britain, and to declare the United Colonies of North America, free and independent States: The several brigades are to be drawn up this evening on their respective Parades, at Six OClock, when the declaration of Congress, shewing the grounds and reasons of this measure, is to be read with an audible voice.
 
Thirty American newspapers published the Declaration in its entirety on their front pages.[vi]
The Virginia Gazette published the full Declaration on its July 26h front page, under the paper's motto, "Always for Liberty and the Publick Good". On page 2 was the report of the official announcement in Virginia: "Williamsburg, July 26. Yesterday afternoon, agreeable to an order of the Hon. Privy Council, the Declaration of Independence was solemnly proclaimed at the Capitol, the Courthouse, and the Palace amidst the acclamations of the people, accompanied by firing cannons and musketry, the several regiments of continental troops having been paraded on that solemnity."[vii]
But as John Adams wrote to Abigail on July 6, 1776: "Our Army at Crown Point is an Object of Wretchedness, enough to fill a humane Mind, with Horror. Disgraced, defeated, discontented, dispirited, diseased, naked, undisciplined, eaten up with Vermin -- no Cloaths, Beds, Blanketts, no Medicines, no Victuals, but Salt Pork and flour."[viii]
Independence Day is indeed worth celebrating, but we should never forget that then, now, and as long as our nation exists, freedom is never free. There will always be a great cost to maintain it.
 
 

[i] "First Published Announcement of the Declaration of Independence", http://www.teachushistory.org/node/272, viewed July 2, 2010.

[ii] http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/aea/cfm/doc.cfm?id=L17760703jasecond and The Book of Abigail and John: Selected Letters of the Adams Family, 1762-1784, Harvard University Press, 1975, 142, cited in "A Tradition of Celebration by the Adams Family" Researched by James R. Heintze
http://www1.american.edu/heintze/Adams.htm viewed July 2, 2010.

[iii] Julian P. Boyd, "The Declaration of Independence: The Mystery of the Lost Original," 453, cited in The Writing and Publicizing of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution of the United States http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/dube/inde1.htm  viewed July 2, 2010.

[iv] Letter from George Washington to the Continental Congress, New York, July 10, 1776, from The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources, 1745-1799, John C. Fitzpatrick, Editor, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw050229))  viewed on July 2, 2010.

[v] "George Washington, July 9, 1776, General Orders", The George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress, 1741-1799
 http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw050226)), viewed on July 2, 2010.

[vi] http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/journey/declaration-transcript.html
Those who published even before the engrossed version was created are listed in Appendice C from The Writing and Publicizing of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution of the United States http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/dube/inde1.htm
 viewed July 2, 2010:
Newspaper Publications of the Declaration of Independence
Prior to 19 July 1776
6 July Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Evening Post
8 July Philadelphia, Dunlap's Pennsylvania Packet
9 July Philadelphia, Pennsylvanischer Staatsbote
9 July Baltimore, Dunlap's Maryland Gazette
10 July Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Gazette
10 July Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Journal
10 July Baltimore, Maryland Journal
10 July New York, Constitutional Gazette
11 July New York Packet
11 July New York Journal
11 July Annapolis, Maryland Gazette
12 July New London, Connecticut Gazette
13 July Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Ledger
13 July Providence Gazette
15 July New York Gazette
15 July Hartford, Connecticut Courant
15 July Norwich Packet
16 July Exeter, New Hampshire Gazette, Extraordinary
16 July Salem, American Gazette
17 July Worcester, Massachusetts Spy
17 July New Haven, Connecticut Journal
18 July Boston, Continental Journal
18 July Boston, New England Chronicle
18 July Newport Mercury, Extraordinary
This list outlines all the publications of the Declaration in colonial newspapers prior to the order for an engrossed copy. Information compiled from Michael J. Walsh, "Contemporary Broadside Editions of the Declaration of Independence." Harvard Library Bulletin 3 (1949): 33-34.

[vii]http://research.history.org/pf/viewer.cfm?image=newspapers/DOIcomplete159hi.jpg|newspapers/DOIcomplete160hi.jpg&imagePath=/pf/images/&imageTitle=Declaration of Independence&imageSubTitle=Complete Text
Viewed July 5, 2010

[viii]http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/aea/cfm/doc.cfm?id=L17760707ja&archive=&hi=&mode=&noimages=&numrecs=&query=&queryid=&rec=&start=1&tag=