The Declaration of Independence - A Brief
History
By: Stanley L.
Klos
William J. Stone
Printer and Engraver
Secretary of State
John Quincy Adams commissioned , William J. Stone
a political friend, to create an official facsimile of the engrossed version of the Declaration,
Version One:
Press copies were made by placing a damp sheet of thin paper on a manuscript and pressing it until a portion of the ink was transferred. The thin paper copy was retained in the same manner as a modern carbon copy. The ink was reimposed on a copper plate, which was then etched so that copies could be run off the plate on a press. This
"wet transfer" method may have been used by William J. Stone when in 1820 he was commissioned by Secretary of State John Quincy Adams to make a facsimile of the entire
"Declaration
of Independence.", signatures as well as text.
By June 5, 1823, almost exactly 47 years after
Jefferson's first draft of the Declaration, the (Washington) National Intelligencer was able to report
"that Mr. William J. Stone, a respectable and enterprising Engraver of this City, has, after a labor of three years, completed a facsimile of the original of the Declaration of Independence, now in the archives of the government; that it is executed with the greatest exactness and fidelity; and that the Department of State has become the purchaser of the plate."
As the Intelligencer went on to observe: "We are very glad to hear this, for the original of that paper which ought to be immortal and imperishable, by being so much handled by copyists and curious visitors, might receive serious injury. The facility of multiplying copies of it now possessed by the Department of State will render further exposure of the original unnecessary." The language of the newspaper report, like that of Rush's earlier comment, would seem to indicate some fear of the deterioration of the Declaration even prior to Stone's work.
The copies made from Stone's copperplate established the clear visual image of the Declaration for generations of Americans. The 200 official parchment copies struck from the Stone plate carry the identification
"Engraved by W. J. Stone for the Department of State, by order" in the upper left corner followed by
"of J. Q. Adams, Sec. of State July 4th 1823." in the upper right corner.
"Unofficial" copies that were struck later do not have the identification at the top of the document. Instead the engraver identified his work by engraving "W. J. Stone SC. Washn." near the lower left corner and burnishing out the earlier identification.
-- Text Courtesy of NPS
Version
Two:
Unfortunately,
by 1820 the condition of the only signed Declaration of Independence was rapidly
deteriorating.In that year John
Quincy Adams, then Secretary of State, commissioned William J. Stone of
Washington to create official copies of the Declaration using a new Wet-Ink
transfer process.
On April 24, 1903 the
National Academy of Sciences reported its findings. summarizing the physical
history of the Declaration: "The instrument has suffered very seriously
from the very harsh treatment to which it was exposed in the early years of the
Republic. Folding and rolling have creased the parchment. The wet press-copying
operation to which it was exposed about 1820, for the purpose of producing a
facsimile copy, removed a large portion of the ink. Subsequent exposure to the
action of light for more than thirty years, while the instrument was placed on
exhibition, has resulted in the fading of the ink, particularly in the
signatures. The present method of caring for the instrument seems to be the best
that can be suggested." Click
for a High-resolution version of the Original
Declaration
The
Wet-Ink transfer Process called for the surface of the Declaration to be
moistened transferring some of the original ink to the surface of a clean copper
plate.Three and one-half years
later under the date of June 4, 1823, the National
Intelligencer reported that: “the City Gazette informs us that Mr. Wm.
J. Stone, a respectable and enterprising (sic) engraver of this City has, after
a labor of three years, completed a facsimile of the Original of the Declaration
of Independence, now in the archives of the government, that it is executed with
the greatest exactness and fidelity; and that the Department of State has become
the purchaser of the plate…The facility of multiplying copies of it, now
possessed by the Department of State will render furthur (sic) exposure of the
original unnecessary.”
On
May 26, 1824, a resolution by the Senate and House of Representatives provided: “That
two hundred copies of the Declaration, now in the Department of State, be
distributed in the manner following: two copies to each of the surviving Signers
of the Declaration of Independence (John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Charles
Carroll of Carrollton); two copies to the President of the United States
(Monroe); two copies to the Vice-President of the United States (Thompkins); two
copies to the late President, Mr. Madison; two copies to the Marquis de
Lafayette, twenty copies for the two houses of Congress; twelve copies for the
different departments of the Government (State, Treasury, Justice, Navy, War and
Postmaster); two copies for the President’s House; two copies for the Supreme
Court room, one copy to each of the Governors of the States; and one to each of
the Governors of the Territories of the United States; and one copy to the
Council of each Territory; and the remaining copies to the different
Universities and Colleges of the United States, as the President of the United
States may direct.”
The 201 official parchment copies
struck from the Stone plate carry the identification "Engraved by W. J.
Stone for the Department of State, by order" in the upper left corner
followed by "of J. Q. Adams, Sec. of State July 4th 1823." in
the upper right corner. "Unofficial" copies that were struck
later do not have the identification at the top of the document or are the
printed on vellum. Instead the engraver identified his work by engraving "W.
J. Stone SC. Washn." near the lower left corner and burnishing out the
earlier identification. Today
31 of the 201 Stone facsimiles printed in 1823 are known to exist.
The original plate,
which was altered in 1824, was not used again until seven copies were
printed from it for the Bicentennial of the Declaration in 1976.Only three printings were deemed acceptable.The 1823 copper plate will not be used again until the celebration
of the Tri-centennial in the year 2076.
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The
Declaration of Independence of the United States of ...
... Important note: This image of the Declaration is taken from the engraving
made
by printer William J. Stone in 1823 and is the most frequently reproduced ...
Description: Features images, a
transcription and analytical articles about the Declaration of Independence.
William
Joel Blass oral history
... Transcript. This is an interview for ... Blass: His name was William Smith.
He was well ... the
only real declaration I'd received ... so to speak. Ran Stone County. A state
...
Declaration Of
Independence
... Quincy Adams, then Secretary of State, commissioned William J. Stone of
Washington
to create official copies of the Declaration using a new Wet-Ink transfer ...
Original
Document of Declaration of Independence
... Declaration of Independence. The above image of the Declaration is taken
from the
engraving made by printer William J. Stone in 1823 and is the most frequently
...
The
Declaration of Independence
... Important note: This image of the Declaration is taken from the engraving
made
by printer William J. Stone in 1823 and is the most frequently reproduced ...
Original
Declaration
... This image of the Declaration is taken from the engraving made by printer
William
J. Stone in 1823 and is the most frequently reproduced version of the document
...
Historic Documents,
Declaration of Independence
... to load. Please be patient. This image of the Declaration is taken from the
engraving
made by printer William J. Stone in 1823 and is the most frequently ...
Declaration
of Independence
... Important note: This image of the Declaration is taken from the engraving
made
by printer William J. Stone in 1823 and is the most frequently reproduced ...
The Declaration of
Independence - 1776
... Notes: 1. This image of the Declaration is taken from the engraving made by
printer
William J. Stone in 1823 and is the most frequently reproduced version of ...
EDSITEment
... www.nara.gov/exhall/charters/declaration/decorig.jpg; Engraving of the
Declaration
made by William J. Stone, 1823 http://www.nara.gov/exhall/charters/declaration
...
The Gilder Lehrman
Collection - AC June 1996
... committal. In 1820, John Quincy Adams commissioned engraver William J. Stone
to
make facsimilies of the Declaration of Independence. Only 31 of the 200 that ...
Margrit
Betke's HTML Example: Text Formatting
... This image of the Declaration is taken from the engraving made by printer
William
J. Stone in 1823. My source: National Archives and Records Administration.
Historical
Documents
... High Resolution Image of Stone Graving Image of Declaration of Independence:
taken
from the engraving made by printer William J. Stone in 1823 and is the most ...
Presidential $1 Coin Controversy - --
Click Here
Forgotten Founders vs. U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson
Samuel
Huntington
First President of the
United States of America
in Congress Assembled
March 1, 1781 to July 6, 1781
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