1898.] HAYS — DRAUGHT OF DECLARATIOX OF INDEPENDENCE. 97 



The conclusions I had reached concerning the draught belonging 

 to this Society were subsequently confirmed by the following letter, 

 written in the autumn of 1841, from John Vaughan to the Prince 

 de Joinville, a copy of which I have recently found among the 

 Society's unarranged manuscripts. 



NOTE RELATIVE TO THE ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF THE DECLARATION OF 

 INDEPENDENCE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, IN THE 

 HANDWRITING OF THOMAS JEFFERSON AND NOW IN POSSESSION 

 OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY AT PHILADELPHIA. 



On the 7th day of June 1776 Richard Henry Lee moved in the 

 American Congress " That America should declare itself Inde- 

 pende7it of Great Britain;'^ this motion was seconded by John 

 Adams. The consideration of this motion was referred to loth 

 June. On that day Rich. Henry Lee received an account that his 

 Wife was dangerously ill, obtained leave of absence from Congress 

 and went home. On the loth June, Congress proceeded to the 

 Order of the day, and after some debate, postponed the further 

 consideration of the question to the ist July ; but in order to save 

 time, appointed a Committee to prepare a form of Declaration, to 

 be ready for adoption, if then determined upon. The Committee 

 named consisted of Mess. T. Jefferson, J. Adams, B. Franklin, 

 Sherman & R. R. Livingston. Mr. Jefferson having been appointed 

 Chairman of the above named Committee, it was assigned to him 

 to prepare a Draught of the Declaration, {the three first named 

 were the 7nost active membersi) The Draught was submitted to the 

 Committee who suggested alterations. Amongst Mr. Jefferson's 

 papers after his death there was found the Copy with the final cor- 

 rections of his Associates from which a copy has been lithographed 

 and appended to the Memoirs of Jefferson by his Grandson Thomas 

 Randolph and a copy of this is preserved by the A. P. S. in a 

 frame. From this rough corrected Draught Thomas Jefferson made 

 Two fair Copies one to be submitted to Congress, as the report of 

 the Committee, and one for Richard Henry Lee, the mover of 

 Declaration, who did not return previous to the ist July. The fair 

 original Copy intended for Congress was reported to that body by 

 Benjamin Harrison (father of the late President Harrison to whom 

 it had been entrusted) on ist July. Considerable alterations were 

 made previous to its adoption which took place on 4th July. On 



PROC. AMER. PHILOS. SOC. XXXVII. 157. G. PRINTED JUNE 13, 1898. 



