Seven Virginians signed the document. Some are famous, others not so much. Here’s who they were.
Cardinal News 250
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Virginia’s royal governor made a grim last stand on a disease-ridden island by the Chesapeake Bay where corpses lay unburied
Lord Dunmore set up on Gwynn’s Island, but disease swept through his ranks. Then Andrew Lewis arrived with cannons.
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Freedom isn’t free. Ann McCarty Ramsay helped raise the money for the revolution.
Legend says that Ramsay was so esteemed for her fundraising that she was named treasurer of Fairfax County and Alexandria. That can’t be confirmed, but she was a prolific fundraiser.
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Dispatch from 1776: Four events have made us independent
The Declaration of Independence gets the attention, but there were four events, in quick succession in late June and early July 1776, that all constituted acts of independence: Virginia adopted a constitution that declared a formal break, Congress voted for independence, Congress then adopted a Declaration of Independence, and, finally, Virginia’s royal governor was driven away following a battle by the Chesapeake Bay.
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Not all of Virginia’s independence story was made by men in white wigs. Here’s what we’ve learned about our history.
Our Cardinal 250 series has shared stories about lesser-known people who helped Virginia, and the nation, secure independence.
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The first newspaper to report on the Declaration of Independence published in German
There was only one newspaper in Philadelphia that published on Friday, July 5, 1776. It was a German-language newspaper and got the scoop about what the Continenal Congress had done the day before.
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John Adams despised one Virginian in particular, calling him ‘obscene,’ ‘profane’ and ‘impious.’ It wasn’t Jefferson.
Benjamin Harrison was known for being a steadying influence at the Continental Congress and was respected enough that he was chosen to preside over the debates on independence. He also had a wit and a taste for food and drink that offended some New Englanders.
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Jefferson wanted to condemn slavery in the Declaration of Independence. Congress said no.
Jefferson also wanted to condemn Lord Dunmore’s Emancipation Proclamation that offered freedom to Virginia’s slaves in exchange for fighting with the British, but Congress watered that down to the point where you wouldn’t recognize it unless you knew the back story.
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Jefferson gets the acclaim for independence, but it was another Virginian who first proposed a formal break from Britain
Richard Henry Lee has become something of a forgotten founder, reduced to a comic figure in the musical “1776” or ignored altogether. But he was the one who first formally proposed that the Continental Congress declare the Colonies independent.
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Who inspired Jefferson’s words in the Declaration of Independence? Shakespeare.
The rhythms of Shakespeare helped shape the Declaration of Independence, says a Jefferson interpreter. In an age when many were illiterate, the Declaration, like Shakespeare’s work, was written to be heard, not just read.
