A Second Copy Of The Declaration Of Independence Found

A second copy of the Declaration of Independence has been discovered in England. The find was a hugely historic moment given that the only other known parchment copy of the document is held at the National Archives in Washington, DC.

The discovery was made by researchers working for Harvard University, Danielle Allen and Emily Sneff. They found the document at a records office in Sussex County, England.

“I was just looking for copies of the Declaration of Independence in British archives,” Sneff said.

Danielle Allen also spoke out about the document to explain how rare it was to find the second copy.

“Up until now, only one large-format ceremonial parchment manuscript was known to exist,” Allen said. “That one is in the National Archives and was produced in 1776. This one was produced a decade later, with the signed parchment as its source.”

Given where they made the discovery, Danielle and Emily are calling the discovery The Sussex Declaration, according to CNN.

Most interestingly, the second copy is in the exact same measurements as the original, 24 by 30 inches. However, the Sussex copy was scribed horizontally on the parchment whereas the original was vertically oriented.

One other notable difference between the Sussex Copy and the official Declaration is that John Hancock’s signature is much more prominent on the original. On the Sussex copy, all of the signatures are virtually the same size.

Another small alteration is that the phrase “the pursuit of happiness” is followed by a dash instead of a period.

Researchers are of the opinion that the parchment was definitely written in the US. The document was most likely scribed in Philadelphia or New York.

Nationalist James Wilson was most likely the commissioner of the document and that the parchment could have originally belonged to the Third Duke of Richmond.

“This parchment manuscript illuminates in one stroke how the Federalists and anti-Federalists debated the question of whether the new republic was founded on the authority of a single, united sovereign people or on the authority of 13 separate state governments,” Allen said.

Also unlike the original Declaration, the list of signatories are not grouped by states on the Sussex Declaration. According to Fox News, Allen and Sneff believe that this change might reflect the efforts by Wilson and allies that the authority of the document lied in the unity of a national people instead of a federation of separate states.

No word yet as to how the document reached the UK.

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[H/T CNN]