Rantburg

Today's Front Page   View All of Thu 05/22/2025 View Wed 05/21/2025 View Tue 05/20/2025 View Mon 05/19/2025 View Sun 05/18/2025 View Sat 05/17/2025 View Fri 05/16/2025
2018-07-04 
Happy 4th of July! Rare US independence declaration found in UK archive
It seems fitting that it is this year, when so much has changed, that an unexpected copy of the Declaration of Indepence is rediscovered, Wishing you and yours an Independence Day to remember, dear Reader, full of all the usual pleasures and the joy of seeing the freedoms that generation fought for being taken back from those who believe themselves to be our lords and masters.
[Yahoo] A rare parchment copy of the American Declaration of Independence has been found at a British archive among the papers of an aristocrat who supported the rebels, officials have said.

The manuscript was discovered at the West Sussex Record Office in the southern English city of Chichester by a team of researchers led by two Harvard University academics.

Tests supported the hypothesis that it was produced in the 1780s, West Sussex County Council said earlier this week -- just a few years after the declaration itself was issued in 1776.

The document "is the only other contemporary manuscript copy of the Declaration of Independence on parchment apart from the signed copy at the National Archives in Washington DC," known as the Matlack Declaration, a council statement said earlier this week.

There are other printed parchment copies and handwritten copies on paper but the Sussex Declaration, as it has been dubbed, and the Matlack Declaration in Washington are the only two known ceremonial parchment copies of the declaration.

Researchers said X-ray fluorescence analysis of the document found a high iron content in holes in the corner of the parchment, indicating that nails may have been used to hang it.

DNA tests also revealed the parchment was made of sheepskin.

The parchment is believed to originally belong to Charles Lennox, the Third Duke of Richmond, an army officer and politician known as the "Radical Duke" for his support of American colonists during the Revolution.
Posted by trailing wife 2018-07-04 10:25|| || Front Page|| [11141 views ]  Top

#1 Happy Independence Day! The flag is flying proudly on the front porch. July 4th, the day we declared our independence from Britain.
Posted by JohnQC 2018-07-04 11:24||   2018-07-04 11:24|| Front Page Top

#2 It took the Brits longer to get around to acknowledging the beauty of independence - welcome to the club. America - 1776, United Kingdom - 2018
Posted by Procopius2k 2018-07-04 12:01||   2018-07-04 12:01|| Front Page Top

#3 How many of the charges against George III could also be directed by the nations colonies of the central EU bureaucracy?
Posted by magpie 2018-07-04 12:15||   2018-07-04 12:15|| Front Page Top

#4 Congratulations.
Posted by g(r)omgoru 2018-07-04 13:15||   2018-07-04 13:15|| Front Page Top

#5 Two years ago I thought you (and hence us) goners. Not only you survive, you (and hence us) prosper.
Posted by g(r)omgoru 2018-07-04 13:42||   2018-07-04 13:42|| Front Page Top

#6 good for both of us
Posted by Frank G 2018-07-04 13:57||   2018-07-04 13:57|| Front Page Top

#7 Fourth of July: What Americans Can Learn from Israel
Posted by Frank G 2018-07-04 14:03||   2018-07-04 14:03|| Front Page Top

#8 
Posted by 3dc 2018-07-04 15:46||   2018-07-04 15:46|| Front Page Top

#9 Now that's a bureaucracy!
Something like 240 years along, and they've still got the paperwork!
Posted by ed in texas 2018-07-04 16:24||   2018-07-04 16:24|| Front Page Top

#10 Something like 240 years along, and they've still got the paperwork!

Because they're still processing it.
Posted by g(r)omgoru 2018-07-04 16:33||   2018-07-04 16:33|| Front Page Top

#11 #8 - after my own heart
Posted by Frank G 2018-07-04 20:08||   2018-07-04 20:08|| Front Page Top

09:52 trailing wife
09:40 trailing wife
09:25 trailing wife
09:17 Procopius2k
09:16 Procopius2k
09:15 Gleng Whaick2262
09:14 Procopius2k
09:10 Seeking Cure For Ignorance
08:50 Bobby
08:24 Super Hose
08:14 Super Hose
08:13 Grom the Affective
08:12 Super Hose
08:10 Super Hose
08:07 Super Hose
08:04 Grom the Affective
07:41 Matt
07:33 Mullah Richard
07:12 Difar Dave
06:50 MikeKozlowski
06:40 Airandee
06:19 Grom the Affective
06:02 Elmerert Hupens2660
05:17 Besoeker









Paypal:
Google
Search WWW Search rantburg.com