Historic Find in London Reveals Rare Copy of the Declaration of Independence

A groundbreaking discovery has been made in the British National Archives, where a rare copy of the Declaration of Independence printed in 1776 has been unearthed. This extraordinary find, which was made in May, is the only known example of the so-called Exeter printing to exist outside the United States.

Source: cdnph.upi.com

The document is one of only 11 known copies of the Declaration of Independence to be printed in Exeter, New Hampshire, in the days following its formal adoption on July 4, 1776. It was printed between July 16 and 19, 1776, with the primary purpose of disseminating the news of independence across the colonies.

Graham Moore, the curator of the National Archives’ Revolution 250 exhibit, explains that the document’s rarity stems from its intended use as a means of spreading the news of independence, rather than being printed for preservation. ‘The document was not printed to be preserved, but to be distributed quickly and widely,’ Moore stated.

The document in question was seized among papers aboard the American ship Dalton by Britain’s navy on Christmas Eve in 1776. The British navy’s HMS Raisonable pursued the Dalton for 7 hours off the coast of Portugal before it was captured and taken to Britain.

According to the National Archives, the document was listed at the time simply as ‘another paper,’ but it has now been identified as a contemporary printing of the Declaration. Workers at the National Archives made the discovery while working on cataloging documents from the American Revolution to mark the 250th anniversary.

‘What makes this discovery even more exceptional is that, as the only known copy taken by military action, we know much more about it – thanks to the bureaucratic processes of war,’ Moore said. ‘Evidence taken from captured ships was preserved as part of Admiralty court proceedings, and we hold those records at The National Archives. So we can present an unusually rich backstory that most surviving declarations do not have.’

The discovery of this rare document is a significant find in the field of American history, providing a unique glimpse into the early days of the American Revolution. The document’s rich backstory and its significance in the history of the American colonies make it a truly remarkable find.