We happen to know what kind of weather it was in Philadelphia on
Thursday, the Fourth of July, 1776. Mr. Jefferson was in the habit,
all his life, of recording the temperature three times a day, and not
unfrequently four times. He made four entries in his weather record on
this birthday of the nation, as if anticipating that posterity would be
curious to learn every particular of an occasion so interesting. At
six that morning the mercury marked sixty-eight degrees. At nine, just
before going round to the State House to attend the session of Congress,
he recorded seventy-two and a half degrees. At one, while he was at home
during the recess for dinner, he found the mercury at seventy-six. At
nine in the evening, when the great deed had been done, the instrument
indicated seventy-three and a half degrees.
From another entry of Mr. Jefferson's we learn that he paid for a new
thermometer on that day. The following are the three entries in his
expense-book for July fourth, 1776:
"Paid Sparhawk for a thermometer...................£3 15s.
Pd. for 7 pr. women's gloves....................... 27s.
Gave in charity.................................... 1s. 6d."
The price that he paid for his thermometer was equivalent to about
twenty dollars in gold; and as Mr. Jefferson was not likely to spend
his money for an elaborately decorated thermometer, we may infer that
instruments of that nature were at least ten times as costly then as
they are now. An excellent standard thermometer at the present time can
be bought for five dollars, and the sum which Mr. Jefferson paid in 1776
was fully equal, in purchasing power, to fifty dollars in our present
currency.
Mr. Jefferson lived then on the south side of Market street, not far
from the corner of Seventh, in Philadelphia. As it was the only house
then standing in that part of the street, he was unable in after years
to designate the exact spot, though he was always under the impression
that it was a corner house, either on the corner of Seventh street or
very near it. The owner of the house, named Graaf, was a young man,
the son of a German, and then newly married. Soon after coming to
Philadelphia, Mr. Jefferson hired the whole of the second floor, ready
furnished; and as the floor consisted of but two rooms--a parlor and a
bed-room--we may conjecture that the house was of no great size. It was
in that parlor that he wrote the Declaration of Independence.
The writing-desk upon which he wrote it exists in Boston, and is still
possessed by the venerable friend and connection of Mr. Jefferson to
whom he gave it. The note which the author of the Declaration wrote when
he sent this writing-desk to the husband of one of his grand-daughters,
has a particular interest for us at this present time. It was written in
1825, nearly fifty years after the Declaration was signed, about midway
between that glorious period and the Centennial. It is as follows:
"Thomas Jefferson gives this writing-desk to Joseph Coolidge, Jr., as
a memorial of affection. It was made from a drawing of his own by Benj.
Randolph, cabinet-maker, at Philadelphia, with whom he first lodged
on his arrival in that city, in May, 1776, and is the identical one
on which he wrote the Declaration of Independence. Politics as well as
religion has its superstitions. These, gaining strength with time, may
one day give imaginary value to this relic for its associations with the
birth of the Great charter of our Independence."
The note given above, although penned when Mr. Jefferson was eighty-two
years of age, is written in a small, firm hand, and is quite as legible
as the type which the reader is now perusing. There is no indication
of old age in the writing; but I observe that he has spelt the most
important word of the note French fashion, thus: "_Independance_."
It certainly is remarkable that the author of the Declaration of
Independence should have made a mistake in spelling the word. Nor can
it be said that the erroneous letter was a slip of the pen, because the
word occurs twice in the note, and both times the last syllable is spelt
with an _a_. Mr. Jefferson was a very exact man, and yet, like most
men of that day, he used capitals and omitted them with an apparent
carelessness. In the above note, for example, the following words occur,
"Great charter." Here he furnishes the adjective with a capital, and
reduces his noun to the insignificance of a small letter.
The Declaration was written, I suppose, about the middle of June;
and, while he was writing it, Philadelphia was all astir with warlike
preparation. Seldom has a peaceful city, a city of Quakers and brotherly
love, undergone such a transformation as Philadelphia did in a
few months. As Mr. Jefferson sat at his little desk composing the
Declaration, with the windows open at that warm season, he must have
heard the troops drilling in Independence Square. Twice a day they were
out drilling, to the number of two thousand men, and more. Perhaps he
was looking out of the window on the eleventh of June, the very day
after the appointment of the committee to draw up the Declaration,
when the question of independence was voted upon by the whole body of
Philadelphia volunteers, and they all voted for independence except
twenty-nine men, four officers and twenty-five privates. One of these
objectors made a scene upon the parade. He was so much opposed to the
proceeding that he would not put the question to his company. This
refusal, said the newspaper of that week, "Gave great umbrage to the
men, one of whom replied to him in a genteel and spirited manner."
Besides this morning and afternoon drill in the public squares of the
town, preparations were going forward to close the river against the
ascent of a hostile fleet. Dr. Franklin, as I have related, had
twenty or thirty row galleys in readiness, which were out on the river
practising every day, watched by approving groups on the shore. Men
were at work on the forts five miles below the city, where, also,
Dr. Franklin was arranging his three rows of iron-barbed beams in the
channel, which were called _chevaux de frise_. In a letter of that day,
written to Captain Richard Varick, of New York, I find these French
words spelt thus: "Shiver de freeses." Committees were going about
Philadelphia during this spring buying lead from house to house at
sixpence a pound, taking even the lead clock-weights and giving iron
ones in exchange. So destitute was the army of powder and ball that
Dr. Franklin seriously proposed arming some regiments with javelins and
crossbows.
Mr. Jefferson was ready with his draft in time to present it to Congress
on the first of July; but it was on the second, as I conjecture, that
the great debate occurred upon it, when the timid men again put forward
the argument that the country was not yet ripe for so decisive a
measure. Mr. Dickinson, of Pennsylvania, a true patriot, but a most
timorous and conservative gentleman, who had opposed Independence from
the beginning, delivered a long and eloquent speech against the measure.
The author of the Declaration used to relate after dinner to his guests
at Monticello, that the conclusion of the business was hastened by a
ridiculous cause. Near the hall was a livery stable, from which swarms
of flies came in at the open windows, and attacked the trouserless legs
of members, who wore the silk stockings of the period. Lashing the flies
with their handkerchiefs, they became at length unable to bear a longer
delay, and the decisive vote was taken. On the Monday following, in the
presence of a great crowd of people assembled in Independence Square, it
was read by Captain Ezekiel Hopkins, the first commodore of the American
Navy, then just home from a cruise, during which he had captured eighty
cannon, a large quantity of ammunition, and stores, and two British
vessels. He was selected to read the Declaration from the remarkable
power of his voice. Seven weeks later, the Declaration was engrossed
upon parchment, which was signed by the members, and which now hangs in
the Patent Office at Washington.