Three weeks after July 4, 1776, when word of the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed in Virginia’s colonial capital of Williamsburg, two notable signers were not around to celebrate.
On July 25, when the declaration was read in front of the Capitol, courthouse and palace, George Wythe of Williamsburg and Thomas Nelson Jr. of Yorktown were still in Philadelphia attending sessions of the Second Continental Congress..
The July 26 edition of Alexander Purdie’s Virginia Gazette said the declaration “agreeable to an order of the Hon. Privy Council … (was) solemnly proclaimed” accompanied “by firing of cannon and musketry, the several regiments of continental troops have been paraded on the solemnity.”
Purdie also printed a full version of the declaration approved at the Pennsylvania State House, now Independence Hall.
Printers John Dixon and William Hunter (Dixon & Hunter), who published a rival Virginia Gazette at that time, said in their July 27 edition that the declaration “was proclaimed here, and received with universal applause, under the discharge of cannon, firing of small arms, illuminations in the evening, &ec. &ec.”
A nearly complete version of the declaration had been published on July 20 in the Dixon & Hunter Gazette. A day earlier, Purdie had printed excerpts of the declaration with a notice that the document “will be published at full length in next week’s Gazette.”
Wythe and Nelson, two of the seven Virginians who signed the Declaration of Independence, had significant roles in action leading up to its adoption.
Historians have said of Wythe, with his legal background and influence on Thomas Jefferson, author of the declaration, that he was “the godfather of the Declaration of Independence.” Actions of Nelson, however, had a more direct influence on Congress’ procedures related to the document’s adoption.
Historically, Nelson became a brigadier general in the Continental Army, was in command of the Virginia militia at the Yorktown battle and also served as governor of Virginia, following Jefferson.
He became a Virginia representative at the Continental Congress in 1775, replacing George Washington, who had taken command of the Continental Army. In May 1776, Nelson returned to Virginia as a member of the Fifth Virginia Convention that passed resolutions declaring Virginia’s independence from Great Britain.
It was Nelson who carried word of Virginia’s actions to Philadelphia and the Congress. Taking the resolutions, Virginia’s Richard Henry Lee proposed on June 6, 1776, a resolve that the 13 colonies should be independent. That resolution was finally was adopted on July 2, resulting in the adoption two days later of the Declaration of Independence.
Ironically, John Adams, who with Jefferson was on the committee to draft the declaration, declared in a letter to his wife Abigail:
“The Second Day of July 1776 will be the most memorable Epoch in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as a great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shows, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”
Adams was proven wrong.
The pomp and parade, games, bells, bonfires and illuminations would be held annually on July 4 — now the date remembered in history.
Wilford Kale, kalehouse@aol.com
![If it were not for the efforts of a William & Mary president in the 1960s there would not have been a marine science program to benefit from the school’s recent largest financial gift. Davis Y. Paschall, president 1960-1971, was instrumental in the development of the substantial academic programs of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) at nearby Gloucester Point on the York River, The Virginia Fisheries Laboratory was established in 1940 as the Virginia Fisheries Laboratory as a joint effort between W&M and the Virginia Commission on Fisheries (now the Virginia Marine Resources Commission. It was initially organized […]](https://www.pilotonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/6SCYSOUXX5GSHC7UWSYZ2RSEAU.jpg?w=408 "If it were not for the efforts of a William & Mary president in the 1960s there would not have been a marine science program to benefit from the school’s recent largest financial gift. Davis Y. Paschall, president 1960-1971, was instrumental in the development of the substantial academic programs of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) at nearby Gloucester Point on the York River, The Virginia Fisheries Laboratory was established in 1940 as the Virginia Fisheries Laboratory as a joint effort between W&M and the Virginia Commission on Fisheries (now the Virginia Marine Resources Commission. It was initially organized […]")
