Imagine if you can, in this time of political polarization and tribalism, a great crowd peacefully gathering in the main thoroughfare of a major American city to hear that all men are created equal and that government must be by the consent of the governed.
Such was the scene in Boston, Massachusetts, on July 18, 1776, for the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence.
After the Continental Congress approved the language of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, Philadelphia printer John Dunlap labored overnight to produce copies for distribution throughout the suddenly independent colonies.
Via express delivery powered by man and horse, the first copies of what would quickly be recognized as the preeminent decree for liberty arrived in Boston on July 15. The American Gazette, a newspaper based in nearby Salem, Massachusetts, published the Declaration in full as part of its July 16 edition.
Two days later, a crowd gathered on King Street outside the Town House in Boston. King Street was Boston’s main road, running from the harbor to the Town House, which is known today as the Old State House on State Street, near Faneuil Hall. This was the site of the Boston Massacre which took place on March 5, 1770.
The Town House was the seat of the colonial government in Massachusetts and would become the seat of the Massachusetts revolutionary government.
The honor of reading the Declaration aloud to the throng that had gathered on King Street was bestowed upon Col. Thomas Crafts of the Massachusetts Regiment of Artillery, popularly known as “The Train.”
Crafts, a decorative painter by trade, had long been a figure associated with the independence movement as he had a knack for participating in some of its most significant events. In August 1765 he joined a group known as the Loyal Nine, which later merged with the Sons of Liberty.
Crafts assisted in hanging an effigy of colonial stamp distributor Andrew Oliver from an elm tree at Orange and Essex Streets, which became known as the Liberty Tree. Crafts had also tossed tea into the harbor during the Boston Tea Party.
His military career began with the Boston militia, in which his skill enabled him to rapidly move up the ranks to lieutenant. As a colonel in "The Train", he defended the port of Boston and helped eject British ships from Boston Harbor. Samuel Adams took note of these contributions and achievements, which led to Crafts being selected to electrify the King Street crowd with the document produced by the Continental Congress.
Interestingly, Crafts was available to read the Declaration in person only after having been terribly disappointed by his lack of position in the Continental Army, let down by Gen. George Washington himself in late 1775.
Washington bypassed Crafts in favor of naming Henry Knox as commander of "The Train". Crafts believed that, given his feats and expertise, he should have held higher rank. Had he been elevated in the Continental Army, however, Crafts may not have been near enough to Boston to deliver the first reading of the Declaration there.
Among the crowd awaiting the recitation was a future First Lady of the United States, the inimitable Abigail Adams. The scene is best described by her July 21, 1776, letter to her husband, John Adams, who would of course become the second president of the United States. The letter has been preserved in the Adams Family Papers collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society (original spelling and punctuation unedited):
“Last Thursday after hearing a very Good Sermon I went with the Multitude into Kings Street to hear the proclamation for independance read and proclamed. Some Field peices with the Train were brought there, the troops appeard under Arms and all the inhabitants assembled there (the small pox prevented many thousand from the Country). When Col. Crafts read from the Belcona of the State House the Proclamation, great attention was given to every word. As soon as he ended, the cry from the Belcona, was God Save our American States and then 3 cheers which rended the air, the Bells rang, the privateers fired, the forts and Batteries, the cannon were discharged, the platoons followed and every face appeard joyfull.”
All Americans would do well to carefully read the Declaration of Independence often, give great attention to every word, consider the sacred and timeless principles of liberty and self-government therein, and unite as countrymen once again.
The Declaration has annually been read from the balcony of the Old State House in Boston. This year's event will begin at 10:00 a.m. ET on July 4. The Declaration will be recited by the Captain Commanding of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, which was chartered in March 1638 by the Great and General Court of Massachusetts Bay. The company is the oldest chartered military group in the western hemisphere.
Take a step toward reuniting the country on the foundation of the principles articulated in the Declaration of Independence by signing the petition to call for an Article V convention that will limit the overarching power of a federal government that even King George III would have despised.
