And So It Began
The day New York's patriots said, "Game on."
—Originally published July 9, 2023. Updated July 9, 2024—
On July 9, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was read aloud for the first time in New York City, five days after the Continental Congress voted in favor of the document’s adoption.
After the final wording was approved by the delegates on July 4, John Hancock, the President of Congress, and Charles Thompson, its Secretary, signed the document and sent the hand-written version down the street to the shop of John Dunlap, the official printer of the Congress.
That evening, the printers in Dunlap’s shop set the type and printed a proof copy. They then made a few minor edits before printing about 200 copies of the final product, completing the job in the wee hours of July 5.
That morning, Congress ordered that copies be sent to Colonial government officials and Continental Army units, as well as to British authorities in London.
The following day, Hancock dispatched a mounted courier to hand deliver a copy to General Washington in New York, along with a letter informing the Commander-in-Chief of the news from Philadelphia, and asking him to have the Declaration read to his troops in whatever manner he saw appropriate.
Hancock’s letter read:
The Congress have judged it necessary to dissolve the Connection between Great Britain and the American Colonies, and to declare them free & independent States; as you will perceive by the enclosed Declaration, which I am directed to transmit to you, and to request you will have it proclaimed at the Head of the Army in the Way, you shall think most proper.
That same day, the first of what would eventually be 32,000 British troops began landing on Staten Island, which was home to a great number of loyalists.
On the morning of July 9, Washington was at his headquarters at One Broadway when the messenger arrived bearing Hancock’s delivery. The general opened the parcel and read its contents.