Stories About the Signers
The youngest signer was Edward Rutledge, age 27 years.
Delegates Clinton, Alsop, R. R. Livingston, Wisner, Humphreys and Rogers
never did sign the Declaration.
Although delegates Thornton, Rush, Taylor, Clymer, Smith and Ross signed
the Declaration, they were not members of Congress when it was adopted on July
2nd nor when it was ratified on July 4th.
Those who voted steadfastly against the adoption of the Declaration were
delegates Dickinson, Humphreys and Willing, all of Pennsylvania.
The longevity of the signers is remarkable. Three lived to be over 90, ten
over 80, eleven over 70, fourteen over 60, eleven over 50, six over 40 and one
died at 30.
Nine of the signers died before the war ended and the peace treaty was
signed. They were Philip Livingston, George Taylor, John Morton, George Ross,
Richard Stockton, John Hart, Thomas Lynch, Jr., Joseph Hewes, and Button
Gwinnett.
The signers represented many vocations. Twenty-four were lawyers, fourteen
were farmers, four were doctors, one was a minister, three prepared for the
ministry, one was a manufacturer and nine were merchants.
The original signed copy of the Declaration was in the hands of the
President of the United States until after the war of 1812. When Washington
was invaded during that struggle and after President Madison had fled the
White House, the President's wife, Dolly Madison, who had stayed behind to the
last minute, saved the Declaration by carrying it away with her. Subsequently
she returned it and it was placed under the charge of the State Department. It
was hermetically sealed in 1894 and is now exhibited in the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom
at the
National Archives and Records Administration, Constitution Ave NW
[between 7th and 9th St.], in Washington, DC. The
document has faded badly—largely because of poor preservation techniques during the 19th century. Today, this priceless document is maintained under the most exacting archival conditions possible.
