Why was the Declaration of Independence handwritten, rather than printed with a printing press?
score:15
Remember that it takes several times longer to typeset a page (by hand, as in 1776) than to hand-write it; and that the typesetter still requires a hand-written fair copy to set from. So you don't save any time by only typesetting the document - as it must be first written out fair for the typesetter.
From Wikipedia on the Dunlap Broadside (my emphasis).
On July 4, 1776, Congress ordered the same committee charged with writing the document to "superintend and correct the press", that is, supervise the printing. Dunlap, an Irish immigrant then 29 years old, was tasked with the job; he apparently spent much of the night of July 4 setting type, correcting it, and running off the broadside sheets.
In the terminology of the time, a fair copy was the (error and correction free) copy made, for distribution, after all drafts were complete.
In high school I belonged to the club that volunteered to hand-set and print the school's brochures, flyers, and event programs on an ancient hand press. Modest experience only; but based on that I estimate that an experienced typesetter was no more than only a fifth or tenth as fast as a good calligrapher in producing a document. While multiple pages could be set in parallel by multiple setters, that is difficult to do for a single page.
My guess is that a first fair copy was penned by Jefferson from the drafts for signing, and then either it or a second was supplied to the typesetters for working from.
Upvote:0
Had the declaration been printed, it would have been subject to the stamp act. Paying for a stamp for a declaration would refute the content of the document. To avoid the problem, the founders wisely wrote the initial document. Now an independent country, subsequent printed editions no longer required stamps.
More post
- 📝 Chemical Evidence for Ancient Trans-Atlantic Trade
- 📝 Who was the oldest woman that we know of to give birth in the Medieval Europe?
- 📝 When did the first riots between Hindus and Muslims happen in India?
- 📝 When did the Roman Empire devalue currency?
- 📝 Where can I research fifteenth century French and Italian coats of arms?
- 📝 Were there reasons for Japan to go to war with the US aside from the US owning Philippines?
- 📝 Book about the story of a WWII photo analyst looking for V1 launching ramps
- 📝 Why was the British University Grants Committee abolished in 1988?
- 📝 Are there historical examples of audiences drawn to a work that was "so bad it's good"?
- 📝 What is the significance behind "40 days" that often appears in the Bible?
- 📝 Did Amadeo Bordiga tell off Stalin this way?
- 📝 What was Libya's form of direct democracy (Jamahiria) like in practice?
- 📝 How were noblewomen named/titled in Medieval France, c. 11th century?
- 📝 Were the living standards in Medieval Europe a lot worse than in the Muslim world?
- 📝 Is this Civil War era uniform?
- 📝 Has any losing general in history tried to save his mens' lives by offering to disband, rather than surrender, his army?
- 📝 Did the University of California and University of Geneva award honorary degrees to Inazo Nitobe?
- 📝 What was the process for the Japanese to sign up for the Kamikaze suicide program?
- 📝 Has any (nominally) democratic government ever been domestically overthrown without military assistance?
- 📝 Military training in the Hijaz during early Islamic era
- 📝 What is the original source of this 16th century image of a French town holiday with musicians in a tree?
- 📝 Were women the property of men prior to 1919 in the UK?
- 📝 Did Empress Cixi divert funds for the Beiyang Fleet to build the Summer Palace?
- 📝 Was there a semi-professional soldiering class in Early Middle Ages Europe?
- 📝 How did they cook on ancient ships?
- 📝 Did barracks exist in the middle ages?
- 📝 Were there any Austrians in Nazi Germany's government before the Anschluss?
- 📝 How did people acquire things in the pre-Roman Celtic world?
- 📝 What battle of WW2 is depicted in this Battlefield V level?
- 📝 Is there an example of 19th century non-believer who fluently alludes to Scripture?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Why was the Declaration of Independence handwritten, rather than printed with a printing press?
- 📝 Why was the Council of Nicea held in Nicea rather than Rome or Constantinople?
- 📝 Why was World War I ended on Nov 11 11:00, rather than immediately upon signing the armistice?
- 📝 Why was Kaliningrad placed under the Russian SFSR rather than the Lithuanian SSR?
- 📝 Why was the Roman Empire considered an empire rather than a kingdom (again)?
- 📝 In the election of 1800, why did Burr end up with as many electoral votes as Jefferson, rather than one fewer?
- 📝 Why was "Caesar" borrowed for the imperial title in German rather than "Augustus"?
- 📝 Why did email use develop in tandem with the internet, rather than other technologies?
- 📝 Why did the Germans use the Enigma machine rather than the far superior "Lorenz" cipher machine?
- 📝 Why are the signatures on the United States Declaration of Independence structured as they are?
- 📝 Why was sugar cultivation more profitable in the Caribbean/Brazil than West Africa?
- 📝 Why were troops with bayonets often effective against enemy cavalry even though the bayonet was a "secondary" weapon?
- 📝 Why did the UK allow India to be a republic rather than a democratic parliament under the British Monarch?
- 📝 Why is the capital of Turkey Ankara rather than Istanbul?
- 📝 Why does the CIA report on the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich refer to it as "Operation Salmon" rather than "Operation Anthropoid"?
- 📝 Why was the Irish War of Independence in 1918 successful when other revolts failed?
- 📝 Why did Argentina invade the Falklands when they did, rather than wait for the pending sale of the UK aircraft carriers to complete first?
- 📝 Why did the Germans build battle cruisers with a different profile than the British?
- 📝 How was the naval battle of Guadalcanal affected by Japanese ships loading High Explosive shells rather than Armor Piercing?
- 📝 Why was ancient Christianity more successful than the Roman pantheon and Judaism in gaining followers?
- 📝 Why was Bulgaria at war with both the Allied and the Axis at the end of WWII?
- 📝 Why was the wording on war in Japan's postwar constitution so much stronger than in Germany's or Italy's?
- 📝 Why was immigration from France to the United States lower than from some other countries?
- 📝 Considering what was known about Hitler in 1933, why would German bishops declare that Catholics could cooperate with the new State?
- 📝 Why was the WW2 air war over Europe fought considerably higher than the Eastern Front?
- 📝 Why was California admitted as one big state rather than split up?
- 📝 Why was the movement for Austro-German unity less successful than that of Italian unity?
- 📝 Why did the Balfour Declaration of 1926 and Statute of Westminster (1931) only deal with Dominions?
- 📝 Why was agriculture more conducive to slavery in U.S. South than the North?
- 📝 Why was the Tea Horse Route through Tibet less prevalent than the Silk Road route through Tarim Basin, for contact between China and India?