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Piece
1 item extracted from CO 5/40 . The Declaration of Independence: 'A Declaration by...
Catalogue reference: EXT 9/93
What’s it about?
This record is about the 1 item extracted from CO 5/40 . The Declaration of Independence: 'A Declaration by... dating from 04 July 1776 in the series Public Record Office: Items extracted to flat storage from various classes of records.... It is held at The National Archives, Kew.
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Full description and record details
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Reference (The unique identifier to the record described, used to order and refer to it)
- EXT 9/93
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Date (When the record was created)
- 04 July 1776
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Description (What the record is about)
- 1 item extracted from CO 5/40 . The Declaration of Independence: 'A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America in General Congress Assembled' Printed by J Dunlap, Philadelphia, 4 July 1776. Note: This copy of the Declaration of Independence was reported by an American antiquarian bookseller carrying out research at The National Archives in 2008. The poster-sized document was hidden among correspondence from American colonists that had been intercepted by the British in the 18th century. The discovery of the Dunlap print of the Declaration of Independence, printed on July 4 1776, brings the total of known surviving copies worldwide to 26. The Dunlap prints were the first official printings of the Declaration of Independence and were named after John Dunlap, the printer whose name is given at the bottom of each copy. It is likely that only around 200 of these copies were ever printed. The United States Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain were now independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. The prints made by John Dunlap were delivered to the founders early on the morning of July 5 1776. One copy was officially entered into the Congressional Journal and the additional copies were distributed, some by horseback, throughout the colonies to be read aloud to colonists and the militia.
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Related material (A cross-reference to other related records)
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For another Dunlap print, see EXT 9/1
See also EXT 9/26
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Held by (Who holds the record)
- The National Archives, Kew
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Legal status (A note as to whether the record being described is a Public Record or not)
- Public Record(s)
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Closure status (Whether the record is ‘open’ (available to the public) or ‘closed’ (not available due to a legal exemption))
- Open Document, Open Description
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Subjects (Categories and themes found in our collection (our subject list is under development, and some records may have no subjects or fewer than expected))
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Custodial history (Describes where and how the record has been held from creation to transfer to The National Archives)
- The presence of this copy was reported in 2008 by a researcher at The National Archives. It was found among correspondence from American colonists that had been intercepted by the British in the 18th century.
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Administrative / biographical background (Historical or biographical information about the creator of the record and the context of its creation)
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The United States Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain were now independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. The Dunlap prints were the first official printings of the Declaration of Independence and were named after John Dunlap, the printer whose name is given at the bottom of each copy. It is likely that around 200 of these copies were printed. This is one of 26 known surviving copies worldwide.
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Publication note(s) (A note of publications related to the record)
- This copy was cited by its former reference CO 5/40, f 525 in David Armitage, The Declaration of Independence: A Global History (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007), p. 265, n. 27.
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Record URL
- https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/id/C11510949/
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Series information
EXT 9
Public Record Office: Items extracted to flat storage from various classes of records...
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Over 27 million records
This record is held at The National Archives, Kew
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Within the department: EXT
Documents and objects extracted from various record series
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Within the series: EXT 9
Public Record Office: Items extracted to flat storage from various classes of records...
You are currently looking at the piece: EXT 9/93
1 item extracted from CO 5/40 . The Declaration of Independence: 'A Declaration by...
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