August 2 · This Day in America
The Declaration was adopted on July 4, but on August 2, 1776, the engrossed copy on parchment is ready, and the delegates come forward to sign it. John Hancock goes first, with the bold, defiant signature that becomes American shorthand for nerve. The rest follow, state by state, north to south. Most are not soldiers. They are lawyers, farmers, merchants, men with houses and families and everything to lose. Signing is treason. If the war is lost, this parchment is a list of men to be hanged. They sign anyway. Some add their names months later as they reach Philadelphia. Fifty-six in all. The document survives wars and fires and two centuries of handling, ink fading, but the names hold. They knew exactly what they were risking when they dipped the pen.
Source: www.archives.gov
Also on this day · 1790
Census Day, 1790. Under Thomas Jefferson's direction, federal marshals fan out on horseback to count every person in the new nation. The result: 3,929,326 people. Washington and Jefferson both thought it was an undercount; Americans, apparently, did not love being tallied even then. It was the first time a nation built a representative government on a regular, constitutionally required headcount of itself.
Source: www.census.gov