250th Anniversary of the Reading of the Declaration of Independence

The 8^th of July 1776 marked the first official public reading of the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration had been approved by Congress four days prior, on July 4^th, and the time had come to spread the word that the thirteen colonies had formally broken the connection with Great Britain. To that end, patriots in Philadelphia read the document to a crowd assembled at the Pennsylvania state house, announcing the monumental step of independence. In the days that followed, copies of the Declaration were dispatched to all thirteen states and to the Continental Army to be posted and read aloud. Thus were the first steps taken to forge the former British colonies into a unified nation.

250 years after that seminal event, we are thrilled to share our reading of the Declaration of Independence with you. This film features several Mendota residents who generously gave their time to read the Declaration and in doing so, recapture some of the spirit of the first reading in 1776. This initiative was part of an effort to have the Declaration read simultaneously across the nation spearheaded by the Hawaii America 250 Committee in honor of the first reading 250 years ago.

This film has been made possible by a partnership between the City of Mendota, the Graves-Hume Public Library, the Mendota Historical Society, and the Fort du Rocher Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.