Historical Torture

Today, in case you haven't checked your calendars yet, is Thomas Jefferson's 267th birthday (born April 13, 1743).  So how are we celebrating?  Nicholas is wearing his Declaration of Independence t-shirt, of course!

From 2010 April

First, I will note that I did not actually purchase this shirt—for that, thanks go to Uncle Patrick. Second, I will note for any grandmothers who read the blog (Nicholas's or otherwise) that he is also wearing a sweatshirt today, because it is a bit chilly here in Baltimore.

The shirt, by the way, has an image of the original Declaration of Independence, not that ink-stained facsimile they show off in the National Archives. The printer John Dunlap was commissioned to print 200 broadsides of the Declaration on the evening of July 4, which bore the signatures only of John Hancock and Charles Thomson, secretary to the Continental Congress. The broadsides circulated throughout the colonies (and to England!) to announce independence. A Dunlap broadside was used to read the Declaration in New York City to the Continental Army, in Boston at the old State House from a balcony that overlooked the spot of the Boston Massacre, and elsewhere. There are now only twenty-five remaining, so far as we know, though every once in a while a new one is found.

And just to confirm: indeed, there is no depth too low for me to stoop to sneak history into either my child's life or this blog.