If we want to be historically accurate — and as a journalist and a history major, we do — it must be noted that the famed painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence was not from the big moment. And it wasn’t even commissioned until decades after the Declaration was signed.
The picture, created by artist John Trumbull in 1817, shows the five-man drafting committee presenting the document to John Hancock, president of the Second Continental Congress. It depicts the draft’s presentation on June 28, 1776 — not the actual signing, which happened mainly on August 2.
Why do we bring this up?
To remind folks that during the birth of our country, there wasn’t the kind of signing ceremony we imagine today, or news coverage arriving instantly. Word spread through handouts, often days after the fact.
An accurate depiction of that era would show numerous copies of the Declaration posted on the walls of local buildings — almost certainly taverns — for the public to see. No one really knows how many of these broadsheet announcements were made at the time. What we do know is fewer than a dozen remain in existence today.
One was just purchased by George Norcross III and his family.
According to PhillyVoice — which is owned by the Norcross family — Norcross (chairman of insurance firm Conner Strong & Buckelew and of Cooper University Health Care) placed the winning bid on behalf of his family for one of those surviving copies last week.
The document, printed in Exeter, New Hampshire, in July 1776, sold for $2.9 million at Goldin Auctions, a Camden County auction house; with the house’s 22% buyer’s premium included, the total came to roughly $3.64 million.
The document is one of only 11 known surviving copies of the Exeter broadside, according to PhillyVoice, including one discovered in England earlier this year. Bidding had opened at $1 million in early June and climbed sharply in the final hours before the sale closed Wednesday night.
Seth Kaller, an expert in documents of liberty, explained the significance of the piece to PhillyVoice.
Kaller told the Voice that most people think of the Declaration of Independence as the engrossed, handwritten and signed document held at the National Archives. That document was ordered by the Continental Congress on July 19, 1776, after all states had voted on independence.
The reality back then was different.
“The news actually had to get out by broadsides like this and newspaper printings,” he said. “Today, our news is transmitted on the computer and phone, but back then, the only technology for spreading news like this was newspapers and broadsides.
“This is how people found out that we were declared independent.”
This isn’t the family’s first piece of Revolutionary-era history. PhillyVoice reported the Norcrosses paid a record $4 million in 2021 for a rare 1823 copperplate engraving of the Declaration, one of roughly 50 surviving copies commissioned by John Quincy Adams years before his presidency. That document had turned up in the Scottish attic of descendants of Charles Carroll, the Declaration’s only Catholic signer, and the family’s purchase was made in part to honor a family friend who had seen the document with them shortly before his death. It’s now on permanent display at the Museum of the American Revolution.
The family has said it plans to make the newly acquired broadside publicly accessible as well, according to PhillyVoice, framing the purchase as an act of stewardship tied to the country’s 250th anniversary.
George Norcross’ adult children, Lexie and Alex, offered this statement Thursday:
“As America celebrates its 250th anniversary, we are deeply honored to become the stewards of such an extraordinary piece of our nation’s history,” they said.
“The Declaration of Independence is far more than a historic document; it is a pivotal manuscript that belongs to the story of every American and a symbol of the ideals that continue to unite and inspire generations. We recognize the responsibility that comes with preserving this remarkable piece of our nation’s heritage and are committed to protecting it with the care and respect it deserves so future generations can continue to appreciate its enduring significance.”
