Did Benjamin Franklin sign the declaration of indpendance?

Answer 1

As to the document bearing that title, yes. As to the proclamation by which the Second Continental Congress actually purported to declaring independence from Great Britain, the Lee Resolution of July 2, 1776, no. Also I try to hard to answer a question....

Then again, the document held in the National Archives is not the document approved on July 4. The word "unanimous" in the title was not added until after the New York delegation finally cast its affirmative vote on July 9. Actually, the title wasn't changed until Congress ordered the modification of July 19. The Dunlap Broadsides had been in circulation by July 5 - one of them having been sent to London. They were never signed. The original sent by the Congress to Timothy Matlock to be engrossed was either lost or destroyed. The engrossed copy was returned on August 2. There was no signing ceremony and it took almost a year to get "all" the signatures. The Congress had ordered that all members present for the vote were to sign. However, several of those members who had voted against the document and the concept of independence (don't forget, only about 20% of the colonial population favored independence in 1776 on only about 1/3 supported the cause at it's peak - excluding the Canadian and Caribbean colonies, of course, who flat out refused the invitation to join the insurrection) had been removed and replace. The lovers of liberty didn't tolerate dissention within their ranks. Those removed were never granted the invitation to sign (not that they would have availed themselves of the opportunity had it been offered). To be fair, others who had nothing whatsoever to do with either the Lee Resolution or the Declaration were allowed to sign. Robert R. Livingston, one of the Committee of Five who wrote the draft that was sent to the Congress for final editing and revision, never did sign. At the time, he didn't support a move for independence. John Dickinson also refused to sign for the same reason. The reason that the document (or, for that matter, the concept of separation and independence) was never put to "We the People" for popular vote was that it would have been resoundingly defeated. Loyal colonials in 1776 outnumbered the rebels by at least 2 to 1, and there were at least as many 'neutrals' as there were rebels. It was not a popular cause. When the Goddard Broadside was printed in January, 1777, some signatures were still missing.

In any case, the document was meaningless as a matter of law or political consequence. Independence achieved only when it was granted by the British in the Treaty of Paris in 1783. At that time, thirteen new nations were created in North America. The independence of those nations was never surrendered by them when they formed alliances under the Articles of Confederation or the Constitution of the United States. In 1865, it was determined by war that the federal government had become the very monster that the Founding Fathers and Framers of the Constitution feared and had tried to prevent. Then, and only then, was it understood universally that the United States of America was a single entity composed of subservient states, rather than an alliance of co-equal independent nation-states united for their general good and who had delegated limited aspects of their autonomy to a central government for very limited purposes which affected them all and over which uniformity of legislation was deemed necessary and appropriate.

The actual history is far more interesting than such mundane issues as who signed what, especially when that which was signed (like the Declaration of Independence) was so very meaningless at the time.

He "helped" write it and he was one of the last to sign it.

Answer 2

Thomas Jefferson wrote the entire first written draft on his own. Then Ben Franklin and John Adams made some changes. Then it was proposed to the Constitutional Convention for adoption, where it was changed in a number of places by the delegates until it was acceptable to the states.

Answer 3

No, but he helped edit it. Jefferson was the main author using the philosophy of john Locke. Franklin also had help with the edit from Adams and Jay. It took 6 rewrites before the final copy was made. It was published in July, but not approved by congress until October.

Answer 4

Yes, Benjamin Franklin did sign the Declaration Of Independence. In fact, he even helped write the declaration.

Answer 5

Yeah, Benjamin did sign the Declaration of Independence

Answer 6

No, Benjamin Franklin was not the first one to sign the "Declaration of Independence" Thomas Jefferson was because Thomas Jefferson wrote it.

Answer 7

yes

Answer 8

John Hancock was

Answer 9

No John Hancock was