The Declaration’s authority depended on mass proclamation, not just a vote.

Evidence

Once the Declaration passed, Congress immediately ordered both its distribution to “the several assemblies, conventions and committees” of the states and “to the several commanding officers of the continental troops,” and its proclamation “in each of the United States, and at the head of the army.” Copies scattered widely with cover letters from Congress urging the states to proclaim the Declaration “in such a Mode, as that the People may be universally informed of it.” Read to a large crowd outside the Pennsylvania State House where Congress met, it first appeared in a Philadelphia newspaper on July 6 and reached the Boston press by July 17. In New York, Washington had the full text read to the assembled troops with great fanfare on July 9. Initially signed only by Congress’s president, John Hancock, and secretary, Charles Thomson, after New York added its assent on July 9, Congress ordered the document printed on parchment as the “unanimous declaration” of all thirteen states for every assenting delegate to sign. — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 225

Categorization

• XREF: Early instance of how a legal-political text derives binding force from public promulgation rather than enactment alone - relevant to questions about constitutional legitimacy. — connects to: Constitutional declarations of political principles signal their impotence, not their power — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting…, 921; The Declaration’s equality promise was made legally operative only through later social movements — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 355

Broader Connections

• The Declaration’s equality promise was made legally operative only through later social movements #expands (0.80) — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 355
• Constitutional declarations of political principles signal their impotence, not their power #qualifies (0.78) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 921