The engrossed copy of the Declaration of Independence is on display at the National Archives building in Washington, DC. Millions of visitors flock to see it and the other Charters of Freedom. But how did it end up there and why do people approach it with religious reverence?
In this episode, we explore how the Declaration took on its symbolic role as the founding text of the United States.
Mary Beth Norton joins us to serve as the voice of the late Pauline Maier, whose book American Scripture gave us the phrase.
About the Show
Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.
It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.
Episode Summary
Mary Beth Norton is the Mary Donlon Alger Professor Emerita at Cornell University. She’s an award-winning historian who has written six books, edited many more, and is a pioneer in the field of women’s history.
In this episode, Mary Beth reveals:
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Pauline Maier What Pauline Maier wanted to accomplish by writing a book about the Declaration of Independence and how her work shifted the way historians think about the document
- How Americans created many declarations of independence in 1776 before Thomas Jefferson picked up his pen for Congress
- How and why the Declaration became “American scripture”
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What You’ll Discover
- What it’s like for a scholar of the American Revolution to view the Declaration of Independence
- The experience of being a female graduate student at Harvard in the 1960s
- How historians thought about the Declaration before Pauline Maier published American Scripture
- How Americans across the continent made local choices about independence in early 1776
- The political experiences of everyday Americans
- Why Congress wanted to create a manuscript version of the Declaration
- How the engrossed version became the definitive symbol of independence
- The impact of Pauline Maier’s work
- The importance of 1774 for independence
Links to People, Places, and Publications
Complementary Episodes
🎧 Episode 141: A Declaration in Draft
🎧 Episode 155: Pauline Maier’s American Revolution
🎧 Episode 294: 1774: The Long Year of Revolution
🎧 Episode 325: Everyday People of the American Revolution
🎧 Episode 415: The Many Declarations of Independence
🎧 Episode 423: The Forgotten Artists of the American Revolution
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