As the 250th anniversary of signing the Declaration of Independence approaches, I re-read the document. I plan to read it again before the 4th of July. Living as I do in current times, I can’t believe men wrote these words. I also wonder how women influenced the document. Because our knowledge of the event is restricted to what prominent men, and a few women wrote about it, we will never know the full story. It arises among us in bits and pieces which reflect not history, but our biased perception of artifacts that remain from colonial days. My celebration of the American Semiquincentennial is tempered with that knowledge.

I asked the internet to summarize the commemoration, and it returned this serviceable description,

The anniversary commemorates July 4, 1776, when the thirteen colonies declared their independence from Great Britain and set forth principles of self-government and individual rights. Across the country, communities, historical organizations, and government institutions are using the occasion to reflect on the nation’s founding, its achievements and challenges, and the continuing meaning of the Declaration’s ideals.

While production of the declaration was a big deal in colonial times, and our American lives today would be the less without it, re-reading the declaration leaves me with questions.

Who told the British?

As near as I can tell from available literature, the colonies had no intention of telling the British. They simply declared they were “free and independent states” and that was that.

Perhaps I am being a bit facetious. The declaration was intended as a statement to the colonists, and as an announcement to the world. It was so important the founders ordered printer John Dunlap to produce broadsides of the declaration the day it was signed (see below). About 200 copies were made that evening and early the next day. The broadside was distributed to colony officials and military commanders, it was read in public spaces throughout the colonies, and published in newspapers. Additional copies were sent overseas, but not directly to King George III. There was no need, the signers must have believed.

Where were the women?

Women were excluded from formal political power at the time of the declaration. The nature of their influence is complicated by the fact so little documentation of what they thought exists in 2026. It is generally believed their influence came through family relationships, correspondence, intellectual exchange, economic activity, and wartime service. That’s not wrong.

In a 1776 letter, Abigail Adams wrote her husband John to “remember the ladies,” as he worked on the declaration. According to lore, he dismissed the suggestion.

Mercy Otis Warren was one of the Revolution’s leading intellectuals. She wrote political plays and essays criticizing British policy. She later authored one of the earliest histories of the Revolution. At the same time, she did not have a seat at the table in Philadelphia as the declaration was signed.

The support Martha Washington and other military spouses gave to their men during the Revolutionary War is worth mentioning. It suggests they were a part of the Revolution from its beginnings.

Enslaved women? Not involved so much that we know. The best known enslaved woman of the time was Thomas Jefferson’s slave Sally Hemmings, with whom he sired children, genetic analysis suggests. There is no evidence she influenced policy. In fact, her situation shines light on a central contradiction of the declaration which founded a republic based on liberty, yet enabled slavery to persist.

What about the slaves?

Another colonial woman worth mentioning was the slave Phillis Wheatley. In 1761, she was purchased by John Wheatley in Boston around age seven or eight. She had been kidnapped in West Africa. Her first name comes from the vessel that transported her across the Atlantic Ocean. Her last name from her new owner. John’s spouse Susanna and daughter Mary gave Phillis an education that included many things that are today considered to be classical studies. She wrote poetry and famously corresponded with George Washington.

Phillis Wheatley became a prominent writer of the colonial period. Her name was so well known, colonists could not believe a slave could write the poetry she did. In a “what in the actual f*ck” moment, in 1772, eighteen prominent Bostonians — including governor Thomas Hutchinson and patriot leader John Hancock — questioned her and then signed a statement attesting that she was indeed the author of her own poetry.

There is a lot more to say about Wheatley and the others mentioned. The American Semiquincentennial is partly responsible for raising these issues, and for that, I am thankful. Happy 250th, readers!