Extraordinary original issue of the July 3, 1776, edition of the Pennsylvania Gazette, four pages, each measuring 8.25 x 13.5, containing the first published announcement of the Declaration of Independence. This appears halfway down the third column of page two, briefly stating: “Philadelphia, July 3. Yesterday the Continental Congress declared the United Colonies Free and Independent States.” The decision to declare independence was voted on by delegates from the 13 colonies and approved on July 2, 1776, upon which John Adams wrote that the date would be ‘the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival.’ The wording of the actual document was still being revised at the moment this newspaper was published, and on the following day, July 4, the Declaration of Independence was famously signed. Framed to an overall size of 18.5 x 16, presented as a two-page spread set between panes of glass, such that all can be viewed. A rare and historically important newspaper from this most important moment in American history. RR Auction COA.
