The New York Times first devoted an entire page to the Declaration of Independence exactly 100 years ago, on July 4, 1918. Thirty years ago, NPR’s Morning Edition began a tradition of reading the Declaration on air. Last year, NPR also published the text in 113 consecutive tweets, and the sheer number of tweets as well as the fragmentation caused by the 140-character limit sparked confusion and criticism.[1] Taken out of context, essential phrases in the Declaration were perceived as subtweets, propaganda, or a call for revolution in the Trump era.
The tradition of publishing the Declaration annually on July 4 dates much further back, however. In fact, it appears that the first printer to republish the Declaration of Independence on July 4 with the intention of marking the anniversary was also the first printer ever to publish the Declaration: John Dunlap. He and David C. Claypoole included the text on the front page of The Pennsylvania Packet, and Daily Advertiser(Philadelphia, PA) on July 4, 1786, the tenth anniversary. By 1801, republishing the Declaration of Independence in newspapers on or around July 4 was a trend on the verge of becoming a tradition and an expectation. The Telegraphe and Daily Advertiser(Baltimore, MD), for example, first included the Declaration by request on July 4, 1799, and republished the text annually through 1806.[2] Before 1801, only a handful of newspapers printed the Declaration in any given year. In 1801, at least twelve newspapers printed the text in late June or early July; by 1806, that number more than doubled. As the individual who requested that the Telegraphe print the Declaration in 1799 wrote to the printer, “you have it in your power to gratify all without displeasing any, by giving it a place…” But, as last year’s tweets proved, even a text as intrinsic to our national identity as the Declaration can become polarizing. The 1801 uptick in July 4 newspaper printings, for example, coincided with a tense moment of political transition, and crystallized in part because of the association between the new President and the Declaration.