ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE
June 25, 1776, was not a day of celebration.
Virginia delegate Thomas Jefferson’s draft of the Declaration of Independence had not yet reached Congress. A small committee in Philadelphia was still making edits to the document.
Hundreds of miles away in New York, General George Washington faced very different troubles. The American campaign in Canada was falling apart. His officers warned him of danger on Lake Champlain, and he was working hard to stop American Loyalists from escaping before the British army arrived.
The DX Brief
- Jefferson’s draft had not reached Congress on June 25, 1776.
- The Declaration was still being edited by a small group of Founders.
- Congress had not yet voted for independence or approved the Declaration.
- Washington was dealing with the collapse of the American campaign in Canada.
- He was also warning of Loyalist threats around New York as British forces prepared to strike.
Declaration Still In Draft
By June 25, Thomas Jefferson had already drafted much of what would become the Declaration of Independence. But only a handful of men had seen it.
Congress had created the Committee of Five two weeks earlier and gave Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman the job of putting the colonies’ case against Britain into writing.
Jefferson was 33. He later said he tried to capture “the American mind.” Before the draft went back to the full committee, he showed it privately to Adams and Franklin and asked for “their corrections.”
Congress would not see the revised draft until June 28.
As such, June 25 was still behind-the-scenes work. No speeches. No signatures. No celebration. It was a day when the Declaration was still handwritten, still being revised, and still known only to a small circle.
The surviving “original rough draft” remains in Jefferson’s handwriting. It includes edits by Franklin, Adams, and Congress.
The version most Americans recognize today came later. The engrossed copy was penned by Timothy Matlack, not Jefferson.
Washington Faces Bad News
While Jefferson’s words were taking shape in Philadelphia, Washington was confronting the war’s hard reality from New York.
The American campaign in Canada was collapsing.
Brig. Gen. Benedict Arnold wrote Washington from Albany on June 25, reporting that Maj. Gen. Philip Schuyler would send news of “our evacuating Canada.”
Arnold said Washington had likely expected the setback because of the army’s “distressed situation.”
The details were grim.
“One half of the Army Sick & allmost the whole, destitute of Cloathing & every necessary of Life except Salt Pork & Flour,” Arnold wrote.
In plain English, the army was retreating, sick, under-supplied, and in no position to look like the military arm of a confident new nation.
Canada Campaign Collapses
The failed Canada campaign created a larger danger.
If British forces controlled Lake Champlain, they could use it as a northern route toward New York and put more pressure on the colonies.
Arnold warned Washington that the British were preparing boats for use on the lake. He urged the Americans to respond with “Gundaloes Row Gallies & floating Batteries,” along with hundreds of carpenters, before the enemy gained control.
Major General Philip Schuyler wrote Washington from Albany at 1 a.m. on June 25.
“The Grief I feel on the Evacuation of Canada by our Troops, is greatly alleviated by the little Loss sustained in the Retreat and the Hope I have that we shall maintain a Superiority on the Lakes,” Schuyler wrote.
Still, Schuyler feared the retreating army remained exposed. He warned that British forces could cut off supplies and described the American army as “broken and spiritless.”
Loyalist Plot Raises Alarm
Washington also worked to secure New York, where British forces appeared ready to strike.
Mount Vernon’s day-by-day account of Washington’s wartime correspondence notes that he wrote Lt. Col. Benjamin Tupper on June 25 after learning that boats had passed through the Narrows despite American fire.
Washington warned that people connected to a Loyalist “horrid Plot” might try to flee.
“There is no doubt our Inveterate Enemies who have had a hand in the late horrid Plot will try every method in their power to escape from the hands of Justice,” Washington wrote.
He ordered strict nighttime patrols to prevent their escape.
Washington’s concern extended beyond New York. In a June 25 letter to Col. Jacob Bayley, Washington said the proposed road to St. Johns may have once been “extremely right” to pursue, but the collapse in Canada changed the calculation. If the road would give the enemy “an easy pass to make Incursions into our Colonies,” Washington warned, it would be “improper to carry It on.”
Why It Mattered
June 25, 1776, was not the dramatic day Americans remember from paintings, speeches, and schoolbooks.
There was no final vote for independence. No public reading of the Declaration. No signing ceremony.
The Declaration remained a draft, and the war looked uncertain.
That is what makes the day so important.
The Founders were moving toward independence before victory was secure. Washington’s army faced retreat, disease, shortages, British pressure, and Loyalist threats.
In Philadelphia, Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin sharpened the words that would justify independence.
In New York and Albany, Washington and his commanders were trying to keep the Revolution alive.
Within days, the draft would move to Congress.
On July 2, Congress would vote for independence. On July 4, it would approve the final text of the Declaration. Most delegates would not sign the engrossed parchment until August 2.
For America, June 25 was the tense silence before the break.
Tomorrow On Road To Independence
June 26, 1776: John Adams believed the colonies were nearing the point of no return. As Congress worked toward independence, he wrote that the “Misfortunes in Canada” were “enough to melt an Heart of Stone.” Tomorrow, we look at how Adams saw the future while Washington struggled to save the Revolution.
