17761776 Club
Nixon reads the Declaration aloud; Philadelphia hears the words for the first time at noon
Trenton and Easton hear it simultaneously; in New York, Washington's troops pull down the equestrian statue of King George III.
Congress had voted for independence on July 2 and adopted the final text on July 4, but most Americans still hadn't heard a word of it. At noon on July 8, 1776, John Nixon climbed a platform in the yard of the Pennsylvania State House and read the Declaration aloud to a Philadelphia crowd, the same words read simultaneously in Trenton and Easton. Church bells rang, and after the Declaration was read to Washington's troops in New York City on July 9, crowds pulled down an equestrian statue of King George III and melted the lead into musket balls…
