Thomas Jefferson preserved a four-page draft that late in life he called the “original Rough draught”.[94] Known to historians as the Rough Draft, early students of the Declaration believed that this was a draft written alone by Jefferson and then presented to the Committee of Five. Scholars now believe that the Rough Draft was not actually an “original Rough draught”, but was instead a revised version completed by Jefferson after consultation with the Committee.[95] How many drafts Jefferson wrote prior to this one, and how much of the text was contributed by other committee members, is unknown. In 1947, Boyd discovered a fragment in Jefferson’s handwriting that predates the Rough Draft. Known as the Composition Draft, this fragment is the earliest known version of the Declaration.[96] The earliest known draft of the Declaration is the Composition Draft, a fragment in Jefferson’s handwriting.
Jefferson showed the Rough Draft to Adams and Franklin, and perhaps other committee members,[97] who made a few more changes. Franklin, for example, may have been responsible for changing Jefferson’s original phrase “We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable” to “We hold these truths to be self-evident”.[98] Jefferson incorporated these changes into a copy that was submitted to Congress in the name of the Committee. Jefferson kept the Rough Draft and made additional notes on it as Congress revised the text. He also made several copies of the Rough Draft without the changes made by Congress, which he sent to friends, including Richard Henry Lee and George Wythe, after July 4. At some point in the process, Adams also wrote out a copy.[99]
The copy that was submitted to Congress by the Committee on June 28 is known as the Fair Copy. Presumably, the Fair Copy was marked up by secretary Charles Thomson while Congress debated and revised the text.[100] This document was the one that Congress approved on July 4, making it the first “official” copy of the Declaration. The Fair Copy was sent to be printed under the title “A Declaration by the Representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in General Congress assembled”. The Fair Copy has been lost, and was perhaps destroyed in the printing process.[101] If a document was signed on July 4, it would have been the Fair Copy, and would likely have been signed only by John Hancock, president of Congress, and secretary Charles Thomson.[102]
If someone had told me way back then, that I’d still be working with SH all these years later, I would have branded them insane. You can’t say we haven’t had a ton of fun over the years, because we have. Time changes, people mostly don’t. The kid in the picture (not me) went on to become a dad and “the boss” and a few other words I can’t print here. But all in all, it’s been a good run.
It’s not my style to pretend that things are great when they’re not. I’m very black and white about my life and there’s hardly any grey. That’s why when someone asked me at 9am today how I was doing, I said “crappy”. Had that person asked me 9 hours earlier when I was just getting to work, I would have said, “great”, but given 9 hours and no dinner and no 15 minutes to clear my head, I’m worn out, tired, spent, crabby and crappy by 9am. Today my tooth continued to throb from Wednesday’s dental visit and my chronic infection was raging. But we survived.
All things are relative. Since the oil company lady woke me from my sleep yesterday, I headed in with fewer than 4 hours of rest today. And while I make the absolute best of the day, there comes a point where “crappy” describes my mood. 9am is that point. Maybe it’s a blood sugar thing, who knows? Maybe it’s age.
Now home, I am re-energized by the furfaces and by being home in general and except for seeing some poor dead deer in the back of a Chevy PU truck at the Drewsville General Store, all is well. Is that a double cheese pizza I smell in the oven? Well, yes it is. Time to grab a flashlight, pull up the covers over my head and try not to get any sauce on the sheets.
I guess I’m mad as hell that Uncle Sam is going around offering banks bailout money even though many banks are on sound financial footing. That’s what AP is reporting about United Financial Bancorp, parent company of United Bank with 15 branches in Western Massachusetts. Bank officials say they don’t need any help. Why wouldn’t the government KNOW which banks need help or are they just doling out money (taxpayer money) to any financial institution? Stuff like this bugs me. It sounds like the Katrina days, only worse. Maybe it’s more on-par with Uncle Sam dropping millions in cash over Baghdad. Gee, wonder who got that money? Sometimes this taxpayer feels like a chump.
The woman who taught me how to work hard died yesterday. She was a millionaire but she was never above getting on her hands and knees and scrubbing the floor or cleaning grout with a toothbrush. There was none who worked harder.
She also taught me that people were much more important than money. Unfortunately, that is a lesson she failed to teach herself. Countless mentally challenged people fell victim to her greed as did others who thought they could trump her business acumen. They could not. Not even the IRS could figure it out. And those poor souls who worked for her, struggled with nickle raises while she stuffed-away bundles of cash in old pocketbooks and bedroom closets.
Given all those she cheated over the years, or stepped on while putting together her fortune, all that money now belongs to someone else. For what? She lived on Pleasant Street in her mortal life. But after the final accounting, no telling what the address might be.
Some of my socks are 20-plus years old. And yes, I’ll admit to having pantyhose that rival that benchmark. Why else would I have bright pink and lime green in there? Today, I’m wearing loafers that are 12 years old. The sneakers I wore yesterday go back to 1991.
Why are we in such a hurry to throw out things that are still functional, but old? I don’t necessarily need the newest trend in anything. Sometimes the old was made better and comes complete with all sorts of memories.
Anybody else guilty of wearing real old stuff on a regular basis?
REPORT: Postal Service Looks To Cut 40,000 Jobs; First Layoffs In History…
CIRCUIT CITY FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY…
DHL to cut jobs and close service centers…
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AIG Bailout Swells to $150 Billion…
…US to assume toxic mortgage assets
FED REFUSES TO IDENTIFY $2,000,000,000,000 BANK LOANS…
Trump Files Suit Against Lenders; Seeks to Extend $640 Million note on Chicago Skyscraper…
Stocks Slump as Earnings Concern Overshadows Stimulus…
Growing credit crisis claims more victims…
STARBUCKS profit drops 97%…
GM needs federal aid in coming weeks…
BAILOUT? Fed gives AMERICAN EXPRESS full bank status…
