Useless But Compelling Facts - July 2008 Answer
Last month we asked you about two individuals who had the courage to print the Declaration of Independence—a hanging offense at the time. The fastest right answer—coming in two emails before anyone else fired off a single one—comes from John Falco, a long-standing Legal Bytes reader. He correctly told us that after Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson’s handwritten copy was sent a few blocks away to John Dunlap’s print shop at 48 Market Street. Then, in January 1777, the Continental Congress ordered signed copies to be more widely distributed and hired Mary Katherine Goddard to do the job. In addition to being the first American woman postmaster, she operated the Maryland Journal, a Baltimore newspaper, and owned a print shop where the copies were made.
