The Declaration’s memory unfolded across centuries of Virginia history. In the immediate aftermath, some Virginians commemorated both July 4, 1776 and the earlier April 19, 1775 Battle of Lexington and Concord, uncertain which date best defined the Revolution. The Manumission Act of 1782 inspired a wave of freedom documents in which enslavers—using language that referred to “the natural rights of all mankind”—echoed the Declaration’s preamble. Richard Rowell’s manumission deed is among those preserved in the Virginia Museum of History & Culture’s collections. Nineteenth-century July 4th celebrations featured barbecues, parades, and toasts, and the deaths of both Jefferson and John Adams on July 4, 1826, deepened the date’s mythic resonance. From Fort Monroe—where escaping enslaved people catalyzed the Emancipation Proclamation, to suffrage activists posing under the Capitol Square Washington statue, to Civil Rights Movement leaders including Roy Wilkins, whose 1958 speech invoked Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty or give me death!” (held in the VMHC’s collection), the Declaration remained a contested but potent reference point in Virginia.
Interviewees
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Maggie Creech
- Director of Education, Virginia Museum of History and Culture
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James Herrera-Brookes
- Melanie Trent De Schutter Senior Director of Research & Publications, Virginia Museum of History and Culture
