This Day in History: November 2

The original French declaration, which is in French only, and a copy of the American declaration (which is said to be in part in the handwriting of Franklin) are in the Department of State file; but the copy is neither correct nor complete. There is now also in the file a facsimile of the original American declaration, obtained from the French archives; and from this, which is in both languages, the text here is printed. No reference to these declarations has been found in the Journals of Congress, although they are printed in the Library of Congress edition (XI, 461); it is there stated that they are not mentioned in the correspondence of the time; but it appears that the actual exchange of the declarations took place on November 2,1778...[More]