Westford Historical Society hosts public reading of the Declaration of Independence for 250th anniversary

The Westford Historical Society and the Westford Museum presented a public reading of the Declaration of Independence to commemorate the document's 250th anniversary. Linda Green, director of the Westford Museum, opened the event and invited residents to attend the reading led by the Historical Society's board and introduced Westford Town Historian Bob Oliphant.

Oliphant provided a brief historical context before the reading. He traced earlier calls for independence to Massachusetts figures such as James Otis and to John Dickinson's 1768 Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, and cited Thomas Paine's January 1776 pamphlet Common Sense as influential. He also summarized the committee of five that drafted the Declaration — John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston and Roger Sherman — and said Adams persuaded Jefferson to write the text because of Jefferson's writing ability.

Oliphant recounted the committee's timeline: the draft was presented to Congress on July 2, 1776, revised July 3, and officially adopted July 4; Philadelphia printer John Dunlap produced copies on July 5. He described the first public readings on July 8 at Independence Hall (Philadelphia), Trenton and Easton and noted copies were sent to the other colonies; the text reached Boston mid-July and was first read there publicly on July 18. Oliphant quoted the Massachusetts provincial congress's subsequent order, which required copies be sent to ministers to be read at the first Lord's day after receipt and directed town clerks to record the text in town records.

On the local history of the reading, Oliphant said the date of Westford's original reading was not recorded and was likely July 21; he added that the reading would have taken place near the second meeting house (built 1771, burned 1793). "The declaration of independence was officially recorded in the Westford town records by town clerk Zaccheus Wright and it is forever preserved in the Westford town archives," Oliphant said.

Following his introduction, Oliphant read substantial portions of the Declaration, including lines from the preamble — "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" — and the concluding paragraph that declares the colonies "free and independent states" and records the signers' mutual pledge of "our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." The reading was presented as a historical commemoration; no motions, votes or policy actions were part of the program.

The presentation was organized by the Westford Historical Society board and hosted by the Westford Museum as part of local commemorations of the Declaration's 250th anniversary. The town's archival record of the text, cited by Oliphant, remains in the Westford archives.