The official copy of the Declaration, as engrossed and signed by the members of Congress, is framed and preserved in the Hall over the Patent-Office at Washington.
See Life and Works of John Adams, Vol. II. p. 417 et seq.
On the authorship of this speech, see [Note] at the end of the Discourse.
In this Convention he served as chairman of the committee for preparing the draft of a Constitution.
Upon the organization of this body, 15th November, 1820, John Adams was elected its President; an office which the infirmities of age compelled him to decline. For the interesting proceedings of the Convention on this occasion, the address of Chief Justice Parker, and the reply of Mr. Adams, see Journal of Debates and Proceedings in the Convention of Delegates chosen to revise the Constitution of Massachusetts, p. 8 et seq.