With the Declaration of Independence signed on July 4, 1776, this year starts a planned year-long celebration of the nation’s semiquincentennial anniversary.

The initial marking of the historic spot came in the late 1890s, in conjuction with the building of a new City Hall. The ...

Written by Thomas Jefferson, the declaration was called the “Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms” and drafted this week in 1775 by the Second Continental Congress.