MovieChat Forums > Sons of Liberty (2015) Discussion > the Declaration document

the Declaration document

posted 10 years ago by Eratrosceles
3 replies | jump to latest

Toward the very end of the third installment when all the men in the room have signed, one character (think it was S. Adams but wasn't really looking right at him) sprinkles a dusty substance on the document then blows much of it off. Can anyone tell me what that substance was, and its purpose? There is a lot of talk on the boards about inaccuracies in this film effort (and I agree), so is this scene a viable/plausible depiction regarding whatever that stuff is? I don't know (hence asking) so I won't waste time here with potentially erroneous guesses:P Thanks for any and all who can shed some light on this-

[–] jostrowski3 10 years ago

I wondered that too. Governor Hutchinson also does that when he rights the letter to England. My only guess is it was a way to help dry the ink quicker.

[–] dannieboy20906 10 years ago

It is called "sand." I think that is was, literally, very fine sand. India ink was made by mixing carbon (carbon black) into water. Then a quill pen was used to write. The water based ink slowly seeped into the parchment. To accelerate drying after the ink had sufficiently, then someone would either roll a blotter over the parchment or sprinkle on sand. The blotter risks smearing the ink, the sand will need to be scattered onto the flow and cleaned up later.

[–] slackersmom 10 years ago

Dannieboy is correct, basically the sand dries the ink to keep it from smearing. In an earlier scene, we see someone writing something, sand the sheet, fold it, and then seal it with wax, complete with the wax stamp.