Did john Henry felder write Articles of Separation from the English king?

Answer 1

John Henry Felder [also known as Captain Henry Felder, Sr.], Foreman of the Grand Jury for the Orangeburgh District delivered the Address & Declaration" of separation from the English King [also called the "Orangeburgh Declaration"] on May 20th, 1776, to the Honorable William Henry Drayton, Esq. Chief Justice of the Colony of South Carolina and the assembled. He was the first to sign the document, as its author, followed by the other 12 members of that Grand Jury....Henry Felder was probably educated in Zurich as a boy before coming to America in 1735, and was doubtless well able to write such a paper, since it was a traditionary joke that "whenever he got up in the legislature to present a bill it became a law before he sat down"...

RE: The time span between Felder's and Jefferson's Declarations.

The span of time from May 20th, 1776 [Felder's presentation of his Declaration] to July 4th, 1776 when the wording of Jefferson's Declaration of Independence was approved by the Congress is over seven weeks, nearly two months span because of 31 days in May - after Felder's in South Carolina. However, the Declaration of Independence was not signed apparently until Aug. 2, 1776 - perhaps there are others similar to Felder's Declaration to be researched that were written by men in other colonies during this period...

taken from the History of Orangeburg County, South Carolina, 1704 -1882, A. S. Salley, Jr.