Journalism, we are told, is the first rough draft of history. News comes in short, incomplete bursts – just enough information to change one’s life, but not enough information to give a full picture of where things are headed.

In “When the Declaration of Independence Was News” historian Emily Sneff explores the early, uncertain days of the American Revolution from the viewpoint of patriots and loyalists, politicians and power brokers, men and women, servants and kings. “Most books written about the Declaration have pursued questions about its precedents and authorship, as well as its legacy,” she writes. “But in 1776, when the Declaration was news, it was part of an ever-changing ...…