Fair Play Men - Legacy

Legacy

There are no original written records from the Fair Play Men or their Declaration of Independence, although many later accounts exist. The two main theories that have been advanced to explain this are: first that any records were destroyed in the Great Runaway (only one house survived in the whole West Branch valley); or second that they kept no records to avoid incriminating themselves as they were illegal settlers. The riders to Philadelphia are supposed to have lost their copy of the Declaration of Independence when ambushed or later when jailed.

In the absence of primary written records, some modern historians have doubted whether the actual Tiadaghton Declaration of Independence took place on July 4, 1776, or whether it was made before knowledge of the United States Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia reached the Fair Play Men.

The closest borough to the "Tiadaghton Elm" site is Jersey Shore in Lycoming County, which has a week-long Town Meeting each year over the Fourth of July. The Town Meeting includes a procession of people dressed as the Fair Play Men and a Tiadaghton Elm ceremony.