PORTSMOUTH — Two hundred and forty-five years after it was adopted in Philadelphia, the Declaration of Independence was remembered this Fourth of July morning with a public reading outside the Portsmouth Free Public Library.

Fourteen people attended Sunday’s ceremony, with all joining together to read the 1,458-word document in which the 13 American colonies declared themselves no longer under British rule. 

Anne Wagner, who organizes the event at the library every year, said it was important to never take the importance of Independence Day for granted. At the same time, she said, she’s tired of hearing only about American’s “rights.”

“Rights require responsibility,” Ms. Wagner pointed out.

Noting that the Declaration of Independence was borne out of conflict, “If they were able to come together to produce this incredible document for our country, today maybe we can do the same," she said.

Before ending with some thoughts on one of her favorite figures from the Revolutionary War period — Rhode Island’s own Nathanael Greene, a major general of the Continental Army — she urged everyone to “enjoy your hotdogs.”

The Town of Portsmouth owns its own rare copy of the Declaration of Independence. One of eight known copies printed by Solomon Southwick on July 13, 1776, it was found behind a filing cabinet at Town Hall in 1987. It is now kept in the town’s vault.