The Declaration Of Independence

As you may know, the Americans have been in war for almost a year. On the second meeting of the Continental Congress, it was said that America needed to have its independence. On June 11,1776, the Continental Congress chose five leaders to write a document explaining why they wanted independence. This group of five leaders were called the Committee of Five and its members were Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Robert Livingston, Roger Sherman, and Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson wrote the draft and on June 28,1776 it was presented to Congress.

When everybody was in Congress not everybody agree.On the first round of voting, South Carolina and Pennsylvania say "no"and Delaware plus New York didn't vote. The next meeting, the leaders still wanted to convince why America needed independence. Most of the countries got convinced, so 12 colonies voted yes, and 1 colony voted no, this colony was New York. On July 4, 1776 the Congress officially chose the final version of the Declaration of Independence. That it's why on the United States they celebrate the 4th of July as their Independence day.

Interesting Facts:

• 56 members of Congress signed the Declaration.
• The original Declaration of Independence is in National Archives in Washington DC.
• John Hancock was the first one to sign and his famous sign was almost 5 inches long.

This is the Declaration of Independence,wrote by Abraham Lincoln. All the bunch of words that you see that take up most are what Lincoln wrote, obviously. But all of those words are explaining why does America need to have freedom, it also symbolizes the birth of the American nation. This was what set American free. Because of all the effort that each colony/colonies did, that's why this was written. Because the Americans were tired of the British this was written. Because the Americans wanted to be free and become the United States of America. This is why this "paper" is so important. On the bottom, are all the Congress members' signature.