And a special thanks to
Thomas Jefferson of Virginia who at the direction of The Committee of Five, John Adams of Massachusetts and Roger Sherman of Connecticut; two men from the Middle Colonies, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania and Robert R. Livingston of New York, between June 11 and June 28, 1776, communicated separately to Dr. Franklin and Mr. Adams requesting their corrections, drafted and presented to the Continental Congress a document that with minor revision began as follows:
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
Happy 4th everyone
