HOW THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE WAS ACTUALLY SIGNED
In May of 1776, three men were sitting at a table discussing the writing of a declaration for the independence of the colonies from Great Britain...
Those three men were John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin...
John Adams offered to write the draft for the declaration, but then Benjamin Franklin said that Thomas Jefferson is far more articulate and is able to phrase things more specifically and concisely...
Thomas Jefferson was 33 years old at the time and was known as a great literary scholar having read many of the great philosophers at the time...
John Adams thought about it for a moment and Thomas Jefferson then said he would be very glad to write the draft for the declaration...
On the 4th of July, the final draft was read to the men who gathered at the Continental Congress...
Everyone was very reluctant to sign their name to the declaration in great fear of being hanged, the general argument was that when the King of England sees their name on that document they would be hanged...
John Hancock stood up and walked over to the front table and said, "Give me that pen, I'll sign it and I'll make sure my name is signed big enough for the king to see."
John Hancock was the only one to sign the declaration on July 4th...
The Continental Congress then decided to meet 28 days later, on August 1st to consider signing the declaration once more...
On August 1st, the same men gathered and there was still a heated discussion about being hanged for signing such a document...
Benjamin Franklin then said, "Gentlemen, we can all hang separately or we can all hang together."
Slowly but surely, each of the men at the meeting then stood up one at a time and walked over to the front table to sign the Declaration of Independence...
This is how the Declaration of Independence was actually signed...
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