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The Declaration of Independence
Declaration of Independence

By Grace Fleming, About.com

Susan Zakovec

Facts and Dates

June 12 to June 27, Thomas Jefferson creates the first drafts of the declaration.

June 28, a draft of the Declaration of Independence is read to the Congress.

July 4, Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia.

Signers of the Declaration of Independence

  • New Hampshire
    Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

  • Massachusetts
    John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

  • Rhode Island
    Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

  • Connecticut
    Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

  • New York
    William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

  • New Jersey
    Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

  • Pennsylvania
    Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

  • Delaware
    Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

  • Maryland
    Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

  • Virginia
    George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

  • North Carolina
    William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

  • South Carolina
    Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

  • Georgia
    Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

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