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The Declaration of Independence

Declaration of Independence

By , About.com Guide

The Declaration of IndependenceSusan 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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