Fifty-Six

On July 4^th, 1776 thirteen British colonies signed the Declaration of Independence. These were thirteen separate government entities that had became totally dismayed with British rule. Earlier in the year, despite the battles already fought, there had been hopes of reconciliation. However, the King's actions pushed the colonies to seek freedom. The states sent delegates to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The states represented at this Congress were:

• Massachusetts
  
• New Hampshire
  
• Connecticut
  
• Rhode Island
  
• New York
  
• New Jersey
  
• Pennsylvania
  
• Delaware
  
• Maryland
  
• Virginia
  
• South Carolina
  
• North Carolina
  
• Georgia
  

As the mood for independence grew in the colonies, the first complication arose in the fact that none of the delegates were authorized to work on independence by the bodies that sent them to Philadelphia. In fact, some of these delegates were expressly directed not to discuss independence. While American soldiers fought British troops and German mercenaries, the Continental Congress politically fought among themselves to find a path to independence.

This meant taking the fight back home to the assemblies to provide new instructions that allowed for the debate and vote upon the subject of independence. Starting in April, North Carolina became the first colony to approve their delegation to work for independence from Britain. Rhode Island became the first state to declare itself independent from British rule on May 4^th, 1776. Many similar declarations, instructions, and even court orders called for colonial independence.

The middle states of Delaware, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania remained resistant to the idea of independence. Tired of these states opposition, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposed that states that did not have a government that wanted to seek independence could choose to elect a new government that did. John Adams of Massachusetts seconded the measure and the resolution passed.

Still there was much debate after the resolution. Some thought that declaring independence was still premature. One popular argument called for seeking foreign aid as the first priority. In June, the middle states still had no authorization to act on independence and delegations threatened to leave. On June 10^th, the Congress agreed to postpone legislation on independence, though a committee was authorized to work on a document announcing and explaining independence.

While this document was being produced the people of New Jersey and Pennsylvania both elected new assemblies. These new governments authorized their delegates to seek independence. Samuel Chase of Maryland went home and worked to convince the state assembly to approve independence and they did. Only New York remained in opposition to declaring themselves free of Great Britain. This was further complicated, when the New York assembly had to vacate New York due to British military advances.

While this transpired a committee composed of John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, Robert R Livingston of New York, and Roger Sherman of Connecticut were authorized by Congress to work on a draft. Thomas Jefferson wrote the first draft and met with the committee. After that meeting Jefferson incorporated changes and this document was presented to the Congress, where it was tabled by order of that same Congress.

On July 1^st, 1776, debate for independence was initiated. John Dickinson of Pennsylvania made one last speech urging that Articles of Confederation be completed and foreign aid sought out prior to any declarations to the English crown. John Adams countered this speech and called for an immediate vote.

A vote followed. The rules of the Second Continental Congress allowed each state to make one vote. Each state's delegation voted amongst themselves to determine whether they approved a formal declaration of independence or not. Nine states voted in favor of the measure, with Pennsylvania and South Carolina opposing the action. New York's delegation had to abstain from taking a vote, without instructions from the New York Assembly and Delaware had a tie and therefore did not vote. The majority presided, but Robert Henry Lee sought a unanimous decision and delayed the vote for a day.

South Carolina reversed its position the next day. The Pennsylvania delegation saw two of its members abstain their votes which provided a majority in favor of declaring independence. A Caesar Rodney of the Delaware delegation arrived in Philadelphia and broke the tie in favor of Independence. New York still had not received new instructions and would only abstain from voting. It would take another week for instructions to arrive permitting the New York delegation to vote favorably.

Thus on July 2^nd, the Second Continental Congress voted to declare independence from England. Now the debate on Jefferson's draft could begin. The debate carried on into the next day and on the day following that the Congress approved the Declaration of Independence. The document was read before the Congress and a new nation was born.

Much debate exists regarding when the declaration was signed. John Adams. Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson all wrote the signing of the document occurred on July 4^th. The signed declaration displays July 4^th in its' header. In 1821 the Secret Journals of Congress were published. This source indicated that the actual signing occurred August 2^nd, 1776. Other arguments suggest that some members signed on July 4^th, while others signed when they were able to do so and that the task took until August to be completed.

No matter when they signed, fifty-six American patriots did sign the declaration. These men were:

Name	State	Position
John Hancock	Massachusetts	President of the Second Continental Congress
Josiah Bartlett	New Hampshire
William Whipple	New Hampshire
Matthew Thornton	New Hampshire
Samuel Adams	Massachusetts
John Adams	Massachusetts
Robert Treat Paine	Massachusetts
Elbridge Gerry	Massachusetts
Steven Hopkins	Rhode Island
William Ellery	Rhode Island
Roger Sherman	Connecticut
Samuel Huntingdon	Connecticut
William Williams	Connecticut
Oliver Wolcott	Connecticut
William Floyd	New York
Phillip Livingston	New York
Francis Lewis	New York
Lewis Morris	New York
Richard Stockton	New Jersey
John Witherspoon	New Jersey
Francis Hopkinson	New Jersey
John Hart	New Jersey
Abraham Clark	New Jersey
Robert Morris	Pennsylvania
Benjamin Rush	Pennsylvania
Benjamin Franklin	Pennsylvania
John Morton	Pennsylvania
George Clymer	Pennsylvania
James Smith	Pennsylvania
George Taylor	Pennsylvania
James Wilson	Pennsylvania
George Ross	Pennsylvania
George Read	Delaware
Caesar Rodney	Delaware
Thomas McKean	Delaware
Samuel Chase	Maryland
William Paca	Maryland
Thomas Stone	Maryland
Charles Carroll	Maryland
George Wythe	Virginia
Richard Henry Lee	Virginia
Thomas Jefferson	Virginia
Benjamin Harrison	Virginia
Thomas Nelson Jr.	Virginia
Francis Lightfoot Lee	Virginia
Carter Braxton	Virginia
William Hopper	North Carolina
Joseph Hewes	North Carolina
John Penn	North Carolina
Edward Rutledge	South Carolina
Thomas Heyward, Jr.	South Carolina
Thomas Lynch, Jr.	South Carolina
Arthur Middleton	South Carolina
Button Gwinnett	Georgia
Lyman Hall	Georgia
George Walton	Georgia