Independence Day

July 4th

The date in 1776 that the USA Continental Congress
approved the Declaration of Independence.

The Declaration of Independence

     On April 12, 1776, the legislature of North Carolina authorized its delegates to the Continental Congress to join with others in a declaration of separation from Great Britain; the first colony to instruct its delegates to take the actual initiative was Virginia on May 15. On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia offered a resolution to the Congress to the effect “that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States. . . .” A committee consisting of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman was organized to “prepare a declaration to the effect of the said first resolution.” The Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776. Most delegates signed the Declaration August 2, but George Wythe (Va.) signed August 27; Richard Henry Lee (Va.), Elbridge Gerry (Mass.), and Oliver Wolcott (Conn.) in September; Matthew Thornton (N.H.), not a delegate until September, in November; and Thomas McKean (Del.), although present on July 4, not until 1781 by special permission, having served in the army in the interim.

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.

     We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.—Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

     He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

     He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

     He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

     He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

     He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

     He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

     He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

     He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

     He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

     He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

     He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

     He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

     He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighboring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

     He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

     He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

     He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

     He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

     He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

     In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

     Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

     We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.—And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

—John Hancock

The Timeline of Events.

1763
February 10 
The French-Indian War ends. 

October 7 
King George III proclaims a ban on westward migration in the colonies. 

1764
April 5 and 9 
Parliament passes the Sugar and Currency Acts, respectively. 

1765
March 22 
Parliament passes the Stamp Act. 

May 15 
Parliament passes the Quartering Act of 1765. 

October 7 
The Stamp Act Congress convenes. 

1766
March 18 
Parliament repeals the Stamp Act and passes the Declaratory Act. 

1767
June 29 
Parliament passes the Townshend Acts. 

July 2 
Parliament passes the New York Suspending Act. 

November 5 
The first of John Dickinson's "Letters from a Farmer" is printed in the Pennsylvania Chronicle. 

1768
February 11 
Samuel Adams composes The Massachusetts Circular Letter to the other 12 colonies. 

April 21 
The British Secretary of State for the colonies responds to the Massachusetts Circular Letter. 

June 8 
The British Secretary of State for the colonies orders General Thomas Gage to deploy forces to Boston. 

1770
March 5 
The Boston Massacre leads to the death of five colonists. 

April 12 
All provisions of the Townshend Act are repealed, except for the duty on tea. 

1772
June 9 
An angry colonial mob burns the British ship Gaspee, off the coast of Rhode Island. 

June 13 
Thomas Hutchinson, royal governor of Massachusetts, announces that he will henceforth be paid by the crown, instead of by the colonists; Massachusetts judges follow suit in September. 

November 2 
The first Committee of Correspondence is formed in Boston, and produces Samuel Adams' bold assertion of the "Rights of the Colonists," and Dr. Joseph Warren's "List of Infringements and Violations of Rights." 

1773
January 6 
Massachusetts' Governor Hutchinson argues the supremacy of Parliament before the General Court. 

May 10 
With the passage of the Tea Act, the East India Company is granted a virtual monopoly on the tea trade in the colonies. 

December 16 
A group of men dressed as Mohawk Indians and led by Samuel Adams dump 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor, an incident known as the Boston Tea Party. 

1774
March 31 - June 2 
The British Parliament passes the five Coercive Acts in order to punish Massachusetts for the Tea Party and regain control of the colony. 

August 
Several important publications appear in print, advancing the colonists' argument against Parliamentary authority; these include Wilson's 

September 5 
All the colonies except Georgia meet in the First Continental Congress. 

September 11 
King George III commits Britain to a policy of intractable opposition to colonial claims. 

September 17 
The Continental Congress passes the Suffolk Resolves. 

October 14 - 20 
The Continental Congress approves the Declaration and Resolves. 

October 20 
The Continental Congress advocates a boycott of British goods. 

October 26 
The Continental Congress adjourns. 

1775
February 9 
Parliament declares a state of rebellion in the colonies. 

March 23 
Patrick Henry delivers his famous "Liberty or Death" speech to the Virginia House of Burgesses. 

April 18 
Paul Revere makes his famous ride to alert the minutemen that the British are coming. 

April 19 
Open hostilities commence in the colonies at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts; the siege of Boston begins. 

May 10 
The Second Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia. 

June 15 
George Washington is appointed the military leader of the Continental forces. 

June 17 
The British are victorious at the Battle of Bunker Hill, but suffer heavy casualties. 

July 5 
The Continental Congress adopts the Olive Branch Petition. 

August 23 
King George III issues his 

November 17 
Royal Governor Dunmore of Virginia forms a regiment of former slaves to fight for the British by promising them freedom after their service. 

1776
Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations is published. 

January 10 
Thomas Paine's Common Sense is published. 

April 1 
John Adam's Thoughts on Government is published. 

April 12
The legislature of North Carolina authorized its delegates to the Continental Congress to join with others in a declaration of separation from Great Britain

May 10 
The Continental Congress recommends that the states form new governments. 

May 15 
Virginia instructs her delegates to the Continental Congress to propose that the colonies declare independence from Britain. 

June 7 
The Lee Resolution is introduced in the Continental Congress. 

June 28 
The Committee of Five presents Jefferson's draft of the Declaration of Independence to the Continental Congress. 

July 4 
The Declaration of Independence is approved by the Continental Congress. 

September 15 
The British occupy New York City. 

September 22 
The British execute Nathan Hale for espionage. 

December 26 
George Washington leads his troops across the Delaware River and successfully attacks the Hessian soldiers at Trenton. 

1777
June 14 
The design of the American flag is decided upon by Congress. 

October 4 
Washington is defeated in the Battle of Germantown in Pennsylvania and is forced to retreat; his army takes up winter quarters at Valley Forge. 

October 17 
British General John Burgoyne surrenders to American forces after the Saratoga Campaign. 

November 15 
The Articles of Confederation are approved by Congress and sent to the states for ratification. 

December 17 
France recognizes the independence of the United States. 

1778
February 6 
France and the United States form a commercial and military alliance. 

April 23 
Captain John Paul Jones raids Whitehaven, on the coast of England. 

1779
British troops force their way into the interior of Georgia and South Carolina. 

June 21 
Spain declares war on Great Britain, but refuses to recognize American independence. 

1780
May 12 
The British capture Charleston, South Carolina. 

September 25 
Benedict Arnold flees to the British after spying for them for over a year. 

October 7 
British troops led by General Cornwallis are forced to retreat from North Carolina. 

November 20 
Holland sides with the United States. 

1781
March 1 
The Articles of Confederation are ratified and adopted by the several states. 

August 
Washington leads his forces from New York to Virginia to square off with Cornwallis. 

October 19 
Cornwallis surrenders his army to Washington after the decisive Battle of Yorktown, thus ending British hopes for victory in the Revolutionary War. 

1782
March 5 
Parliament passes a measure allowing peace negotiations to begin with the former colonies. 

November 30 
An outline of peace terms is agreed upon between the Americans and the British. 

1783
April 
The Massachusetts Supreme Court abolishes slavery. 

June 8 
On the occasion of the disbanding of the Continental Army, George Washington sends a "Circular Letter" to all the states. 

September 3 
The peace treaty between the Americans and the British is officially signed in Paris. 

November 25 
British troops leave New York City. 

1784
August 
The Spelling Book of Noah Webster is published, standardizing the American spelling of words and ridding them of British peculiarities. 

1785
February 24 
Congress names John Adams the ambassador to the Court of St. James, England. 

March 8 
Henry Knox is named Secretary of War. 

March 10 
Thomas Jefferson is appointed ambassador to France. 

1786
January 16 
The Virginia House of Burgesses passes Jefferson's historic Bill for Religious Freedom. 

August 
Shays' Rebellion begins in Massachusetts, and spreads concern over the possibility of anarchy breaking out in the newly formed nation. 

September 11 
The Annapolis Convention begins with the goal of proposing changes to the political structure in order to aid commerce. 

1787
May 25 
The Constitutional Convention opens in Philadelphia with the goal of revising the Articles of Confederation. 

July 13 
Congress passes The Northwest Ordinance for the administration of the land north of the Ohio River and west of the Appalachians. 

September 17 
The Constitutional Convention approves the proposed Constitution and sends it to Congress. 

September 28 
The Continental Congress sends the proposed Constitution to the states for ratification. 

October 27 
The first Federalist Paper appears in the New York press. 

December 7 
By a unanimous vote, Delaware becomes the first state to ratify the Constitution, and thus, the first state of the new Union. 

December 12 
After a bitter debate, Pennsylvania's ratifying convention approves the Constitution by a vote of 46-23. 

December 18 
New Jersey ratifies by a unanimous vote. 

1788
January 2 
Georgia ratifies by a unanimous vote. 

January 9 
Connecticut ratifies by a vote of 128 -40. 

February 6 
Massachusetts ratifies by a close vote: 187-168. 

March 24 
Rhode Island refuses to ratify. 

April 28 
Maryland ratifies by a vote of 63-11. 

May 23 
South Carolina ratifies by a vote of 149-73. 

June 2 
The President of Congress announces that the Constitution has been ratified by the nine states required. 

June 21 
New Hampshire ratifies by a close vote: 57-47. 

June 25 
Virginia ratifies by a vote of 89-79. 

July 26 
New York ratifies by a vote of 30-27. 

August 2 
North Carolina refuses to ratify until a Bill of Rights is added to the Constitution. 

September 30 
The first elections of senators and representatives to the new government are held. 

October 10 
The Congress of the Confederation conducts its last official business. 

1789
February 4 
Presidential electors elect George Washington president and John Adams vice president of the new government. 

March 4 
The First Congress convenes in New York. 

April 30 
George Washington is inaugurated as the first president of the United States. 

September 25 
Congress submits twelve Constitutional amendments to the states for consideration. 

1791
January 10 
Vermont ratifies the Constitution, and later becomes the fourteenth state of the Union (on March 4). 

December 15 
Virginia ratifies the Bill of Rights, making it part of the Constitution. 

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Joe Moore  MooreJ