Fifty-six delegates to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia signed the United States Declaration of Independence, a statement announcing that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain were now independent states, and thus no longer a part of the British Empire. Although the wording of the Declaration was approved by Congress on July 4, 1776, the date of its signing has been disputed. Most historians have concluded that it was signed nearly a month after its adoption, on August 2, 1776, and not on July 4 as is commonly believed.
Fifty-six delegates eventually signed the Declaration. Massachusetts: John Hancock (President of Congress), Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry. New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton. 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: Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross. Delaware: George Read, Caesar Rodney, Thomas McKean. Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll. Virginia: Thomas Jefferson, George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, 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, and George Walton.
The most famous signature on the engrossed copy is that of John Hancock, who, as President of Congress, presumably signed first. Hancock's large, flamboyant signature became iconic, and John Hancock emerged in the United States as an informal synonym for "signature". Two future presidents, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, were among the signatories. Edward Rutledge (age 26) was the youngest signer, and Benjamin Franklin (age 70) was the oldest signer.
exercise and cherish your constitutionally guaranteed right to keep and bear arms! just do it frugally.
so here's something you probably should not fish for when fishing from a small kayak? a shark!
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