On July 4, 1776, in a steamy meeting room in Philadelphia, fifty-six men from thirteen American colonies passed around a quill pen and signed a piece of parchment that would change the world. The document was the Declaration of Independence, drafted mostly by a tall, red-haired Virginian named Thomas Jefferson, with edits from Benjamin Franklin and John Adams. Outside, the Liberty Bell is said to have rung as the news spread through the cobblestone streets.
The colonies had been arguing with Britain for years about taxes without representation, soldiers in their homes, and laws made far across the ocean. The Declaration was their official 'we're done' letter to King George III. Its most famous line - 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal' - became one of the most quoted sentences in history. The signers knew they were committing treason against the British crown, and if America lost the war, they could be hanged. John Hancock signed his name so big, the legend says, that the king wouldn't need glasses to read it.
The Revolutionary War dragged on for seven more years until America finally won its freedom in 1783. Every July 4, Americans celebrate Independence Day with fireworks lighting up the night, backyard barbecues, parades down small-town streets, and red-white-and-blue everything. The original Declaration is kept under thick protective glass at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., still being read by visitors more than two centuries later.
