By Staff
As we go about the business of celebrating our nation's birthday this holiday weekend, let us not forget that the Fourth of July is not a holiday declared so that we may take Monday off, eat and drink to excess and shoot fireworks.
Instead, July 4 marks an important, almost sacred day in our nation's history, the day the Second Continental Congress agreed to declare its independence from Britain. The decision led to a bloody, costly war, and the founding of an independent nation that has done much good in the world.
As a reminder of the solemn side of this occasion and the vision our forefathers had for America, we chose to reprint portions of the Declaration of Independence this weekend.
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States
of America
–John Hancock
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