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John Hancock's Original Declaration Of Independence

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There was once a group of American people, who were unhappy with their government. The King was King George, and he was doing anything and everything in his power to keep the American colonies in the British empire, including going to war. He would give them heavy taxes and he wouldn't allow them to move westward. He even sent so many soldiers to Boston, MA that there was one soldier for every four colonists. Since the colonists were unhappy, a group of people in the Continental Congress wrote to the king about the problems. This group was called the Second Continental Congress. The First Continental Congress was assembled at the beginning of the Revolutionary War and they came up with ways to gain independence through peace and discussed military tactics. The Second Continental Congress’s job …show more content…

After all of the necessary changes were made, the Congress decided that the document was good. In total, Jefferson made 87 changes to the document. Hundreds of copies of the Declaration were made, but only 26 survived. On the original copy of the Declaration, there is actually writing on the back. It says, “Original Declaration of Independence dated 4th July 1776” in invisible ink. John Hancock is the only congressman to sign the document on July 4, 1776. All of the congressmen at the meeting then decided to sign the document on August 2, 1776, in Charleston South Carolina. John Hancock was the first person to sign the Declaration of Independence. He was aware that the king had poor eyesight, so he wrote his name very largely. This way the King would be able to see it without his glasses. When the King saw the Declaration, he got angry and decided to send more soldiers to America, which resulted in more war. This war would not officially end until 1781. The Americans did not quit fighting because they wanted to be free from a government that governed them from the other side of the

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