The harmonizing sentiments of the day

The Second Continental Congress named the Committee of the Five, a group who drafted what would become the United States Declaration of Independence. This committee operated from June 11, 1776, until July 5, 1776, the day on which the Declaration was published, and was composed of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman.

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As with most committee work, the lion’s share of the task fell to one man: Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson was brilliant to be sure, and that surely had something to do with his being saddled with authorship of the Declaration. He was also young, only 33 years old at the time. And that clearly had a lot to do with it too.

What emerged from his pen was a document that would, in short order, change the world.

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