A Brief History of the United States

by Joel Dorman Steele

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.

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THE following preamble and specifications, known as the Declaration of Independence, accompanied the resolution of Richard Henry Lee, which was adopted by Congress on the 2d day of July, 1776. This declaration was agreed to on the 4th, and the transaction is thus recorded in the Journal for that day:

"Agreeably to the order of the day, the Congress resolved itself into a committee of the whole, to take into their further consideration the Declaration; and, after some time, the president resumed the chair, and Mr. Harrison reported that the committee have agreed to a Declaration, which they desired him to report. The Declaration being read, was agreed to as follows:"