When we celebrate the Fourth of July in the United States we are remembering the day that the Second Continental Congress adopted the United States Declaration of Independence at Independence Hall in Philadelphia in 1776.The thirteen British colonies in North America were at war with Great Britain and resolved in the Lee Resolution to separate and become independent sovereign states within a new country of United Colonies.  The Continental Congress had appointed a Committee of Five on June 11 to draft the document and present it to the larger body for consideration on or about July 1. After determining the general outline and substance of the document the committee appointed Thomas Jefferson to compose the first draft, which he did with the editorial supervision of John Adams and Benjamin Franklin.  After consultation and revisions the result was a list of grievances against King George II and the assertion of natural and legal rights designed to explain why the Congress had voted to declare independence from the Kingdom Great Britain. The document was read in full on several successive days, and two key passages were deleted after the third reading on July 3, one that conveyed censures of the people of England and another that denounced the slave trade and slavery itself.  The formal adoption of the final text took place in the late morning of July 4, 1776.

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