In June 1776, the Second Continental Congress appointed a committee to draft a formal document outlining the arguments in support of independence. Although Thomas Jefferson of Virginia gets most of the credit for the document we know today as the Declaration of Independence, the drafting committee also included John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, and Robert R. Livingston of New York. Their draft was first presented to Congress on June 28, 1776 and Congress approved the final version on July 4.
The following are excerpts from a 1926 speech by President Calvin Coolidge in honor of 150th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence:
We meet to celebrate the birthday of America. That coming of a new life always excites our interest. Although we know in the case of the individual that it has been an infinite repetition reaching back beyond our vision, that only makes it more wonderful. But how our interest and wonder increase when we behold the miracle of the birth of a new nation. It is to pay our tribute of reverence and respect to those who participated in such a mighty event that we annually observe the 4th day of July. Whatever may have been the impression created by the news which went out from this city on that summer day in 1776, there can be no doubt as to the estimate which is now placed upon it. At the end of 150 years the four corners of the earth unite in coming to Philadelphia as to a holy shrine in grateful acknowledgment of a service so great, which a few inspired men here rendered to humanity, that it is still the preeminent support of free government throughout the world.
