This Friday will be the 4th of July, Independence Day, celebrating the adoption by the Continental Congress in 1776 of our Declaration of Independence from Britain. (Historical note: the Declaration of Independence was actually adopted in draft form on July 2 with a final version presented to the Congress on July 4th. It was not signed and fully ratified until Aug. 2, 1776.)
For the signers of the Declaration of Independence, that act was only the beginning of a long struggle that cost some of them everything. The British treated both the Founders and their families harshly when they captured them, with patriots chained hand and foot in prison ships for years. For the complete article see the 07-02-2014 issue.
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