July 2nd....I mean 4th.

Thank you Ben, John and Thomas.

Can't imagine what Thomas must have felt after leaving that small group in a stuffy room and sent home to draft a Declaration that they were going off on their own and separating themselves permanently from the World's biggest super power at the time. Scared? Humbled? Excited? I bet he went home and sometime in the next several days, consulted the "Creator", "Nature's God", "Supreme Judge of the world", "divine Providence" that he named in the Declaration of Independence. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence).

On June 11, 1776, a Committee of Five elected Thomas Jefferson to go home and draft the Declaration of the things they had been discussing. He wrote for 17 days, consulted some people, made some alterations, then on June 28, 1776, he brought it to Congress. For two days they ordered that the draft "lie on the table" while everyone went through it and reduced it by 1/4. John Dickinson made one last effort to delay the decision, arguing that Congress should not declare independence without first securing a foreign alliance and finalizing the Articles of Confederation. John Adams gave a speech in reply to Dickinson, restating the case for an immediate declaration.

In a now-famous letter written to his wife on the following day, John Adams predicted that July 2 would become a great American holiday. Adams thought that the vote for independence would be commemorated; he did not foresee that Americans—including himself—would instead celebrate Independence Day on the date that the announcement of that act was finalized.

John thought we should celebrate on the 2nd...when the Independence from Britain was finally approved and voted on by all 12 colonies (New York was not given permission until a week later so they abstained). But we celebrate on the 4th, when it was finalized and sent to the printer.

They no doubt did not go home, set off some fireworks and fire up the grill. They probably went home and told their wives that everything was about to change forever...either with Great Britain coming down and killing them all for treason, or starting a brand new country...with 56 signatures.