40 a short history of the united states
together,” they would “all hang separately.” Ultimately the advocates of
inde pendence prevailed. As Jefferson explained, “The question was not
whether, by a declaration of inde pendence, we should make ourselves
what we are not, but whether we should declare a fact that already exists.”
A committee was formed to write a justification of the action to be
taken should Congress choose to accept the resolution. Thomas Jef-
ferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman of Connecti-
cut, and Robert R. Livingston of New York composed this committee,
but a subcommittee of Jefferson and Adams was actually assigned the
task of writing the document. Because Jefferson was known to be a
“felicitous” writer, he was prevailed upon to prepare what turned out to
be an eloquent statement about human liberty and equality. Adams
and Franklin added some minor amendments. On July 2 Lee’s resolu-
tion was passed, and on July 4 the Declaration of Inde pendence was
adopted without dissent and signed by the president of the Continental
Congress, John Hancock.
The Congress also adopted a flag, on June 14 , 1777, one consisting of
thirteen red and white alternating stripes and thirteen white stars on a
field of blue.
As delegates from sovereign, inde pendent states, the members were
united in their determination to win freedom from the tyranny of
Great Britain, but they had little enthusiasm for creating a controlling
central government. Still, they needed some sort of central authority to
attend to such matters as providing for military and fi nancial needs in
prosecuting the ongoing war. So another committee was chosen to lay
out the specifics for a national government that could address these
concerns. The document produced by this committee, known as the
Articles of Confederation, was chiefly the work of John Dickinson of
Pennsylvania. What the document proposed was a Confederation of
states, not a Union of people. As a result, the government it projected
was doomed from the start. Nevertheless, it was a major breakthrough
in the evolution of a representative government that would encompass
a collection of thirteen inde pendent political entities.
The Articles declared that the several states were to be joined in a
“perpetual union” and a “fi rm league of friendship.” But it also admit-
ted that all the states would retain their “sovereignty, freedom, and in-
de pendence.” A unicameral legislature was established for this “union,”