Declaration of Independence

1 document drawn _up by a committee of the American Congre , consisting of Thomas Jefferson, of Mag a Join Adams, of Ma achusetts; Roger Sherman, of Connecticut; Robert R.! Livings ton, of New York; and Benjamin Franklin, of Pennsylvania. A draft was reported by this committee on June 28. On July 2 a resolution was adopted declaring the colonies | free and independent States, and on) July 4, the Declaration of Independence was agreed to, engro ed on, aper, and signed by John Hancock, | Provident. It was afterward engro ed on parchment and signed by the representatives of. the States. The independence of the United States was acknowledged by France, Jan. | 16, 1778, and by Holland, April 19, | 1782; and provisional articles of ace were signed by England, Sept. 5° weer Declaration of Indulgence, a declaration or proclamation i ued by Charles II. in 1672, profe edly to favor the Nonconformists, in giving them liberty to adopt and practise | their own methods of worship, which | had been curtailed by the Conventicle } and Five Mile Acts.