This is the second in a series.
Most people think of July 4 as the date when the United States was born. If so, then it marks the end of a long and complicated pregnancy.
By May 1776, what had started as a protest to British policies began to change. On May 15, John Hancock signed an order issued by the Continental Congress in Philadelphia.
“Whereas it appears absolutely irreconcilable to reason and good conscience for the people of these colonies now to take the oaths and affirmation necessary for the support of any government…
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