With the upcoming semiquincentennial (250-year) anniversary of the Declaration of Independence of the American Colonies from Imperial British rule, I decided I should start a series of geocaches highlighting well known and lesser known parts of history regarding the American War of Independence.
Declaration of Independence (1776)
On June 11, 1776, the Second Continental Congress appointed the 'Committee of Five,' including John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman, who were charged with authoring the Declaration. Adams persuaded Jefferson with writing the document's original draft, which the Second Continental Congress then edited. Jefferson largely wrote the Declaration in isolation between June 11 and June 28, 1776.
The key phrase Americans are taught in school from the Declaration's introduction is:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
The Declaration continues to list all the grievances the Colonists have against King George III and his government to justify independence from Great Britian.
The Declaration concludes with an itemization of what they intend to do with their independence:
Levy War,
Conclude Peace,
Contract Alliances,
Establish Commerce, and
to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.
How many grievances "of repeated injuries and usurpations" were identified in the U.S. Declaration of Independence?
- 25 = N 41° 22.181′ W 88° 35.949′
- 27 = N 41° 22.276' W 88° 35.612'
- 30 = N 41° 22.626′ W 88° 35.697′