PENNSYLVANIA, May 4 - Massachusetts and close the port of Boston; and

WHEREAS, Resistance to the Intolerable Acts, as they became

known, led to the formation of the First Continental Congress in

Philadelphia in 1774, which denounced "taxation without

representation," but stopped short of demanding independence

from Britain; and

WHEREAS, When the first skirmishes of the Revolutionary War

broke out in Massachusetts in April 1775, few people in the

American colonies wanted to separate from Great Britain

entirely, but as the war continued, and Britain called out

massive armed forces to enforce its will, more and more

colonists came to accept that asserting independence was the

only way forward; and

WHEREAS, On June 7, 1776, Congress, meeting in Philadelphia,

received a resolution from Richard Henry Lee urging Congress to

declare independence from Britain; and

WHEREAS, Congress appointed Thomas Jefferson, John Adams,

Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert R. Livingston to the

"Committee of Five" on June 11, 1776, to draft a declaration of

independence for the colonies; and

WHEREAS, From June 12 through 27, 1776, Thomas Jefferson

drafted the original rough draft of the Declaration of

Independence, which was read in Congress on June 28, 1776; and

WHEREAS, From July 1 through 4, 1776, Congress debated and

revised the Declaration of Independence, and finally signed the

document on the morning of July 4, 1776, to formally sever

political ties between the 13 American colonies and Great

Britain, unite the colonies and announce their sovereignty and

gain support from foreign nations, particularly France; and

WHEREAS, The delegates from Pennsylvania who signed the

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