to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish com-
merce and to do all other acts and things which an inde-
pendent state may of right do.
And for the support of this declaration with a firm reliance
on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge
to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor,
July fourth, seventeen hundred and seventy-six. John Han-
cock, President.
Signers Names.
Georgia-Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton.
New Hampshire-Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple,
Matthew Thornton.
Massachusetts Bay-Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert
Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry.
Rhode Island-Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery.
Connecticut-Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William
Williams, Oliver Wolcott.
New York-William Floyd, Philip Livingstone, Francis
Lewis, Lewis Morris.
New Jersey-Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis
Hopkinson, Abraham Clark and John Hart.
Pennsylvania-Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin
Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, John
Hancock, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross.
Delaware-Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean.
Maryland-Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone,
Charles Carroll, of Carrollton.
Virginia-George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas
Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis
Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton.
North Carolina-William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John
Penn.
South Carolina-Edward Rutledge, Thomas Hayward,
Thomas Lynch, Arthur Middleton.
