es that the colonies
of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and
South Carolina, were not yet matured for falling into the
parent stem, but that they were fast advancing to that state,
it was thought most prudent to wait awhile for them, and to
postpone the final decision to July 1st. But that this might
occasion as little delay as possible, a committee was
appointed to prepare a Declaration of Independence. The
committee were John Adams, Dr. Franklin, Roger Sherman, Robert
R. Livingston, and myself. This was reported to the House on
Friday, the 28th of June, when it was read and ordered to lie
on the table." Works, vol. i, page 118.

There is no acknowledgment at this time. This is July, 1776. Mr.
Paine is in Philadelphia. Had Mr. Jefferson been the author, this
would have been the time for him to have recorded it, as he has
not failed to record all his other public acts. He is now
thirty-three years old.

2. Eleven years afterward, when in Paris, he writes to the editor
of the _Journal de Paris_ as follows, in regard to the history of
the Declaration: "I was on the spot and can relate to you this
transaction with precision. On the 7th of June, 1776, the
delegates from Virginia moved, in obedience to instructions from
their constituents, that Congress shall declare the thirteen
united colonies to be independent of Great Britain, and a
confederation should be formed to bind them together, and measures
be taken to procure the assistance of foreign powers. The House
ordered a punctual attendance of all their members the next day at
ten o'clock, and then resolved themselves into a committee of the
whole and entered on the discussion. It appeared in the course of
the debate that seven states, viz., New Hampshire, Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, Connecticut, Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia,
were decided for a separation; but that six others still
hesitated, to-wit: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware,
Maryland, and South Carolina. Congress desirous of unanimity, and
seeing that the public mind was advancing rapidly to it, referred
the further discussion to the first of July, appointing in the
meantime, a committee to prepare a Declaration of Independence; a
second, to form articles for the confederation of the states; and
a third, to prepare measures for obtaining foreign aid. On the
28th of