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On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia moved that the Second Continental Congress resolve “that these United Colonies are, and of right out to be, free and independent States…”

The Second Continental Congress adopted Lee’s motion and on June 11, 1776, it appointed a committee to draft a declaration of independence.

Today, Steve Pincus, the Bradford Durfee Professor of History at Yale University and author of The Heart of the Declaration: The Founders’ Case for an Activist Government, leads us on an investigation of the Declaration of Independence and the context in which the founders drafted it.

Show Notes: http://www.benfranklinsworld.com/119

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Complementary Episodes

• Episode 018: Danielle Allen, Our Declaration
• Episode 062: Carol Berkin, The Bill of Rights
• Episode 113: Brian Murphy, Building the Empire State (Political Economy)
• Episode 117: Annette Gordon-Reed, The Life and Ideas of Thomas Jefferson

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