From May to July 1776, delegates from 13 disparate colonies sat in a stuffy room in Philadelphia, windows sealed against eavesdroppers, sweating through coarse wool coats in the summer heat.
They disagreed about nearly everything. Thomas Jefferson’s elegant and inspired draft was sliced by a quarter in debate. Delegates from the South threatened to walk unless an anti-slavery passage was removed. The 56 men (yes, all men) argued incessantly but did not leave until they had produced the most consequential political document in human history.
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