Editing Thirteen Colonies (section)

=== Declaration of Independence ===
{{Main|United States Declaration of Independence}}
The Second Continental Congress charged the [[Committee of Five]], including [[John Adams]], [[Benjamin Franklin]], [[Thomas Jefferson]], [[Robert R. Livingston]], and [[Roger Sherman]], with authoring the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]]. The committee, in turn, asked Jefferson to author the first draft, which Jefferson largely wrote in isolation between June 11, 1776, and June 28, 1776, from the second floor of a three-story home he was renting at 700 [[Market Street (Philadelphia)|Market Street]] in Philadelphia, now called the Declaration House and within walking distance of [[Independence Hall]].<ref>[https://www.nps.gov/inde/planyourvisit/declarationhouse.htm "Visit the Declaration House"], [[National Park Service]] official website</ref> Considering Congress's busy schedule, Jefferson probably had limited time for writing over these 17 days, and he likely wrote his first draft quickly.{{rp|page=104}}

On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress unanimously adopted and issued the Declaration as a letter of grievances to King [[George III]];

With the help chiefly of France, they defeated the British in the [[American Revolutionary War]]. The decisive victory came at the [[Siege of Yorktown (1781)|Siege of Yorktown]] in 1781. In the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)]], Britain officially recognized the independence of the United States of America.<ref name="EiVQB">[[#mays2019|Mays 2019]], p. 8</ref><ref name="9w1sv">[[#wallaceray2015|Wallace 2015]], "American Revolution"</ref>