What You Might Not Know About the Declaration of Independence

Even if you’ve memorized portions of the Declaration of Independence, the more interesting story happened around the document. The real men of the Continental Congress dealt with the monumental task of justifying treason (which would be the case if they lost the war) or setting the foundation for a brand-new nation (if they won) in a simple document they could all agree on.

However, in order to get all the colonies to agree, any reference to slavery was deleted. This only postponed the settlement of the matter for a few decades, in a war which claimed the lives of 750,000 Americans.

Historian Kenneth C. Davis looks beyond the words to the men who came up with them in this timely TED-Ed animation. See the full lesson here.
(via Laughing Squid)