Happy Independence Day, America! It doesn't have much to do with payroll or HR or labor law compliance, but the Declaration of Independence is pretty cool, so we're going to take a look at that today.
Stop and think for a second
Stop and think for a second what it might have felt like sitting in a room with 55 of your closest friends - barely enough to field a professional football team - deciding whether or not you were going to sign your name on that paper.
Of course, it was a lot more than ink and pen. It was 56 guys in a small room telling the world's most powerful empire to go pound salt. Would you have the chutzpah to do that? As much as I'd like to think I would, I'm not so sure.
You can read the full document here.
The signers
Now that we've established how much courage it would have demanded to sign the Declaration of Independence, let's take a minute to honor those men who took the first step to make our country's freedom possible.
Delaware
- George Reed
- Caesar Rodney
- Thomas McKean
Pennsylvania
- George Clymer
- Benjamin Franklin
- Robert Morris
- John Morton
- Benjamin Rush
- George Ross
- James Smith
- James Wilson
- George Taylor
Massachusetts
- John Adams
- Samuel Adams
- John Hancock
- Robert Treat Paine
- Elbridge Gerry
New Hampshire
- Josiah Bartlett
- William Whipple
- Matthew Thornton
Rhode Island
- Stephen Hopkins
- William Ellery
New York
- Lewis Morris
- Philip Livingston
- Francis Lewis
- William Floyd
Georgia
- Button Gwinnett
- Lyman Hall
- George Walton
Virginia
- Richard Henry Lee
- Francis Lightfoot Lee
- Carter Braxton
- Benjamin Harrison
- Thomas Jefferson
- George Wythe
- Thomas Nelson, Jr.
North Carolina
- William Hooper
- John Penn
- Joseph Hewes
South Carolina
- Edward Rutledge
- Arthur Middleton
- Thomas Lynch, Jr.
- Thomas Heyward, Jr.
New Jersey
- Abraham Clark
- John Hart
- Francis Hopkinson
- Richard Stockton
- John Witherspoon
Connecticut
- Samuel Huntington
- Roger Sherman
- William Williams
- Oliver Wolcott
Maryland
- Charles Carroll
- Samuel Chase
- Thomas Stone
- William Paca
Thank you
We'd like to say thank you to the men who declared our independence and paved the way for lasting freedom for the United States of America. We'd like to thank all those who have helped improve, shape and preserve our country. And, since this is a time for reflection and thanks, we also want to thank all the employees, clients, partners and friends that make our country (Payroll Country) such a beautiful place to be.
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