A Day the Thirteen Colonies Broke the King’s Chain, 1776
Time Surfing: Graphic History
Time Surfing: Experience History Firsthand.
Historical Backdrop
A young Virginia lawyer and delegate named Thomas Jefferson wakes in a rented brick house near Philadelphia’s bustling Market Street on July 4, 1776. Over the next 24 hours he will move between cramped lodgings, muddy streets, sweltering committee rooms and the Assembly Chamber of the Pennsylvania State House, where the Continental Congress will adopt the final text of the Declaration of Independence severing political ties with Great Britain and announcing a new nation based on natural rights and the consent of the governed.
July 4, 1776 – 5:10 a.m. – Jefferson’s lodging, a rented brick house near Market Street, Philadelphia
You wake to the gray light and heavy heat, your shirt clinging to your skin and the sour smell of sweat, horse manure and stale chamber pot seeping in from the alley, and you sit up slowly, listening to wagon wheels, distant church bells, and a hawker’s shout as you rub your burning eyes and think of the words that will be judged today.
July 4, 1776 – 6:00 a.m. – Shared washroom and yard behind the lodging house
You splash cold water over your face from a wooden bucket in the yard, smelling wood smoke, pig slop and damp earth, and you feel the grit on your skin and the ache in your neck as you tie your neck cloth, watching your pale reflection ripple in the metal basin and thinking how little you slept.
July 4, 1776 – 7:10 a.m. – Market Street, walking toward the State House
You walk along the uneven cobblestones, dodging a wagon and a pile of manure as the humid air presses on your chest and you smell sweat, leather, smoke, and rotting vegetables while you hear iron‑shod wheels, clopping hooves, and loud bargaining as you keep your portfolio tight in your hand.
July 4, 1776 – 8:05 a.m. – Pennsylvania State House, Assembly Room corridor
You wait in the dim hallway outside the Assembly Room, feeling sweat trickle down your back as you lean against the paneled wall, listening to muffled voices, footsteps on the stairs, and the creak of doors as delegates arrive in twos and threes.
July 4, 1776 – 9:00 a.m. – Assembly Room, Pennsylvania State House – Congress convenes
