The Declaration of Independence

On July 4, Americans all across the country gather with picnics, fireworks and festivals to celebrate the birth of one of the greatest nations in the world. What they are honoring is the ratification of the Declaration of Independence, the document in which the Founding Fathers as part of the Continental Congress resolutely confronted Great Britain - and its monarch, George III - and pronounced itself a free country. The single greatest contributor to the actual composing of the text is Thomas Jefferson. Upon the ratification and distribution of the Declaration, the western world would be changed forever more.