Overview
- On June 28, 1776 the Committee of Five presented Thomas Jefferson’s draft of the Declaration of Independence to the Continental Congress for line-by-line review.
- Lookouts first reported about 45 British ships at Sandy Hook and George Washington later reported the force had swelled to roughly 110 ships by June 30, prompting urgent troop movements and defensive orders.
- Washington ordered the public hanging of Thomas Hickey after a Loyalist conspiracy was uncovered that aimed to sabotage New York’s defenses and may have plotted to assassinate him.
- A British naval bombardment of the unfinished palmetto‑log fort on Sullivan’s Island failed on June 28–29, forcing the fleet to withdraw and saving Charleston from immediate occupation.
- Between July 1 and July 4 Congress debated Jefferson’s draft, made roughly eighty-six edits and removed his strong condemnation of the transatlantic slave trade to secure the unanimous support needed for independence, with most delegates signing the engrossed parchment on August 2.