250 Years Ago: South Carolina Defeats The British Empire

250 Years Ago: South Carolina Defeats the British Empire

On the morning of June 28, 1776, Thomas Jefferson and the Committee of Five presented a draft of the Declaration of Independence to John Hancock, president of the Second Continental Congress. Although immortalized by John Trumbull’s famous painting, the historic moment unfolded with quiet parliamentary precision and strict protocol rather than fanfare. That same morning, a drastically different scene was unfolding at the vital port city of Charl…

250 Years Ago, Jefferson and Friends Completed a Draft Declaration of Independence

250 years ago, Jefferson and the Committee of Five drafted the Declaration of Independence.

250 Years Ago, the Declaration of Independence Draft Was Finished

The Committee of Five presents their draft Declaration to Congress Exactly 250 years ago today (June 28), the Committee of Five finished a draft of the Declaration of Independence for a vote in the Continental Congress. The men on the committee were Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman, with...

On This Day In 1776, Jefferson’s Draft Reached Congress As War Erupted

It was Friday, June 28, 1776. The Declaration of Independence finally reached Congress. Delegates read the draft, then ordered it to “lie on the table.” No final vote. No adoption. No signatures. But the day did not wait for ceremony. In Philadelphia, Congress received the words that would explain independence to the world. In New York, Thomas Hickey went to the gallows. In Charleston Harbor, British warships opened fire on Fort Sullivan. The DX…

PALMETTO AND POWDER: Remember the day Carolina held the line

There are dates that many South Carolinians carry in the blood whether or not they ever learned them in a classroom, and June 28, 1776, is one of them. Two hundred and fifty years later, the story of Sullivan’s Island still reads like something too improbable to be history — and yet there it stands, plain as the palmetto on our state flag. Picture the scene: a half-finished square of spongy palmetto logs and packed sand, squatting at the mouth …