crossing the Atlantic. The Continental army was but an armed rabble,
with patriotism for their strongest weapon. And would the colonies, one
and all, adhere, and "hang together"; or would the Declaration strike
terror to timid hearts, and destroy its purpose by its very audacity?

[Sidenote: Thomas Jefferson.]

[Sidenote: Franklin.]

All this must have passed through the mind of each deputy as the
illustrious committee of five stood before Hancock, at the President's
desk. Foremost among them was Thomas Jefferson, the tallest, youngest,
and ablest of the five; their chairman, and the author of the great
document which he held in his hand. In his thirty-fourth year, Jefferson
was then a fine specimen of the Virginian gentry, his tall form clad
loosely in the small-clothes of the period, his bright red hair,
unpowdered, gathered carelessly behind with a ribbon, his light blue
eyes clear and calm, and his lips parted in a placid and confident
smile. Next to him, side by side, stood Franklin and John Adams, sons
of Massachusetts--the one risen from the printer's case, the other a
prosperous country lawyer, descended from the good Puritan stock of John
Alden. Franklin was already beyond three score and ten; his gray hair
hung in long locks to his shoulders; his snuff-colored coat reached to
his knees; his large, pleasant face must have encouraged the others on
that fateful day, so did it shine with trust in the cause and confidence
in its success.

[Sidenote: Roger Sherman.]

Pugnacity and determination were revealed in the short thick-set figure