On July 4, 1776, a new nation was brought into the world, as the Second Continental Congress unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence to announce the colonies' separation from the Kingdom of Great Britain.
Congress had voted in favor of independence from Great Britain on July 2 but did not actually complete the process of revising the Declaration of Independence which was originally drafted by Thomas Jefferson in consultation with fellow committee members John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and William Livingston and submitted to Congress on June 28th 1776.