Handel's Hallelujah Chorus burst the air, the Grand Union Cambridge flag was unfurled from the flagstaff of Independence Hall—the same flag General Washington hoisted for the Colonial Army on Jan. 2, 1776—21 bombs burst in air, a company of Colonial troops stood at attention, 100,000 people crammed Independence Square and Chestnut Street.
Within the hall it was 4:00 p.m. Brilliant electric lights gave the effect of daylight; the Continental Congress assembled—Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Richard Henry Lee, et al. Last to stride in among the...
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