Thomas Jefferson’s first draft of the Declaration included as one of the grievances, “He has compelled Gentlemen to wear ridiculous Mats of Horse-hair upon their Heads.”

John Hancock signed his name very large so that (according to legend) King George could read it without his spectacles; but in fact George was under the impression that he had received a letter from one Jim Hencook, and was never able to make it past the preamble.

The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 2, 1776; but after the celebratory drinking, it took the delegates two days to wake up and remember what they had done.

Jefferson wrote all the drafts of the Declaration himself, but for the final fair copy he relied upon Miss Bessie Witherstalk, fifth-grade penmanship champion at the West Philadelphia Friends’ School.

Lord North’s only recorded remark upon reading the American colonists’ Declaration of Independence was “If this is a joke, it’s in d——d bad taste.”