How rarely we appreciate the most audacious - and treasonous - response to oppression in American History.  56 men in wool suits and high collars met for weeks in cramped quarters in the hot, muggy, Philadelphia June of 1776.

The windows were nailed shut lest spies report on their discussions.  They argued about taxation, slavery, and big states vs. small states. But one mission became clear - the need for independence from English tyranny.

Knowing they might be hanged and their families destroyed, they signed a document listing their grievances and declaring to all that a new nation had been founded.

They  sparked the fire that lit the world.

Adapted for reading by Lance Davis.
22 minutes.