I'm Elise Hugh. This is TED Talks Daily. In the United States, we celebrate July 4th as the nation's Independence Day. But there are some interesting things about the document that declared America was free that we didn't learn in school.

From the team at TED ed, educator Kenneth Davis shares the tidbits that'll make you

sound smart at your July 4th cookouts. All men are created equally, and they are endowed with the

right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Not so fast, Mr. Jefferson.

These words from the Declaration of Independence and the facts behind them are well known.

In June of 1776,

a little more than a year after the war against England

began with the shots fired at Lexington and conquered.

The Continental Congress was meeting in Philadelphia to discuss

American independence. After long debates, a resolution of independence was approved on July 2,

1776. America was free, and men like John Adams thought we would celebrate that date forever.

But it was two days later that the gentleman in Congress voted to adopt the Declaration

of Independence, largely written by Thomas Jefferson, offering all the reasons why the

country should be free.

More than 235 years later, we celebrate that day as America's birthday.

But there are some pieces of the story you may not know.

First of all, Thomas Jefferson gets the credit for writing the Declaration,

but five men had been given the job to come up with a document explaining why America should be independent. Robert Livingston,

Roger Sherman, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams were all named first. And it was Adams

who suggested that the young and little-known Thomas Jefferson

joined them, because they needed a man from the influential Virginia delegation, and Adams thought

Jefferson was a much better writer than he was.

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