[RJS1950]

The moment and actions that resulted in the Declaration occurred years before the signing of the document but they as a whole led to the document that said enough. There were shots fired and blood shed in April of 1775 and one could also conclude that the first shot was fired in 1772 when the British ship Gaspee was fired on and a British captain was nearly killed. This action was declared at the time to be treason and an act of war.

The reasons for declaring independence were many and the signing was preceded by a lot of incidents over many years, like today.

[fr_freak]

...There were shots fired and blood shed in April of 1775 and one could also conclude that the first shot was fired in 1772...

Yeah, ok. And have we had any "shots fired" in the build-up to our 1776? Nope, not a thing, not a peep, just a bunch of people at best typing out some angry words in the internet, and at worst, just changing the channel. Oh, but if those government guys do just one more thing............