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THE CRITICAL PERIOD.
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with everything they had, grape, canister, solid shot, chain-shot, bar-shot, Stove-lids, muffin-irons, newspaper cuts, etc., etc., so that the decks were swept of every living thing except the admiral.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ee/167-JEFFERSON_DICTATING_THE_DECLARATION_OF_INDEPENDENCE.jpg/400px-167-JEFFERSON_DICTATING_THE_DECLARATION_OF_INDEPENDENCE.jpg)
JEFFERSON DICTATING THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
General Clinton by land tried to draw the attention of the rear gunners of the fort, but he was a poor draughtsman, and so retired, and both the land and naval forces quit Charleston and went to New York, where board was not so high.
July 4 was deemed a good time to write a Declaration of Independence and have it read in the grove.