Good morning.

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The Declaration of Independence was signed on this day in 1776.

(One of the biggest misconceptions about the document, according to our National Archives, is that it was signed on July 4, the day we celebrate our independence.)

Four delegates to the Continental Congress, out of a total of 56, signed the handwritten document on behalf of New York State — Philip Livingston, Lewis Morris, Francis Lewis and William Floyd.

Each had close ties to our city.

Philip Livingston was born in Albany and became a successful merchant after graduating from Yale (though he later helped found King’s College, now Columbia University). During the Revolutionary War, the British used Mr. Livingston’s townhouse on Duke Street in Lower Manhattan — now part of the Stone Street Historic District — as barracks, and his estate in Brooklyn Heights was used as a hospital. Mr. Livingston died before the war ended.