Editor's note on July 8, 2022: This story quotes the U.S. Declaration of Independence — a document that contains offensive language about Native Americans, including a racial slur.
Twenty-eight years ago, Morning Edition launched what has become an Independence Day tradition: hosts, reporters, newscasters and commentators reading the Declaration of Independence.
It was on this date 240 years ago that church bells rang out over Philadelphia, as the Continental Congress adopted Thomas Jefferson's draft of the Declaration of Independence.
Below is the original text of the Declaration, alongside photos of the NPR staff members and contributors who performed the reading.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
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— Steve Inskeep
Doby Photography / NPR
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— Renee Montagne
Doby Photography / NPR
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— David Greene
David Gilkey / NPR
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— Lakshmi Singh
Stephen Voss / NPR
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— Julie McCarthy
/ Wen Wang
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— Don Gonyea
Doby Photography / NPR
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— Deborah Amos
/ Steve Barrett
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— Joe Palca
Doby Photography / NPR
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— Audie Cornish 2010
Doby Photography / NPR
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— Shankar Vedantam
Gary Knight / VII
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— Lourdes Garcia-Navarro
Lourdes Garcia-Navarro
/ Dario Lopez Mills
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— Sylvia Poggioli
Kainaz Amaria / NPR
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— Langfitt
/ Steve Barrett
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— Cheryl Corley
Steve Barrett / NPR
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— Nina Totenberg
Steve Barrett / NPR
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— Michel Martin
Steve Voss / NPR
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— Elizabeth Blair
Doby Photography / NPR
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— Ofeibea Quist-Arcton
/ Jacques Coughlin
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— Robert Smith
Steve Barrett / NPR
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— Mara Liasson
Doby Photography / NPR
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— Linda Wertheimer
/ Steve Barrett
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— Sonari Glinton 2010
Doby Photography / NPR
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— Jackie Northam
/ skphotomedia
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— Michele Keleman
Doby / NPR
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— Ari Shapiro
Doby Photography / NPR
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— Asma Khalid 2016
Stephen Voss / NPR
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— Susan Stamberg
Doby Photography / NPR
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— Scott Horsley
Doby Photography / NPR
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— Cokie Roberts
Steve Fenn / ABC, Inc.
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— David Greene
David Gilkey / NPR
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— Renee Montagne
Doby Photography / NPR
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— Steve Inskeep
Doby Photography / NPR