If Thomas Jefferson is to be believed, flies forced the signing of the Declaration of Independence!

>When Congress was discussing independence, according to a story [Jefferson](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Official_Presidential_portrait_of_Thomas_Jefferson_%28by_Rembrandt_Peale%2C_1800%29.jpg) told a friend in his old age, meetings were held near a livery-stable, and the meeting hall was besieged by flies. The delegates wore short breeches and silk stockings; while they talked they also busily lashed the flies from their legs with their handkerchiefs. >The flies were so vexatious, Jefferson said, that the delegates finally decided to sign the Declaration of Independence at once and get away from the place as quickly as possible. Jefferson told the story “with much glee,” said the friend; he was amused by “the influence of the flies” on so momentous an event. ________________________ **Source:** Boller, Paul F. “Thomas Jefferson.” *Presidential Anecdotes*. New York: Oxford UP, 1981. 40. Print. **Original Source Listed:** Randolph, *Domestic Life*, 49 n. _________________________ **Further Reading:** [Second Continental Congress](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Continental_Congress) [Thomas Jefferson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson) [United States Declaration of Independence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence)