Creating the Declaration of Independence

With Creating the Declaration of Independence DAVID SHESTOKAS takes you into the minds of Richard Henry Lee, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson in the weeks before July 4, 1776. Experience Lee’s trepidation as he knows when he proposes American Independence to the Second Continental Congress that he is literally risking beheading. Join Adams and Jefferson at City Tavern as they begin crafting the Declaration and follow the story of how Jefferson came to reluctantly draft the Declaration when few others, including Adams thought that Jefferson’s assignment was important. You’ll even learn a shortcut Jefferson used to craft a document of such immortality on such short notice and how that short cut affects the work of the Supreme Court today.

Additional information

David Shestokas earned his B.A. in Political Science from Bradley University in 1975 and his Juris Doctor from The John Marshall Law School, cum laude, in June of 1987. In 1986-87 he served on The John Marshall Law Review. He studied law at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. David Shestokas earned his B.A. in Political Science from Bradley University and his Juris Doctor from The John Marshall Law School, cum laude where he served on The John Marshall Law Review. He studied law at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. He has been admitted to practice law before the Illinois Supreme Court, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the Supreme Court of Florida, and the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

Mr. Shestokas has been practicing law for nearly 30 years. His practice has included criminal defense, corporate law, real estate, and business financing. He has served as Assistant State’s Attorney for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office in Chicago, IL where he was involved in over 10,000 criminal prosecutions. During that time he also worked on the Felony Review Unit.

Shestokas has hosted his own weekly radio program “Constitutionally Speaking”. Using that as a springboard, he has attracted over 120,000 followers on Twitter (@shestokas) where he regularly shares his perspective on the constitutional angle of today’s events. Shestokas has brought the Declaration of Independence, United States Constitution, and the Bill of Rights to life through his website Constitutional and Legal Education and News and his book Constitutional Sound Bites. His website has 40,000 monthly readers. His Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ social media community exceeds 25,000.

With Dr. Berta Arias and Dr. Heather Downey he has recently launched De Los Estados Unidos (Of the United States), a Spanish language website devoted to explaining the Founding Principles of the United States. In its short existence, the site has attracted readers throughout Latin America, including Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Ecuador, Chile, Guatemala, Peru and Uruguay. The companion Twitter account @CapsulasInfo has over 48,000 followers and is growing.