samuel adams writes the letters and john hancock pays the postage. now, when samuel adams went to the continental congress, there was a carpenter's-- the first one which was also in philadelphia. he had no clothes to wear, he was so porous of his friends took up the collection and bought him a new suit. one day he was eating dinner and a hat maker came in and measured his head, a soup maker came and they measured him. so that he would probably represent massachusetts at least looking good. all he ever thought of, all he ever thought of was american independence. he did not care about how he dressed. i absolutely love the picture that michael did. it caught his spirit. i put him first. i did my own order for the signers and they did samuel adams first. i don't know if you can see back there but there he is writing a letter. that is what he is noted for. people go to boston to nathanial hall with they have their meetings. they look in there is a statue of samuel adams out there and if you listen people will say he was not a president, why don't they ha

i believe john hancock was said to be the richest man in america. host: we are talking with james hutson and the declaration of independence. today the and independence day. if you want to get involved in a conversation come at the numbers are on the screen. -- if you want to get involved in the conversation, the numbers are on the screen. you can also send us messages through e-mail and twitter. john on our line for independents. what is on your mind? caller: i wanted to know if he could answer a simple question. is the declaration of independence written on pink paper? guest: thank you very much. -- written on ink paper. it is written on the elements. host: -- it is written on velum. it is a form of leather. host: is there a reason why they chose that? guest: it was just because it is supposed to be more durable. i am not a student of paper, and i am not 100% sure but i believe it was velum. host: was it common for documents of this type to be written on this? guest: no. i hope i am right about that. host: next up is denver, colorado. thanks for w