How to make a date field null on the input form of VF page?

Question

I have a custom VF page and apex controller that mimics the standard Clone for Contracts. Currently, it is copying the date fields as they're from the previous record. However, I want to make the date fields null and let the users enter new dates which will be inserted in the newly cloned contract record.

    <apex:page standardController="Contract" tabStyle="Contract" lightningstylesheets="true"
       extensions="ContractClone">
 <apex:sectionHeader title="Clone Contract" subtitle=" {!ContractRecordQueried.ContractNumber}"/>

<apex:form >
<apex:pageBlock mode="inlineEdit" title="">
   <apex:pageblockButtons >
      <apex:commandButton action="{!cloneContract}" value="Clone"/>
      <apex:commandButton action="{!Cancel}" value="Cancel"/>
    </apex:pageblockButtons>
    <apex:pageBlockSection columns="2" title="General Information" collapsible="false">         
        <apex:inputField value="{!ContractRecordQueried.Division__c}" required="true"/>
        <apex:inputField value="{!Contract.Status}" label="Status" required="TRUE" id="contractStatus"  />
        <script>
            document.querySelector('[id$=contractStatus]').value = 'Initial Contract Discussion';
        //document.querySelector('[id$=contractStartDate]').value = "";
        //$("#contractStartDate").val(""); 
        </script>
        <apex:pageBlockSectionItem />
        <apex:outputField value="{!ContractRecordQueried.CustomerSignedDate}"/>
        <apex:pageBlockSectionItem />
        <apex:outputField value="{!ContractRecordQueried.ESignature_Status__c}"/>
        <apex:inputField value="{!ContractRecordQueried.Name}" required="true"/>           
        <apex:inputField value="{!ContractCloned.StartDate}" required="true" id="contractStartDate"/>
        <apex:inputField value="{!ContractRecordQueried.Description}" required="true"/>
        <apex:inputField value="{!Contract.EndDate}" label="Contract End Date"/>             
    </apex:pageBlockSection>

</apex:form>
 <apex:pageMessages />
 </apex:page>

Apex Controller:

    public class ContractClone {

 private ApexPages.StandardController controller {get; set;}
 public Contract ContractRecordQueried{get;set;}
 public Contract ContractCloned {get;set;}

 public ContractClone(ApexPages.StandardController controller) {
     this.controller = controller;
     ContractRecordQueried = [select Id,
                              ContractNumber,
                              CustomerSignedDate,
                              StartDate,
                              EndDate,                                  
                              Name

             from Contract
             where id =: controller.getId()];
   }

  public PageReference cloneContract() {
     //String contactid = ContractRecordQueried.ContactId;
     Date start_date = ContractRecordQueried.StartDate;
     Date end_date = ContractRecordQueried.EndDate;
     Savepoint sp = Database.setSavepoint();
     Contract ContractCloned;
    try {
       ContractCloned = ContractRecordQueried.clone(false);
       insert ContractCloned;
       } catch (Exception e){
     Database.rollback(sp);
     ApexPages.addMessages(e);
     return null;
   }
   return new PageReference('/'+ContractCloned.id);
}

}

Answer 1

public ContractClone(ApexPages.StandardController controller) {
     this.controller = controller;
     ContractRecordQueried = [select Id,
                              ContractNumber,
                              CustomerSignedDate,
                              StartDate,
                              EndDate,                                  
                              Name

             from Contract
             where id =: controller.getId()];
     // Empty out the dates --  What @Aayush K was saying
     this.ContractRecordQueried.StartDate = null;
     this.ContractRecordQueried.EndDate = null;
   }