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- On July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress approved Richard Henry Lee’s proposed resolution of June 7, thereby declaring independence from Great Britain. On July 4, 1776, after two days of debate and editing, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence submitted by the Committee of Five.
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Why was the Declaration of Independence Necessary? The colonists wanted to break their political bonds that connected them from Britain and to declare their independence. What is the Preamble of the Declaration of Independence?
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On April 19, 1775, the Battles of Lexington and Concord initiated armed conflict between Great Britain and the 13 North American colonies (the nucleus of the future United States of America).
At that time few of the colonists consciously desired to separate from Britain. But as the American Revolution proceeded during 1775–76, Britain undertook to assert its sovereignty by means of large armed forces, making only a gesture toward conciliation.
Increasingly, the majority of Americans came to believe that they must secure their rights outside the British Empire.
The losses and restrictions that came from the war greatly widened the breach between the colonies and the mother country.
The Declaration of Independence put forth the doctrines of natural rights and of government under social contract.
The document claimed that Parliament never truly possessed sovereignty over the colonies and that George III had persistently violated the agreement between himself as governor and the Americans as the governed.
When the Declaration was adopted, racing horsemen and the noise of cannon fire carried the news far and wide. General George Washington had the document read to the army, and its ringing sentences strengthened the morale of his troops.
The Declaration helped unify the colonies so that they all fought together instead of trying to make separate peace agreements with Britain.
Some of the phrases of the declaration have steadily exerted profound influence in the United States, especially the proclamation, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Although the meanings of these phrases, together with conclusions drawn from them, have been endlessly debated, the declaration has served to justify the extension of American political and social democracy.
The Declaration has also inspired revolutionary movements outside the United States.
Sep 27, 2024 · Declaration of Independence, in U.S. history, document that was approved by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, and that announced the separation of 13 North American British colonies from Great Britain.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Sep 27, 2024 · The Declaration of Independence was written largely by Jefferson, who had displayed talent as a political philosopher and polemicist in his A Summary View of the Rights of British America, published in 1774. At the request of his fellow committee members he wrote the first draft.
The Declaration of Independence, formally titled The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America in both the engrossed version and the original printing, is the founding document of the United States.
