Encyclopedia
The
Declaration of Independence is the document in which the
Thirteen Colonies in
North America declared themselves independent of the
Kingdom of Great Britain and explained their justifications for doing so. It was ratified by the
Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. This anniversary is celebrated as Independence Day in the
United States. The handwritten copy signed by the delegates to the Congress is on display in the
National Archives in
Washington, D.C.History
Background
Throughout the 1760s and 1770s, relations between Great Britain and thirteen of her North American colonies became increasingly strained. Fighting broke out in 1775 at
Lexington and Concord, marking the beginning of the
American Revolutionary War. Although there was little initial sentiment for outright independence, the view of the British as oppressors widened after the passage of the
Intolerable Acts, which struck strongly against colonial self-rule. The rising tide against British rule was exemplified and strengthened by works such as
Thomas Paine's pamphlet
Common Sense, released on January 10, 1776, which had a substantial impact on the hearts and minds of colonial Americans.
Draft and adoption
On June 11, 1776, a committee consisting of
John Adams of
Massachusetts,
Benjamin Franklin of
Pennsylvania,
Thomas Jefferson of
Virginia, Robert R. Livingston of
New York, and
Roger Sherman of
Connecticut , was formed to draft a suitable declaration to frame this resolution. The committee decided that Jefferson would write the draft, which he showed to Franklin and Adams, who made several minor corrections. Jefferson then produced another copy incorporating these changes, and the committee presented this copy to the Continental Congress on June 28, 1776.
Independence was declared on July 2, 1776, pursuant to the "
Lee Resolution" presented to the Continental Congress by
Richard Henry Lee of
Virginia on June 7, 1776, which read : "
Resolved: That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved."
The full Declaration was rewritten somewhat in general session prior to its adoption by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, at the
Pennsylvania State House. Word of the declaration reached London on August 10.
Distribution and copies
After its adoption by Congress on July 4, a handwritten draft signed by the President of Congress
John Hancock and the Secretary
Charles Thomson was then sent a few blocks away to the printing shop of John Dunlap. Through the night between 150 and 200 copies were made, now known as "
Dunlap broadsides". One was sent to
George Washington on July 6, who had it read to his troops in
New York on July 9. The 25 Dunlap broadsides still known to exist are the oldest surviving copies of the document. The original handwritten copy has not survived.
On July 19, 1776, Congress ordered a copy be handwritten for the delegates to sign. This engrossed copy of the Declaration was produced by Timothy Matlack,assistant to the secretary of Congress. Most of the delegates signed it on August 2, 1776, in geographic order of their colonies from north to south, though some delegates were not present and had to sign later. Two delegates never signed at all. As new delegates joined the congress, they were also allowed to sign. A total of 56 delegates eventually signed. This is the copy on display at the National Archives.
The first and most famous signature on the engrossed copy was that of
John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress. Two future presidents,
Thomas Jefferson and
John Adams, were among the signatories.
Edward Rutledge , was the youngest signer, and
Benjamin Franklin was the oldest signer. The fifty-six signers of the Declaration represented the new states as follows :
...
,
Elbridge Gerry- Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
- Connecticut: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
- New York: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
- New Jersey: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
- Pennsylvania: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
- Delaware: George Read, Caesar Rodney, Thomas McKean
- Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
- Virginia: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
- North Carolina: William Hooper
...
,
Joseph Hewes, John Penn
On January 18, 1777, the Continental Congress ordered that the declaration be more widely distributed. The second printing was made by Mary Katharine Goddard. The first printing had included only the names
John Hancock and
Charles Thomson. Goddard's printing was the first to list all signatories.
In 1823, printer William J. Stone was commissioned by Secretary of State
John Quincy Adams to create an engraving of the document essentially identical to the original. Stone's copy was made using a wet-ink transfer process, where the surface of the document was moistened, and some of the original ink transferred to the surface of a copper plate which was then etched so that copies could be run off the plate on a press. Because of poor conservation of the 1776 document through the 19th century, Stone's engraving, rather than the original, has become the basis of most modern reproductions.
The first German translation of the Declaration was published July 6-8, 1776 as a broadside in unfolded form by the printing press of Steiner & Cist of Philadelphia.
Annotated text of the Declaration
The text of the Declaration of Independence can be divided into five sections: the introduction, the Preamble, the indictment of
George III, the denunciation of the British people, and the conclusion.
Introduction
In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When, in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the Causes which impel them to the Separation.
The Preamble
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.
That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Prudence indeed, will dictate, that Governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to
throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security.
Indictment
Such has been the patient Sufferance so these Colonies; and such is now the Necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The History of the Present King of Great-Britain is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let the Facts be submitted to a candid World.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble Terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated Injury. A Prince, whose Character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the Ruler of a free People.
Denunciation
Nor have we been wanting in Attentions to our British Brethren. We have warned them from Time to Time of Attempts by their Legislature to extend an unwarrantable Jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the Circumstances of our Emigration and Settlement here. We have appealed to their native Justice and Magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the Ties of our common Kindred to disavow these Usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our Connections and Correspondence. They too have been deaf to the Voice of Justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the Necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of Mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace, Friends.
Conclusion
The signers assert that the colonies must necessarily throw off political ties with the British Crown and become independent states. The conclusion contains, at its core, the
Lee Resolution that had been passed on July 2.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in GENERAL CONGRESS, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly Publish and Declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political Connection between them and the State of Great-Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES, they have full Power to levy
War, conclude
Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which INDEPENDENT STATES may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of the divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred
Honor.
Differences between draft and final versions
The Declaration went through three stages from conception to final adoption:
- Jefferson's original draft.
- Jefferson's draft with revisions from Franklin and Adams. This was the document submitted by the Committee of Five to the Congress.
- The final version, which included changes made by the full Congress.
Jefferson's original draft included a denunciation of the
slave trade , which was later edited out by Congress, as was a lengthy criticism of the British people and parliament. According to Jefferson:
"The pusillanimous idea that we had friends in England worth keeping terms with, still haunted the minds of many. For this reason those passages which conveyed censures on the people of England were struck out, lest they should give them offense."
Analysis
Historical influences
The United States Declaration of Independence was influenced by the 1581
Dutch Republic declaration of independence, called the Oath of Abjuration. The
Kingdom of Scotland's 1320 Declaration of Arbroath was undoubtedly also an influence as the first known formal declaration of independence. Jefferson is also thought to have drawn on the
Virginia Declaration of Rights, which had been adopted in June 1776.
Philosophical background
The Preamble of the Declaration is influenced by
Enlightenment philosophy, including the concepts of natural law, self-determination, and
Deism. Ideas and even some of the phrasing was taken directly from the writings of
English philosopher
John Locke, particularly his
Second Treatise on Government, titled "Essay Concerning the true original, extent, and end of Civil Government." In this treatise, Locke espoused the idea of government by consent. Locke wrote that human beings had certain natural rights. Other influences included the
Discourses of Algernon Sydney, and the writings of
Wawrzyniec Grzymala Goslicki and
Thomas Paine. According to Jefferson, the purpose of the Declaration was "not to find out new principles, or new arguments, never before thought of . . . but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent, and to justify ourselves in the independent stand we are compelled to take."
Practical effects
Some historians believe that the Declaration was used as a
propaganda tool, in which the Americans tried to establish clear reasons for their rebellion that might persuade reluctant colonists to join them and establish their just cause to foreign governments that might lend them aid. The Declaration also served to unite the members of the Continental Congress. Most were aware that they were signing what would be their death warrant in case the Revolution failed, and the Declaration served to make anything short of victory in the Revolution unthinkable.
Influence on other documents
The Declaration of Independence contains many of the founding fathers' fundamental principles, some of which were later codified in the
United States Constitution. It was the model for the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention Declaration of Sentiments. It has also been used as the model of a number of later documents such as the declarations of independence of
Vietnam and
Rhodesia. In the United States, the Declaration has been frequently quoted in political speeches, such as
Abraham Lincoln's
Gettysburg Address and
Martin Luther King, Jr.'s
I Have a Dream speech.
Popular culture
A fictionalized version of how the Declaration came about is the musical play
1776, which is usually termed a "musical comedy" but deals frankly with the political issues, especially how disagreement over the institution of slavery almost defeated the Declaration's adoption.
The Declaration of Independence is also the central subject of the 2004 film
National Treasure, starring
Nicolas Cage and
Diane Kruger. In the film, a hidden treasure map on the back of the Declaration leads treasure hunters to a cache of wealth hidden from the British by
Freemasons during the
Revolutionary War.
Myths
Several myths surround the document:
- Because it is dated July 4, 1776, many people believe it was signed on that date—in fact, most of the delegates signed the Declaration on August 2, 1776.
- The famous painting by John Trumbull, which hangs in the grand Rotunda of the Capitol of the United States, is usually incorrectly described as the signing of the Declaration, when what it actually shows is the five-man drafting committee presenting its work. Trumbull depicts most of the eventual signers as being present on this occasion, but this gathering never took place.
- The Liberty Bell was not rung to celebrate independence, but to call the local inhabitants to hear the reading of the document on July 8, and it certainly did not acquire its crack on so doing; that story comes from a children's book of fiction, Legends of the American Revolution, by George Lippard. The Liberty Bell was actually named in the early nineteenth century when it became a symbol of the anti-slavery movement.
See also
Notes
References
- at archives.gov
- - detailing the history of the physical document from conception to today.
- - Text of the rough draft at Duke University's website
- Bailyn, Bernard, ed. The Debate on the Constitution: Federalist and Antifederalist Speeches, Articles, and Letters During the Struggle for Ratification. Part One: September 1787 to February 1788 ISBN 0-940450-42-9
- Bailyn, Bernard, ed. The Debate on the Constitution: Federalist and Antifederalist Speeches, Articles, and Letters During the Struggle for Ratification. Part Two: January to August 1788 ISBN 0-940450-64-X
- Maier, Pauline. American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence. New York: Vintage, 1997.
External links
;Official website
;Text* as it was originally written, typos included
;Audio Narration
;Additional information
- by Stephen E. Lucas - a thorough linguistic examination of the document.
- Independence Hall Association: with images, Jefferson's account, biographies of signers, extensive additional information.
- Library of Congress:
- PBS/NOVA:
- ERIC Digest:
- National Geographic News:
- from the book Thrilling Incidents in American History
- Colonial Hall:
- from the book Washington and His Generals: or, Legends of the Revolution by George Lippard, published in 1847
-
-
;Maps, photos, and other media
- National Archives:
- Deutsches Historisches Museum:
- 1776. Copy of engraving after Alonzo Chappel.
- by John Trumbull.
- : A video hosted by Morgan Freeman with a dramatic reading of the Declaration of Independence by actors Mel Gibson, Michael Douglas, Kevin Spacey, Whoopi Goldberg, Edward Norton, Benicio Del Toro, Renée Zellweger, Winona Ryder, Graham Greene , Ming-Na, and Kathy Bates.
- from
;The Signers
- Sorting Fact from Fiction.
