Congress then nominates a drafting committee to compose a declaration of independence. Named the "Committee of Five," it included John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman. Jefferson is chosen to draft the document. The Declaration of Independence was designed for multiple audiences: the King, the colonists, and the world. It was also designed to multitask. Its goals were to rally the troops, win foreign allies, and to announce the creation of a new country. The introductory sentence states the Declaration’s main purpose, to explain the colonists’ right to revolution. In other words, “to declare the When asked, “Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?” the short answer is Thomas Jefferson. At just 33 years old, Jefferson was chosen by the Second Continental Congress to draft the document. The Declaration was a formal explanation of why the Continental Congress voted to declare American independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. It was adopted by the Congress during the American Revolutionary War, which commenced in April 1775 with the Battles of Lexington and Concord. The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. It was engrossed on parchment and on August 2, 1776, delegates began signing it. 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 The Declaration of Independence is the foundational document of the United States of America. Written primarily by Thomas Jefferson, it explains why the Thirteen Colonies decided to separate from Great The American Revolution —also called the U.S. War of Independence—was the insurrection fought between 1775 and 1783 through which 13 of Great Britain ’s North American colonies threw off British rule to establish the sovereign United States of America, founded with the Declaration of Independence in 1776. British attempts to assert greater control over colonial affairs after a long THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE—1776 from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compli-ance with his measures. He has dissolved Representative Houses re-peatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. Born on April 13, 1743, near present-day Charlottesville, Virginia, Thomas Jefferson was the primary drafter of the Declaration of Independence and the third President of the United States. The U.S. Declaration of Independence, adopted July 4, 1776, was the first formal statement by a nation's people asser The Declaration of Independence The Want, Will, and Hopes of the People Declaration text | Rough Draft | Congress's Draft | Compare | Dunlap Broadside | Image | Scan Abraham Lincoln called it “a rebuke and a stumbling-block to tyranny and oppression.” It continues to inspire people around the world to fight for freedom and equality. The condition of the parchment Declaration of Independence is a sign of the place it has held in the hearts of many Americans. Declaring Independence On July 2, 1776, Congress voted to declare independence. Two days later, it ratified the text of the Declaration. John Dunlap, official printer to Congress, worked through the night to set the Declaration in type and print approximately 200 copies. The Declaration of Independence, the founding document of the United States, was approved by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, and announced the separation of 13 North American British colonies from Great Britain. Declaration of Independence, 17761 IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776 The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, It's worth revering not just the document itself, but the men of consequence who made American independence a reality. The Declaration of Independence, 1776 By issuing the Declaration of Independence, adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, the 13 American colonies severed their political connections to Great Britain. The Declaration summarized the colonists’ motivations for seeking independence. By declaring themselves an independent nation, the American colonists were able to confirm an The definition of the Declaration of Independence for APUSH is a foundational document adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. Drafted primarily by Thomas Jefferson, it announced the independence of the 13 Original Colonies from British rule.
Articles and news, personal stories, interviews with experts.
Photos from events, contest for the best costume, videos from master classes.
![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() |