text:
United States Declaration of Independence
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
United States Declaration of Independence
1823 facsimile of the engrossed copy
Created
June–July 1776
Ratified
July 4, 1776
Location
Engrossed copy: National Archives
Rough draft: Library of Congress
Author(s)
Thomas Jefferson et al. (engrosser: probably Timothy Matlack)
Signatories
56 delegates to the Continental Congress
Purpose
To announce and explain separation from Great Britain[1]
The United States Declaration of Independence is the statement adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall) in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies,[2] then at war with the Kingdom of Great Britain, regarded themselves as thirteen independent sovereign states, no longer under British rule. These states would found a new nation – the United States of America. John Adams was a leader in pushing for independence, which was passed on July 2 with no opposing vote cast. A committee of five had already drafted the formal declaration, to be ready when Congress voted on independence.
John Adams persuaded the committee to select Thomas Jefferson to compose the original draft of the document,[3] which Congress would edit to produce the final version. The Declaration was ultimately a formal explanation of why Congress had voted on July 2 to declare independence from Great Britain, more than a year after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. The next day, Adams wrote to his wife Abigail: "The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America."[4] But Independence Day is actually celebrated on July 4, the date that the Declaration of Independence was approved.
After ratifying the text on July 4, Congress issued the Declaration of Independence in several forms. It was initially published as the printed Dunlap broadside that was widely distributed and read to the public. The source copy used for this printing has been lost, and may have been a copy in Thomas Jefferson's hand.[5] Jefferson's original draft, complete with changes made by John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, and Jefferson's notes of changes made by Congress, are preserved at the Library of Congress. The best-known version of the Declaration is a signed copy that is displayed at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and which is popularly regarded as the official document. This engrossed copy was ordered by Congress on July 19 and signed primarily on August 2.[6][7]
The sources and interpretation of the Declaration have been the subject of much scholarly inquiry. The Declaration justified the independence of the United States by listing colonial grievances against King George III, and by asserting certain natural and legal rights, including a right of revolution. Having served its original purpose in announcing independence, references to the text of the Declaration were few in the following years. Abraham Lincoln made it the centerpiece of his rhetoric (as in the Gettysburg Address of 1863) and his policies. Since then, it has become a well-known statement on human rights, particularly its second sentence:
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.
This has been called "one of the best-known sentences in the English language",[8] containing "the most potent and consequential words in American history".[9] The passage came to represent a moral standard to which the United States should strive. This view was notably promoted by Abraham Lincoln, who considered the Declaration to be the foundation of his political philosophy and argued that it is a statement of principles through which the United States Constitution should be interpreted.[10]
The U.S. Declaration of Independence inspired many other similar documents in other countries, the first being the 1789 Declaration of Flanders issued during the Brabant Revolution in the Austrian Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). It also served as the primary model for numerous declarations of independence across Europe and Latin America, as well as Africa (Liberia) and Oceania (New Zealand) during the first half of the 19th century.[11]
Contents
[hide]
1 Background
1.1 Congress convenes
2 Toward independence
2.1 Revising instructions
2.2 May 15 preamble
2.3 Lee's resolution
2.4 The final push
3 Draft and adoption
4 Annotated text of the engrossed declaration
5 Influences and legal status
6 Signing
7 Publication and reaction
8 History of the documents
9 Legacy
9.1 Influence in other countries
9.2 Revival of interest
9.3 John Trumbull's Declaration of Independence (1817–1826)
9.4 Slavery and the Declaration
9.5 Lincoln and the Declaration
9.6 Women's suffrage and the Declaration
9.7 Twentieth century and later
10 References
11 Bibliography
12 External links
Background
Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration
Believe me, dear Sir: there is not in the British empire a man who more cordially loves a union with Great Britain than I do. But, by the God that made me, I will cease to exist before I yield to a connection on such terms as the British Parliament propose; and in this, I think I speak the sentiments of America.
—  Thomas Jefferson, November 29, 1775[12]
By the time that the Declaration of Independence was adopted in July 1776, the Thirteen Colonies and Great Britain had been at war for more than a year. Relations had been deteriorating between the colonies and the mother country since 1763. Parliament enacted a series of measures to increase revenue from the colonies, such as the Stamp Act of 1765 and the Townshend Acts of 1767. Parliament believed that these acts were a legitimate means of having the colonies pay their fair share of the costs to keep them in the British Empire.[13]
Many colonists, however, had developed a different conception of the empire. The colonies were not directly represented in Parliament, and colonists argued that Parliament had no right to levy taxes upon them. This tax dispute was part of a larger divergence between British and American interpretations of the British Constitution and the extent of Parliament's authority in the colonies.[14] The orthodox British view, dating from the Glorious Revolution of 1688, was that Parliament was the supreme authority throughout the empire, and so, by definition, anything that Parliament did was constitutional.[15] In the colonies, however, the idea had developed that the British Constitution recognized certain fundamental rights that no government could violate, not even Parliament.[16] After the Townshend Acts, some essayists even began to question whether Parliament had any legitimate jurisdiction in the colonies at all.[17] Anticipating the arrangement of the British Commonwealth,[18] by 1774 American writers such as Samuel Adams, James Wilson, and Thomas Jefferson were arguing that Parliament was the legislature of Great Britain only, and that the colonies, which had their own legislatures, were connected to the rest of the empire only through their allegiance to the Crown.[19]
Congress convenes
The issue of Parliament's authority in the colonies became a crisis after Parliament passed the Coercive Acts (known as the Intolerable Acts in the colonies) in 1774 to punish the Province of Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party of 1773. Many colonists saw the Coercive Acts as a violation of the British Constitution and thus a threat to the liberties of all of British America. In September 1774, the First Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia to coordinate a response. Congress organized a boycott of British goods and petitioned the king for repeal of the acts. These measures were unsuccessful because King George and the ministry of Prime Minister Lord North were determined not to retreat on the question of parliamentary supremacy. As the king wrote to North in November 1774, "blows must decide whether they are to be subject to this country or independent".[20]
Most colonists still hoped for reconciliation with Great Britain, even after fighting began in the American Revolutionary War at Lexington and Concord in April 1775.[21] The Second Continental Congress convened at the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia in May 1775, and some delegates hoped for eventual independence, but no one yet advocated declaring it.[22] Many colonists no longer believed that Parliament had any sovereignty over them, yet they still professed loyalty to King George, who they hoped would intercede on their behalf. They were disappointed in late 1775, when the king rejected Congress's second petition, issued a Proclamation of Rebellion, and announced before Parliament on October 26 that he was considering "friendly offers of foreign assistance" to suppress the rebellion.[23] A pro-American minority in Parliament warned that the government was driving the colonists toward independence.[24]
Toward independence
Thomas Paine's pamphlet Common Sense was published in January 1776, just as it became clear in the colonies that the king was not inclined to act as a conciliator.[25] Paine had only recently arrived in the colonies from England, and he argued in favor of colonial independence, advocating republicanism as an alternative to monarchy and hereditary rule.[26] Common Sense introduced no new ideas[27] and probably had little direct effect on Congress's thinking about independence; its importance was in stimulating public debate on a topic that few had previously dared to openly discuss.[28] Public support for separation from Great Britain steadily increased after the publication of Paine's enormously popular pamphlet.[29]
The Assembly Room in Philadelphia's Independence Hall, where the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence
Some colonists still held out hope for reconciliation, but developments in early 1776 further strengthened public support for independence. In February 1776, colonists learned of Parliament's passage of the Prohibitory Act, which established a blockade of American ports and declared American ships to be enemy vessels. John Adams, a strong supporter of independence, believed that Parliament had effectively declared American independence before Congress had been able to. Adams labeled the Prohibitory Act the "Act of Independency", calling it "a compleat Dismemberment of the British Empire".[30] Support for declaring independence grew even more when it was confirmed that King George had hired German mercenaries to use against his American subjects.[31]
Despite this growing popular support for independence, Congress lacked the clear authority to declare it. Delegates had been elected to Congress by thirteen different governments, which included extralegal conventions, ad hoc committees, and elected assemblies, and they were bound by the instructions given to them. Regardless of their personal opinions, delegates could not vote to declare independence unless their instructions permitted such an action.[32] Several colonies, in fact, expressly prohibited their delegates from taking any steps towards separation from Great Britain, while other delegations had instructions that were ambiguous on the issue.[33] As public sentiment grew for separation from Great Britain, advocates of independence sought to have the Congressional instructions revised. For Congress to declare independence, a majority of delegations would need authorization to vote for independence, and at least one colonial government would need to specifically instruct (or grant permission for) its delegation to propose a declaration of independence in Congress. Between April and July 1776, a "complex political war"[34] was waged to bring this about.[35]
Revising instructions
In the campaign to revise Congressional instructions, many Americans formally expressed their support for separation from Great Britain in what were effectively state and local declarations of independence. Historian Pauline Maier identifies more than ninety such declarations that were issued throughout the Thirteen Colonies from April to July 1776.[36] These "declarations" took a variety of forms. Some were formal written instructions for Congressional delegations, such as the Halifax Resolves of April 12, with which North Carolina became the first colony to explicitly authorize its delegates to vote for independence.[37] Others were legislative acts that officially ended British rule in individual colonies, such as the Rhode Island legislature declaring its independence from Great Britain on May 4, the first colony to do so.[38] Many "declarations" were resolutions adopted at town or county meetings that offered support for independence. A few came in the form of jury instructions, such as the statement issued on April 23, 1776, by Chief Justice William Henry Drayton of South Carolina: "the law of the land authorizes me to declare...that George the Third, King of Great Britain...has no authority over us, and we owe no obedience to him."[39] Most of these declarations are now obscure, having been overshadowed by the declaration approved by Congress on July 2, and signed July 4.[40]
Some colonies held back from endorsing independence. Resistance was centered in the middle colonies of New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.[41] Advocates of independence saw Pennsylvania as the key; if that colony could be converted to the pro-independence cause, it was believed that the others would follow.[41] On May 1, however, opponents of independence retained control of the Pennsylvania Assembly in a special election that had focused on the question of independence.[42] In response, Congress passed a resolution on May 10 which had been promoted by John Adams and Richard Henry Lee, calling on colonies without a "government sufficient to the exigencies of their affairs" to adopt new governments.[43] The resolution passed unanimously, and was even supported by Pennsylvania's John Dickinson, the leader of the anti-independence faction in Congress, who believed that it did not apply to his colony.[44]
May 15 preamble
This Day the Congress has passed the most important Resolution, that ever was taken in America.
—John Adams, May 15, 1776[45]
As was the custom, Congress appointed a committee to draft a preamble to explain the purpose of the resolution. John Adams wrote the preamble, which stated that because King George had rejected reconciliation and was hiring foreign mercenaries to use against the colonies, "it is necessary that the exercise of every kind of authority under the said crown should be totally suppressed".[46] Adams's preamble was meant to encourage the overthrow of the governments of Pennsylvania and Maryland, which were still under proprietary governance.[47] Congress passed the preamble on May 15 after several days of debate, but four of the middle colonies voted against it, and the Maryland delegation walked out in protest.[48] Adams regarded his May 15 preamble effectively as an American declaration of independence, although a formal declaration would still have to be made.[49]
Lee's resolution
Main article: Lee Resolution
On the same day that Congress passed Adams's radical preamble, the Virginia Convention set the stage for a formal Congressional declaration of independence. On May 15, the Convention instructed Virginia's congressional delegation "to propose to that respectable body to declare the United Colonies free and independent States, absolved from all allegiance to, or dependence upon, the Crown or Parliament of Great Britain".[50] In accordance with those instructions, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia presented a three-part resolution to Congress on June 7.[51] The motion was seconded by John Adams, calling on Congress to declare independence, form foreign alliances, and prepare a plan of colonial confederation. The part of the resolution relating to declaring independence 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.[52]
Lee's resolution met with resistance in the ensuing debate. Opponents of the resolution conceded that reconciliation was unlikely with Great Britain, while arguing that declaring independence was premature, and that securing foreign aid should take priority.[53] Advocates of the resolution countered that foreign governments would not intervene in an internal British struggle, and so a formal declaration of independence was needed before foreign aid was possible. All Congress needed to do, they insisted, was to "declare a fact which already exists".[54] Delegates from Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, and New York were still not yet authorized to vote for independence, however, and some of them threatened to leave Congress if the resolution were adopted. Congress, therefore, voted on June 10 to postpone further discussion of Lee's resolution for three weeks.[55] Until then, Congress decided that a committee should prepare a document announcing and explaining independence in the event that Lee's resolution was approved when it was brought up again in July.
The final push
This idealized depiction of (left to right) Franklin, Adams, and Jefferson working on the Declaration was widely reprinted (by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, 1900).[56]
Support for a Congressional declaration of independence was consolidated in the final weeks of June 1776. On June 14, the Connecticut Assembly instructed its delegates to propose independence and, the following day, the legislatures of New Hampshire and Delaware authorized their delegates to declare independence.[57] In Pennsylvania, political struggles ended with the dissolution of the colonial assembly, and a new Conference of Committees under Thomas McKean authorized Pennsylvania's delegates to declare independence on June 18.[58] The Provincial Congress of New Jersey had been governing the province since January 1776; they resolved on June 15 that Royal Governor William Franklin was "an enemy to the liberties of this country" and had him arrested.[59] On June 21, they chose new delegates to Congress and empowered them to join in a declaration of independence.[60]
Only Maryland and New York had yet to authorize independence towards the end of June. Previously, Maryland's delegates had walked out when the Continental Congress adopted Adams's radical May 15 preamble, and had sent to the Annapolis Convention for instructions.[61] On May 20, the Annapolis Convention rejected Adams's preamble, instructing its delegates to remain against independence. But Samuel Chase went to Maryland and, thanks to local resolutions in favor of independence, was able to get the Annapolis Convention to change its mind on June 28.[62] Only the New York delegates were unable to get revised instructions. When Congress had been considering the resolution of independence on June 8, the New York Provincial Congress told the delegates to wait.[63] But on June 30, the Provincial Congress evacuated New York as British forces approached, and would not convene again until July 10. This meant that New York's delegates would not be authorized to declare independence until after Congress had made its decision.[64]
Draft and adoption
Main article: Physical history of the United States Declaration of Independence
Political maneuvering was setting the stage for an official declaration of independence even while a document was being written to explain the decision. On June 11, 1776, Congress appointed a "Committee of Five" to draft a declaration, 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. The committee left no minutes, so there is some uncertainty about how the drafting process proceeded; contradictory accounts were written many years later by Jefferson and Adams, too many years to be regarded as entirely reliable—although their accounts are frequently cited.[65] What is certain is that the committee discussed the general outline which the document should follow and decided that Jefferson would write the first draft.[66] The committee in general, and Jefferson in particular, thought that Adams should write the document, but Adams persuaded the committee to choose Jefferson and promised to consult with him personally.[3] Considering Congress's busy schedule, Jefferson probably had limited time for writing over the next seventeen days, and likely wrote the draft quickly.[67] He then consulted the others and made some changes, and then produced another copy incorporating these alterations. The committee presented this copy to the Congress on June 28, 1776. The title of the document was "A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled."[68]
Portable writing desk that Jefferson used to draft and write the Declaration of Independence
Congress ordered that the draft "lie on the table".[69] For two days, Congress methodically edited Jefferson's primary document, shortening it by a fourth, removing unnecessary wording, and improving sentence structure.[70] They removed Jefferson's assertion that Britain had forced slavery on the colonies in order to moderate the document and appease persons in Britain who supported the Revolution.[citation needed] Jefferson wrote that Congress had "mangled" his draft version, but the Declaration that was finally produced was "the majestic document that inspired both contemporaries and posterity," in the words of his biographer John Ferling.[70]
Congress tabled the draft of the declaration on Monday, July 1, and resolved itself into a committee of the whole, with Benjamin Harrison of Virginia presiding, and they resumed debate on Lee's resolution of independence.[71] John Dickinson made one last effort to delay the decision, arguing that Congress should not declare independence without first securing a foreign alliance and finalizing the Articles of Confederation.[72] John Adams gave a speech in reply to Dickinson, restating the case for an immediate declaration.
A vote was taken after a long day of speeches, each colony casting a single vote, as always. The delegation for each colony numbered from two to seven members, and each delegation voted amongst themselves to determine the colony's vote. Pennsylvania and South Carolina voted against declaring independence. The New York delegation abstained, lacking permission to vote for independence. Delaware cast no vote because the delegation was split between Thomas McKean (who voted yes) and George Read (who voted no). The remaining nine delegations voted in favor of independence, which meant that the resolution had been approved by the committee of the whole. The next step was for the resolution to be voted upon by Congress itself. Edward Rutledge of South Carolina was opposed to Lee's resolution but desirous of unanimity, and he moved that the vote be postponed until the following day.[73]
"Declaration House", the boarding house at Market and S. 7th Street where Jefferson wrote the Declaration
On July 2, South Carolina reversed its position and voted for independence. In the Pennsylvania delegation, Dickinson and Robert Morris abstained, allowing the delegation to vote three-to-two in favor of independence. The tie in the Delaware delegation was broken by the timely arrival of Caesar Rodney, who voted for independence. The New York delegation abstained once again since they were still not authorized to vote for independence, although they were allowed to do so a week later by the New York Provincial Congress.[74] The resolution of independence had been adopted with twelve affirmative votes and one abstention. With this, the colonies had officially severed political ties with Great Britain.[75]
John Adams predicted in a famous letter, written to his wife on the following day, that July 2 would become a great American holiday.[76] He thought that the vote for independence would be commemorated; he did not foresee that Americans—including himself—would instead celebrate Independence Day on the date when the announcement of that act was finalized.[77]
"I am apt to believe that [Independence Day] will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more."[78]
After voting in favor of the resolution of independence, Congress turned its attention to the committee's draft of the declaration. Over several days of debate, they made a few changes in wording and deleted nearly a fourth of the text and, on July 4, 1776, the wording of the Declaration of Independence was approved and sent to the printer for publication.
The opening of the original printing of the Declaration, printed on July 4, 1776, under Jefferson's supervision. The engrossed copy was made later (shown at the top of this article). Note that the opening lines differ between the two versions.[79]
There is a distinct change in wording from this original broadside printing of the Declaration and the final official engrossed copy. The word "unanimous" was inserted as a result of a Congressional resolution passed on July 19, 1776:
Resolved, That the Declaration passed on the 4th, be fairly engrossed on parchment, with the title and stile of "The unanimous declaration of the thirteen United States of America," and that the same, when engrossed, be signed by every member of Congress.[80]
Historian George Billias says:
Independence amounted to a new status of interdependence: the United States was now a sovereign nation entitled to the privileges and responsibilities that came with that status. America thus became a member of the international community, which meant becoming a maker of treaties and alliances, a military ally in diplomacy, and a partner in foreign trade on a more equal basis.[81]
Annotated text of the engrossed declaration
The declaration is not divided into formal sections; but it is often discussed as consisting of five parts: introduction, preamble, indictment of King George III, denunciation of the British people, and conclusion.[82]
Introduction
Asserts as a matter of Natural Law the ability of a people to assume political independence; acknowledges that the grounds for such independence must be reasonable, and therefore explicable, and ought to be explained.
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.
Preamble
Outlines a general philosophy of government that justifies revolution when government harms natural rights.[82]
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 to 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
A bill of particulars documenting the king's "repeated injuries and usurpations" of the Americans' rights and liberties.[82]
Such has been the patient sufferance of 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 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 of 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
This section essentially finishes the case for independence. The conditions that justified revolution have been shown.[82]
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 there exist conditions under which people must change their government, that the British have produced such conditions and, by necessity, the colonies must 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 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 divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
Signatures
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) and a father and great-grandfather of two other presidents (Benjamin Harrison) were among the signatories. Edward Rutledge (age 26) was the youngest signer, and Benjamin Franklin (age 70) was the oldest signer. The fifty-six signers of the Declaration represented the new states as follows (from north to south):[83]
New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts: Samuel Adams, John Adams, John Hancock, Robert Treat Paine, 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
South Carolina: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward Jr., Thomas Lynch Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
Influences and legal status
English political philosopher John Locke (1632–1704)
Historians have often sought to identify the sources that most influenced the words and political philosophy of the Declaration of Independence. By Jefferson's own admission, the Declaration contained no original ideas, but was instead a statement of sentiments widely shared by supporters of the American Revolution. As he explained in 1825:
Neither aiming at originality of principle or sentiment, nor yet copied from any particular and previous writing, it was intended to be an expression of the American mind, and to give to that expression the proper tone and spirit called for by the occasion.[84]
Jefferson's most immediate sources were two documents written in June 1776: his own draft of the preamble of the Constitution of Virginia, and George Mason's draft of the Virginia Declaration of Rights. Ideas and phrases from both of these documents appear in the Declaration of Independence.[85] They were, in turn, directly influenced by the 1689 English Declaration of Rights, which formally ended the reign of King James II.[86] During the American Revolution, Jefferson and other Americans looked to the English Declaration of Rights as a model of how to end the reign of an unjust king.[87] The Scottish Declaration of Arbroath (1320) and the Dutch Act of Abjuration (1581) have also been offered as models for Jefferson's Declaration, but these models are now accepted by few scholars.[88]
Jefferson wrote that a number of authors exerted a general influence on the words of the Declaration.[89] English political theorist John Locke is usually cited as one of the primary influences, a man whom Jefferson called one of "the three greatest men that have ever lived".[90] In 1922, historian Carl L. Becker wrote, "Most Americans had absorbed Locke's works as a kind of political gospel; and the Declaration, in its form, in its phraseology, follows closely certain sentences in Locke's second treatise on government."[91] The extent of Locke's influence on the American Revolution has been questioned by some subsequent scholars, however. Historian Ray Forrest Harvey argued in 1937 for the dominant influence of Swiss jurist Jean Jacques Burlamaqui, declaring that Jefferson and Locke were at "two opposite poles" in their political philosophy, as evidenced by Jefferson's use in the Declaration of Independence of the phrase "pursuit of happiness" instead of "property".[92] Other scholars emphasized the influence of republicanism rather than Locke's classical liberalism.[93] Historian Garry Wills argued that Jefferson was influenced by the Scottish Enlightenment, particularly Francis Hutcheson, rather than Locke,[94] an interpretation that has been strongly criticized.[95]
Legal historian John Phillip Reid has written that the emphasis on the political philosophy of the Declaration has been misplaced. The Declaration is not a philosophical tract about natural rights, argues Reid, but is instead a legal document—an indictment against King George for violating the constitutional rights of the colonists.[96] Historian David Armitage has argued that the Declaration was strongly influenced by de Vattel's The Law of Nations, the dominant international law treatise of the period, and a book that Benjamin Franklin said was "continually in the hands of the members of our Congress".[97] Armitage writes, "Vattel made independence fundamental to his definition of statehood"; therefore, the primary purpose of the Declaration was "to express the international legal sovereignty of the United States". If the United States were to have any hope of being recognized by the European powers, the American revolutionaries first had to make it clear that they were no longer dependent on Great Britain.[98] The Declaration of Independence does not have the force of law domestically, but nevertheless it may help to provide historical and legal clarity about the Constitution and other laws.[99][100][101][102]
Signing
Main article: Signing of the United States Declaration of Independence
The signed copy of the Declaration is now badly faded because of poor preserving practices in the 19th century. It is on display at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
The Declaration became official when Congress voted for it on July 4; signatures of the delegates were not needed to make it official. The handwritten copy of the Declaration of Independence that was signed by Congress is dated July 4, 1776. The signatures of fifty-six delegates are affixed; however, the exact date when each person signed it has long been the subject of debate. Jefferson, Franklin, and Adams all wrote that the Declaration had been signed by Congress on July 4.[103] But in 1796, signer Thomas McKean disputed that the Declaration had been signed on July 4, pointing out that some signers were not then present, including several who were not even elected to Congress until after that date.[104]
The Declaration was transposed on paper, adopted by the Continental Congress, and signed by John Hancock, President of the Congress, on July 4, 1776, according to the 1911 record of events by the U.S. State Department under Secretary Philander C. Knox.[105] On August 2, 1776, a parchment paper copy of the Declaration was signed by 56 persons.[105] Many of these signers were not present when the original Declaration was adopted on July 4.[105] Signer Matthew Thornton from New Hampshire was seated in the Continental Congress in November; he asked for and received the privilege of adding his signature at that time, and signed on November 4, 1776.[105]
On July 4, 1776, Continental Congress President John Hancock's signature authenticated the United States Declaration of Independence.
Historians have generally accepted McKean's version of events, arguing that the famous signed version of the Declaration was created after July 19, and was not signed by Congress until August 2, 1776.[106] In 1986, legal historian Wilfred Ritz argued that historians had misunderstood the primary documents and given too much credence to McKean, who had not been present in Congress on July 4.[107] According to Ritz, about thirty-four delegates signed the Declaration on July 4, and the others signed on or after August 2.[108] Historians who reject a July 4 signing maintain that most delegates signed on August 2, and that those eventual signers who were not present added their names later.[109]
Two future U.S. presidents were among the signatories: Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. The most famous signature on the engrossed copy is that of John Hancock, who presumably signed first as President of Congress.[110] Hancock's large, flamboyant signature became iconic, and the term John Hancock emerged in the United States as an informal synonym for "signature".[111] A commonly circulated but apocryphal account claims that, after Hancock signed, the delegate from Massachusetts commented, "The British ministry can read that name without spectacles." Another apocryphal report indicates that Hancock proudly declared, "There! I guess King George will be able to read that!"[112]
Various legends emerged years later about the signing of the Declaration, when the document had become an important national symbol. In one famous story, John Hancock supposedly said that Congress, having signed the Declaration, must now "all hang together", and Benjamin Franklin replied: "Yes, we must indeed all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately." The quotation did not appear in print until more than fifty years after Franklin's death.[113]
The Syng inkstand used at the signing was also used at the signing of the United States Constitution in 1787.
Publication and reaction
Johannes Adam Simon Oertel's painting Pulling Down the Statue of King George III, N.Y.C., ca. 1859, depicts citizens destroying a statue of King George after the Declaration was read in New York City on July 9, 1776.
After Congress approved the final wording of the Declaration on July 4, a handwritten copy was sent a few blocks away to the printing shop of John Dunlap. Through the night, Dunlap printed about 200 broadsides for distribution. Before long, the Declaration was read to audiences and reprinted in newspapers throughout the thirteen states. The first official public reading of the document was by John Nixon in the yard of Independence Hall on July 8; public readings also took place on that day in Trenton, New Jersey and Easton, Pennsylvania.[114] A German translation of the Declaration was published in Philadelphia by July 9.[115]
President of Congress John Hancock sent a broadside to General George Washington, instructing him to have it proclaimed "at the Head of the Army in the way you shall think it most proper".[116] Washington had the Declaration read to his troops in New York City on July 9, with thousands of British troops on ships in the harbor. Washington and Congress hoped that the Declaration would inspire the soldiers, and encourage others to join the army.[114] After hearing the Declaration, crowds in many cities tore down and destroyed signs or statues representing royal authority. An equestrian statue of King George in New York City was pulled down and the lead used to make musket balls.[117]
William Whipple, signer of the Declaration of Independence, freed his slave believing that he could not both fight for liberty and own a slave.
British officials in North America sent copies of the Declaration to Great Britain.[118] It was published in British newspapers beginning in mid-August, it had reached Florence and Warsaw by mid-September, and a German translation appeared in Switzerland by October. The first copy of the Declaration sent to France got lost, and the second copy arrived only in November 1776.[119] It reached Portuguese America by Brazilian medical student "Vendek" José Joaquim Maia e Barbalho, who had met with Thomas Jefferson in Nîmes.
The Spanish-American authorities banned the circulation of the Declaration, but it was widely transmitted and translated: by Venezuelan Manuel García de Sena, by Colombian Miguel de Pombo, by Ecuadorian Vicente Rocafuerte, and by New Englanders Richard Cleveland and William Shaler, who distributed the Declaration and the United States Constitution among creoles in Chile and Indians in Mexico in 1821.[120] The North Ministry did not give an official answer to the Declaration, but instead secretly commissioned pamphleteer John Lind to publish a response entitled Answer to the Declaration of the American Congress.[121] British Tories denounced the signers of the Declaration for not applying the same principles of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" to African Americans.[122] Thomas Hutchinson, the former royal governor of Massachusetts, also published a rebuttal.[123][124] These pamphlets challenged various aspects of the Declaration. Hutchinson argued that the American Revolution was the work of a few conspirators who wanted independence from the outset, and who had finally achieved it by inducing otherwise loyal colonists to rebel.[125] Lind's pamphlet had an anonymous attack on the concept of natural rights written by Jeremy Bentham, an argument that he repeated during the French Revolution.[126] Both pamphlets asked how the American slaveholders in Congress could proclaim that "all men are created equal" without freeing their own slaves.[127]
William Whipple, a signer of the Declaration of Independence who had fought in the war, freed his slave Prince Whipple because of revolutionary ideals. In the postwar decades, other slaveholders also freed their slaves; from 1790 to 1810, the percentage of free blacks in the Upper South increased to 8.3 percent from less than one percent of the black population.[128] All Northern states abolished slavery by 1804.
History of the documents
Main article: Physical history of the United States Declaration of Independence
The official copy of the Declaration of Independence was the one printed on July 4, 1776, under Jefferson's supervision. It was sent to the states and to the Army and was widely reprinted in newspapers. The slightly different "engrossed copy" (shown at the top of this article) was made later for members to sign. The engrossed version is the one widely distributed in the 21st century. Note that the opening lines differ between the two versions.[79]
The copy of the Declaration that was signed by Congress is known as the engrossed or parchment copy. It was probably engrossed (that is, carefully handwritten) by clerk Timothy Matlack.[129] A facsimile made in 1823 has become the basis of most modern reproductions rather than the original because of poor conservation of the engrossed copy through the 19th century.[129] In 1921, custody of the engrossed copy of the Declaration was transferred from the State Department to the Library of Congress, along with the United States Constitution. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the documents were moved for safekeeping to the United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox in Kentucky, where they were kept until 1944.[130] In 1952, the engrossed Declaration was transferred to the National Archives and is now on permanent display at the National Archives in the "Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom".[131]
The Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom in the National Archives building
The document signed by Congress and enshrined in the National Archives is usually regarded as the Declaration of Independence, but historian Julian P. Boyd argued that the Declaration, like Magna Carta, is not a single document. Boyd considered the printed broadsides ordered by Congress to be official texts, as well. The Declaration was first published as a broadside that was printed the night of July 4 by John Dunlap of Philadelphia. Dunlap printed about 200 broadsides, of which 26 are known to survive. The 26th copy was discovered in The National Archives in England in 2009.[132]
In 1777, Congress commissioned Mary Katherine Goddard to print a new broadside that listed the signers of the Declaration, unlike the Dunlap broadside.[129][133] Nine copies of the Goddard broadside are known to still exist.[133] A variety of broadsides printed by the states are also extant.[133]
Several early handwritten copies and drafts of the Declaration have also been preserved. Jefferson kept a four-page draft that late in life he called the "original Rough draught".[134] It is not known how many drafts Jefferson wrote prior to this one, and how much of the text was contributed by other committee members. In 1947, Boyd discovered a fragment of an earlier draft in Jefferson's handwriting.[135] Jefferson and Adams sent copies of the rough draft to friends, with slight variations.
During the writing process, Jefferson showed the rough draft to Adams and Franklin, and perhaps to other members of the drafting committee,[134] who made a few more changes. Franklin, for example, may have been responsible for changing Jefferson's original phrase "We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable" to "We hold these truths to be self-evident".[136] Jefferson incorporated these changes into a copy that was submitted to Congress in the name of the committee.[134] The copy that was submitted to Congress on June 28 has been lost, and was perhaps destroyed in the printing process,[137] or destroyed during the debates in accordance with Congress's secrecy rule.[138]
On April 21, 2017, it was announced that a second engrossed copy had been discovered in an archive in Sussex, England. Named by its finders the "Sussex Declaration", it differs from the National Archives copy (which the finders refer to as the "Matlack Declaration") in that the signatures on it are not grouped by States. How it came to be in England is not yet known, but the finders believe that the randomness of the signatures points to an origin with signatory James Wilson, who had argued strongly that the Declaration was made not by the States but by the whole people.[139][140]
Legacy
The Declaration was neglected in the years immediately following the American Revolution, having served its original purpose in announcing the independence of the United States.[141] Early celebrations of Independence Day largely ignored the Declaration, as did early histories of the Revolution. The act of declaring independence was considered important, whereas the text announcing that act attracted little attention.[142] The Declaration was rarely mentioned during the debates about the United States Constitution, and its language was not incorporated into that document.[143] George Mason's draft of the Virginia Declaration of Rights was more influential, and its language was echoed in state constitutions and state bills of rights more often than Jefferson's words.[144] "In none of these documents", wrote Pauline Maier, "is there any evidence whatsoever that the Declaration of Independence lived in men's minds as a classic statement of American political principles."[145]
Influence in other countries
Many leaders of the French Revolution admired the Declaration of Independence[145] but were also interested in the new American state constitutions.[146] The inspiration and content of the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789) emerged largely from the ideals of the American Revolution.[147] Its key drafts were prepared by Lafayette, working closely in Paris with his friend Thomas Jefferson. It also borrowed language from George Mason's Virginia Declaration of Rights.[148][149] The declaration also influenced the Russian Empire. The document had a particular impact on the Decembrist revolt and other Russian thinkers.
According to historian David Armitage, the Declaration of Independence did prove to be internationally influential, but not as a statement of human rights. Armitage argued that the Declaration was the first in a new genre of declarations of independence that announced the creation of new states.
Other French leaders were directly influenced by the text of the Declaration of Independence itself. The Manifesto of the Province of Flanders (1790) was the first foreign derivation of the Declaration;[150] others include the Venezuelan Declaration of Independence (1811), the Liberian Declaration of Independence (1847), the declarations of secession by the Confederate States of America (1860–61), and the Vietnamese Proclamation of Independence (1945).[151] These declarations echoed the United States Declaration of Independence in announcing the independence of a new state, without necessarily endorsing the political philosophy of the original.[152]
Other countries have used the Declaration as inspiration or have directly copied sections from it. These include the Haitian declaration of January 1, 1804, during the Haitian Revolution, the United Provinces of New Granada in 1811, the Argentine Declaration of Independence in 1816, the Chilean Declaration of Independence in 1818, Costa Rica in 1821, El Salvador in 1821, Guatemala in 1821, Honduras in (1821), Mexico in 1821, Nicaragua in 1821, Peru in 1821, Bolivian War of Independence in 1825, Uruguay in 1825, Ecuador in 1830, Colombia in 1831, Paraguay in 1842, Dominican Republic in 1844, Texas Declaration of Independence in March 1836, California Republic in November 1836, Hungarian Declaration of Independence in 1849, Declaration of the Independence of New Zealand in 1835, and the Czechoslovak declaration of independence from 1918 drafted in Washington D.C. with Gutzon Borglum among the drafters. The Rhodesian declaration of independence, ratified in November 1965, is based on the American one as well; however, it omits the phrases "all men are created equal" and "the consent of the governed".[120][153][154][155] The South Carolina declaration of secession from December 1860 also mentions the U.S. Declaration of Independence, though it, like the Rhodesian one, omits references to "all men are created equal" and "consent of the governed".
Revival of interest
Interest in the Declaration was revived in the 1790s with the emergence of the United States's first political parties.[156] Throughout the 1780s, few Americans knew or cared who wrote the Declaration.[157] But in the next decade, Jeffersonian Republicans sought political advantage over their rival Federalists by promoting both the importance of the Declaration and Jefferson as its author.[158] Federalists responded by casting doubt on Jefferson's authorship or originality, and by emphasizing that independence was declared by the whole Congress, with Jefferson as just one member of the drafting committee. Federalists insisted that Congress's act of declaring independence, in which Federalist John Adams had played a major role, was more important than the document announcing it.[159] But this view faded away, like the Federalist Party itself, and, before long, the act of declaring independence became synonymous with the document.
A less partisan appreciation for the Declaration emerged in the years following the War of 1812, thanks to a growing American nationalism and a renewed interest in the history of the Revolution.[160] In 1817, Congress commissioned John Trumbull's famous painting of the signers, which was exhibited to large crowds before being installed in the Capitol.[161] The earliest commemorative printings of the Declaration also appeared at this time, offering many Americans their first view of the signed document.[162] Collective biographies of the signers were first published in the 1820s,[163] giving birth to what Garry Wills called the "cult of the signers".[164] In the years that followed, many stories about the writing and signing of the document were published for the first time.
When interest in the Declaration was revived, the sections that were most important in 1776 were no longer relevant: the announcement of the independence of the United States and the grievances against King George. But the second paragraph was applicable long after the war had ended, with its talk of self-evident truths and unalienable rights.[165] The Constitution and the Bill of Rights lacked sweeping statements about rights and equality, and advocates of groups with grievances turned to the Declaration for support.[166] Starting in the 1820s, variations of the Declaration were issued to proclaim the rights of workers, farmers, women, and others.[167] In 1848, for example, the Seneca Falls Convention of women's rights advocates declared that "all men and women are created equal".[168]
John Trumbull's Declaration of Independence (1817–1826)
Main article: Declaration of Independence (Trumbull)
John Trumbull's famous painting is often identified as a depiction of the signing of the Declaration, but it actually shows the drafting committee presenting its work to the Congress.[169]
A key step marking the evolution of the Declaration in the nation's consciousness is the now well-known painting Declaration of Independence by Connecticut political painter John Trumbull. It was commissioned by the United States Congress in 1817. 12-by-18-foot (3.7 by 5.5 m) in size, it has hung in the United States Capitol Rotunda since 1826. It has been often reproduced, and is the visual image most associated by Americans with the Declaration.
The painting is sometimes incorrectly described as the signing of the Declaration of Independence. In fact, the painting actually shows the five-man drafting committee presenting their draft of the Declaration to the Second Continental Congress, an event that took place on June 28, 1776, and not the signing of the document, which took place later.[170]
The painting, the figures painted from life when possible, does not contain all the signers. Some had died and images could not be located. One figure had participated in the drafting but did not sign the final document; another refused to sign. In fact the membership of the Second Continental Congress changed as time passed, and the figures in the painting were never in the same room at the same time.
It is, however, an accurate depiction of the room in the building known today as Independence Hall, the centerpiece of the Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Trumbull visited the room, which was where the Second Continental Congress met, when researching for his painting. At the time it was the Pennsylvania State House.
Slavery and the Declaration
Further information: Slavery in the colonial United States
The apparent contradiction between the claim that "all men are created equal" and the existence of American slavery attracted comment when the Declaration was first published. As mentioned above, Jefferson had included a paragraph in his initial draft that strongly indicted Great Britain's role in the slave trade, but this was deleted from the final version.[171] Jefferson himself was a prominent Virginia slave holder, having owned hundreds of slaves.[172] Referring to this seeming contradiction, English abolitionist Thomas Day wrote in a 1776 letter, "If there be an object truly ridiculous in nature, it is an American patriot, signing resolutions of independency with the one hand, and with the other brandishing a whip over his affrighted slaves."[173]
In the 19th century, the Declaration took on a special significance for the abolitionist movement. Historian Bertram Wyatt-Brown wrote that "abolitionists tended to interpret the Declaration of Independence as a theological as well as a political document".[174] Abolitionist leaders Benjamin Lundy and William Lloyd Garrison adopted the "twin rocks" of "the Bible and the Declaration of Independence" as the basis for their philosophies. "As long as there remains a single copy of the Declaration of Independence, or of the Bible, in our land," wrote Garrison, "we will not despair."[175] For radical abolitionists such as Garrison, the most important part of the Declaration was its assertion of the right of revolution. Garrison called for the destruction of the government under the Constitution, and the creation of a new state dedicated to the principles of the Declaration.[176]
The controversial question of whether to add additional slave states to the United States coincided with the growing stature of the Declaration. The first major public debate about slavery and the Declaration took place during the Missouri controversy of 1819 to 1821.[177] Antislavery Congressmen argued that the language of the Declaration indicated that the Founding Fathers of the United States had been opposed to slavery in principle, and so new slave states should not be added to the country.[178] Proslavery Congressmen led by Senator Nathaniel Macon of North Carolina argued that the Declaration was not a part of the Constitution and therefore had no relevance to the question.[179]
With the antislavery movement gaining momentum, defenders of slavery such as John Randolph and John C. Calhoun found it necessary to argue that the Declaration's assertion that "all men are created equal" was false, or at least that it did not apply to black people.[180] During the debate over the Kansas–Nebraska Act in 1853, for example, Senator John Pettit of Indiana argued that the statement "all men are created equal" was not a "self-evident truth" but a "self-evident lie".[181] Opponents of the Kansas–Nebraska Act, including Salmon P. Chase and Benjamin Wade, defended the Declaration and what they saw as its antislavery principles.[182]
Lincoln and the Declaration
Congressman Abraham Lincoln
Shepherd, 1845–1846
The Declaration's relationship to slavery was taken up in 1854 by Abraham Lincoln, a little-known former Congressman who idolized the Founding Fathers.[183] Lincoln thought that the Declaration of Independence expressed the highest principles of the American Revolution, and that the Founding Fathers had tolerated slavery with the expectation that it would ultimately wither away.[10] For the United States to legitimize the expansion of slavery in the Kansas-Nebraska Act, thought Lincoln, was to repudiate the principles of the Revolution. In his October 1854 Peoria speech, Lincoln said:
Nearly eighty years ago we began by declaring that all men are created equal; but now from that beginning we have run down to the other declaration, that for some men to enslave others is a "sacred right of self-government".… Our republican robe is soiled and trailed in the dust.… Let us repurify it. Let us re-adopt the Declaration of Independence, and with it, the practices, and policy, which harmonize with it.… If we do this, we shall not only have saved the Union: but we shall have saved it, as to make, and keep it, forever worthy of the saving.[184]
The meaning of the Declaration was a recurring topic in the famed debates between Lincoln and Stephen Douglas in 1858. Douglas argued that the phrase "all men are created equal" in the Declaration referred to white men only. The purpose of the Declaration, he said, had simply been to justify the independence of the United States, and not to proclaim the equality of any "inferior or degraded race".[185] Lincoln, however, thought that the language of the Declaration was deliberately universal, setting a high moral standard to which the American republic should aspire. "I had thought the Declaration contemplated the progressive improvement in the condition of all men everywhere," he said.[186] During the seventh and last joint debate with Steven Douglas at Alton, Illinois on October 15, 1858, Lincoln said about the declaration:
I think the authors of that notable instrument intended to include all men, but they did not mean to declare all men equal in all respects. They did not mean to say all men were equal in color, size, intellect, moral development, or social capacity. They defined with tolerable distinctness in what they did consider all men created equal—equal in "certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." This they said, and this they meant. They did not mean to assert the obvious untruth that all were then actually enjoying that equality, or yet that they were about to confer it immediately upon them. In fact, they had no power to confer such a boon. They meant simply to declare the right, so that the enforcement of it might follow as fast as circumstances should permit. They meant to set up a standard maxim for free society which should be familiar to all, constantly looked to, constantly labored for, and even, though never perfectly attained, constantly approximated, and thereby constantly spreading and deepening its influence, and augmenting the happiness and value of life to all people, of all colors, everywhere.[187]
According to Pauline Maier, Douglas's interpretation was more historically accurate, but Lincoln's view ultimately prevailed. "In Lincoln's hands," wrote Maier, "the Declaration of Independence became first and foremost a living document" with "a set of goals to be realized over time".[188]
[T]here is no reason in the world why the negro is not entitled to all the natural rights enumerated in the Declaration of Independence, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I hold that he is as much entitled to these as the white man.
Abraham Lincoln, 1858[189]
Like Daniel Webster, James Wilson, and Joseph Story before him, Lincoln argued that the Declaration of Independence was a founding document of the United States, and that this had important implications for interpreting the Constitution, which had been ratified more than a decade after the Declaration.[190] The Constitution did not use the word "equality", yet Lincoln believed that the concept that "all men are created equal" remained a part of the nation's founding principles.[191] He famously expressed this belief in the opening sentence of his 1863 Gettysburg Address: "Four score and seven years ago [i.e. in 1776] our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."
Lincoln's view of the Declaration became influential, seeing it as a moral guide to interpreting the Constitution. "For most people now," wrote Garry Wills in 1992, "the Declaration means what Lincoln told us it means, as a way of correcting the Constitution itself without overthrowing it."[192] Admirers of Lincoln such as Harry V. Jaffa praised this development. Critics of Lincoln, notably Willmoore Kendall and Mel Bradford, argued that Lincoln dangerously expanded the scope of the national government and violated states' rights by reading the Declaration into the Constitution.[193]
Women's suffrage and the Declaration
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her two sons (1848).
In July 1848, the first woman's rights convention, the Seneca Falls Convention, was held in Seneca Falls, New York. The convention was organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Mary Ann McClintock, and Jane Hunt. In their "Declaration of Sentiments", patterned on the Declaration of Independence, the convention members demanded social and political equality for women. Their motto was that "All men and women are created equal" and the convention demanded suffrage for women. The suffrage movement was supported by William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass.[194][195]
Twentieth century and later
Presentation of the Declaration depicted on a United States postal issue of 1869
Bicentennial Eisenhower dollar (1976).
Obverse: Eisenhower portrait, US national motto, "Liberty" on top, US Independence year (1776) and year of minting (1976). Reverse: Liberty Bell in front of the moon, country name, face value, two stars, and E pluribus unum (Out of many, one).
Dollar coin made of silver. Minted to commemorate 200th anniversary of United States Independence.
The adoption of the Declaration of Independence was dramatized in the 1969 Tony Award–winning musical 1776, and the 1972 movie of the same name, as well as in the 2008 television miniseries John Adams.[citation needed]
The Declaration was chosen to become the first digitized text (1971).[196]
Since 1976 (the United States Bicentennial), Trumbull's Declaration of Independence has been used on the back of the United States two-dollar bill.
In 1984, the Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration was dedicated in Constitution Gardens on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., where the signatures of all the original signers are carved in stone with their names, places of residence, and occupations.
The new One World Trade Center building in New York City (2014) is 1776 feet high, to symbolize the year that the Declaration of Independence was signed.[197][198][199]
References
Jump up ^ Becker, Declaration of Independence, 5.
Jump up ^ The thirteen colonies were: New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
^ Jump up to: a b "Declaring Independence", Revolutionary War, Digital History, University of Houston. From Adams' notes: "Why will you not? You ought to do it." "I will not." "Why?" "Reasons enough." "What can be your reasons?" "Reason first, you are a Virginian, and a Virginian ought to appear at the head of this business. Reason second, I am obnoxious, suspected, and unpopular. You are very much otherwise. Reason third, you can write ten times better than I can." "Well," said Jefferson, "if you are decided, I will do as well as I can." "Very well. When you have drawn it up, we will have a meeting."
Jump up ^ Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams, 3 July 1776
Jump up ^ Boyd (1976), The Declaration of Independence: The Mystery of the Lost Original, p. 438.
Jump up ^ "Did You Know...Independence Day Should Actually Be July 2?" (Press release). National Archives and Records Administration. June 1, 2005. Retrieved July 4, 2012.
Jump up ^ The Declaration of Independence: A History, The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
Jump up ^ Stephen E. Lucas, "Justifying America: The Declaration of Independence as a Rhetorical Document", in Thomas W. Benson, ed., American Rhetoric: Context and Criticism, Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press, 1989, p. 85.
Jump up ^ Ellis, American Creation, 55–56.
^ Jump up to: a b McPherson, Second American Revolution, 126.
Jump up ^ Armitage, David (2007). The Declaration of Independence: A Global History. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. pp. 113–126. ISBN 0-674-02282-3.
Jump up ^ Hazelton, Declaration History, 19.
Jump up ^ Christie and Labaree, Empire or Independence, 31.
Jump up ^ Bailyn, Ideological Origins, 162.
Jump up ^ Bailyn, Ideological Origins, 200–02.
Jump up ^ Bailyn, Ideological Origins, 180–82.
Jump up ^ Middlekauff, Glorious Cause, 241.
Jump up ^ Bailyn, Ideological Origins, 224–25.
Jump up ^ Middlekauff, Glorious Cause, 241–42. The writings in question include Wilson's Considerations on the Authority of Parliament and Jefferson's A Summary View of the Rights of British America (both 1774), as well as Samuel Adams's 1768 Circular Letter.
Jump up ^ Middlekauff, Glorious Cause, 168; Ferling, Leap in the Dark, 123–24.
Jump up ^ Hazelton, Declaration History, 13; Middlekauff, Glorious Cause, 318.
Jump up ^ Middlekauff, Glorious Cause, 318.
Jump up ^ Maier, American Scripture, 25. The text of the 1775 king's speech is online, published by the American Memory project.
Jump up ^ Maier, American Scripture, 25.
Jump up ^ Rakove, Beginnings of National Politics, 88–90.
Jump up ^ Christie and Labaree, Empire or Independence, 270; Maier, American Scripture, 31–32.
Jump up ^ Jensen, Founding, 667.
Jump up ^ Rakove, Beginnings of National Politics, 89; Maier, American Scripture, 33.
Jump up ^ Maier, American Scripture, 33–34.
Jump up ^ Hazelton, Declaration History, 209; Maier, American Scripture, 25–27.
Jump up ^ Friedenwald, Interpretation, 67.
Jump up ^ Friedenwald, Interpretation, 77.
Jump up ^ Maier, American Scripture, 30.
Jump up ^ Maier, American Scripture, 59.
Jump up ^ Jensen, Founding, 671; Friedenwald, Interpretation, 78.
Jump up ^ Maier, American Scripture, 48, and Appendix A, which lists the state and local declarations.
Jump up ^ Jensen, Founding, 678–79.
Jump up ^ Jensen, Founding, 679; Friedenwald, Interpretation, 92–93.
Jump up ^ Maier, American Scripture, 69–72, quoted on 72.
Jump up ^ Maier, American Scripture, 48. The modern scholarly consensus is that the best-known and earliest of the local declarations is most likely inauthentic, the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, allegedly adopted in May 1775 (a full year before other local declarations); Maier, American Scripture, 174.
^ Jump up to: a b Jensen, Founding, 682.
Jump up ^ Jensen, Founding, 683.
Jump up ^ Jensen, Founding, 684; Maier, American Scripture, 37. For the full text of the May 10 resolve, see the Journals of the Continental Congress.
Jump up ^ Jensen, Founding, 684.
Jump up ^ Burnett, Continental Congress, 159. The text of Adams's letter is online.
Jump up ^ Maier, American Scripture, 37; Jensen, Founding, 684. For the full text of the May 15 preamble see the Journals of the Continental Congress.
Jump up ^ Rakove, National Politics, 96; Jensen, Founding, 684; Friedenwald, Interpretation, 94.
Jump up ^ Rakove, National Politics, 97; Jensen, Founding, 685.
Jump up ^ Maier, American Scripture, 38.
Jump up ^ Boyd, Evolution, 18; Maier, American Scripture, 63. The text of the May 15 Virginia resolution is online Archived June 20, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. at Yale Law School's Avalon Project.
Jump up ^ Jefferson, Thomas (July 4, 1776). "Declaration of Independence. In Congress, July 4, 1776, a Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress Assembled". World Digital Library. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
Jump up ^ Maier, American Scripture, 41; Boyd, Evolution, 19.
Jump up ^ Jensen, Founding, 689–90; Maier, American Scripture, 42.
Jump up ^ Jensen, Founding, 689; Armitage, Global History, 33–34. The quotation is from Jefferson's notes; Boyd, Papers of Jefferson, 1:311.
Jump up ^ Maier, American Scripture, 42–43; Friedenwald, Interpretation, 106.
Jump up ^ Dupont and Onuf, 3.
Jump up ^ Jensen, Founding, 691–92.
Jump up ^ Friedenwald, Interpretation, 106–07; Jensen, Founding, 691.
Jump up ^ Jensen, Founding, 692.
Jump up ^ Jensen, Founding, 693.
Jump up ^ Jensen, Founding, 694.
Jump up ^ Jensen, Founding, 694–96; Friedenwald, Interpretation, 96; Maier, American Scripture, 68.
Jump up ^ Friedenwald, Interpretation, 118; Jensen, Founding, 698.
Jump up ^ Friedenwald, Interpretation, 119–20.
Jump up ^ Maier, American Scripture, 97–105; Boyd, Evolution, 21.
Jump up ^ Boyd, Evolution, 22.
Jump up ^ Maier, American Scripture, 104.
Jump up ^ Becker, Declaration of Independence, 4.
Jump up ^ Jensen, Founding, 701.
^ Jump up to: a b John E. Ferling, Setting the World Ablaze: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and the American Revolution, Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-513409-4. OCLC 468591593, pp. 131–37
Jump up ^ Burnett, Continental Congress, 181.
Jump up ^ Jensen, Founding, 699.
Jump up ^ Burnett, Continental Congress, 182; Jensen, Founding, 700.
Jump up ^ Maier, American Scripture, 45.
Jump up ^ Boyd, Evolution, 19.
Jump up ^ Jensen, Founding, 703–04.
Jump up ^ Maier, American Scripture, 160–61.
Jump up ^ As quoted in Adams, John (2007). My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams. Harvard University Press. p. 125. ISBN 978-0-674-02606-3. Adams predicted that the celebration date would be July 2, the date the independence resolution was adopted, rather than July 4, the date the declaration was approved. Though he may have predicted the wrong celebration date, his thoughts were prophetic.
^ Jump up to: a b Julian P. Boyd, "The Declaration of Independence: The Mystery of the Lost Original". Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 100, number 4 (October 1976), p. 456.
Jump up ^ Journals of the Continental Congress – FRIDAY, JULY 19, 1776
Jump up ^ George Billias American Constitutionalism Heard Round the World, 1776-1989 (2011) p 17.
^ Jump up to: a b c d Lucas, Stephen E. "The Stylistic Artistry of the Declaration of Independence". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved July 4, 2012.
Jump up ^ "Index of Signers by State". ushistory.org – Independence Hall Association in Philadelphia. Retrieved October 12, 2006.
Jump up ^ "TO HENRY LEE – Thomas Jefferson The Works, vol. 12 (Correspondence and Papers 1816–1826; 1905)". The Online Library of Liberty. May 8, 1825. Retrieved March 8, 2008.
Jump up ^ Malone, Jefferson the Virginian, 221; Maier, American Scripture, 125–26.
Jump up ^ Maier, American Scripture, 126–28.
Jump up ^ Maier, American Scripture, 53–57.
Jump up ^ Maier found no evidence that the Dutch Act of Abjuration served as a model for the Declaration, and considers the argument "unpersuasive" (American Scripture, p. 264). Armitage discounts the influence of the Scottish and Dutch acts, and writes that neither was called "declarations of independence" until fairly recently (Global History, pp. 42–44). For the argument in favor of the influence of the Dutch act, see Stephen E. Lucas, "The 'Plakkaat van Verlatinge': A Neglected Model for the American Declaration of Independence", in Rosemarijn Hofte and Johanna C. Kardux, eds., Connecting Cultures: The Netherlands in Five Centuries of Transatlantic Exchange (Amsterdam, 1994), 189–207, and Barbara Wolff, "Was the Declaration of Independence Inspired by the Dutch?" University of Wisconsin Madison News, June 29, 1988, http://www.news.wisc.edu/3049 Accessed July 3, 2013.
Jump up ^ Boyd, Evolution, 16–17.
Jump up ^ "The Three Greatest Men". Retrieved June 13, 2009. Jefferson identified Bacon, Locke, and Newton as "the three greatest men that have ever lived, without any exception". Their works in the physical and moral sciences were instrumental in Jefferson's education and world view.
Jump up ^ Becker, Declaration of Independence, 27.
Jump up ^ Ray Forrest Harvey, Jean Jacques Burlamaqui: A Liberal Tradition in American Constitutionalism (Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1937), 120.
Jump up ^ A brief, online overview of the classical liberalism vs. republicanism debate is Alec Ewald, "The American Republic: 1760–1870" (2004). In a similar vein, historian Robert Middlekauff argues that the political ideas of the independence movement took their origins mainly from the "eighteenth-century commonwealthmen, the radical Whig ideology", which in turn drew on the political thought of John Milton, James Harrington, and John Locke. See Robert Middlekauff (2005), The Glorious Cause, pp. 3–6, 51–52, 136
Jump up ^ Wills, Inventing America, especially chs. 11–13. Wills concludes (p. 315) that "the air of enlightened America was full of Hutcheson's politics, not Locke's".
Jump up ^ Hamowy, "Jefferson and the Scottish Enlightenment", argues that Wills gets much wrong (p. 523), that the Declaration seems to be influenced by Hutcheson because Hutcheson was, like Jefferson, influenced by Locke (pp. 508–09), and that Jefferson often wrote of Locke's influence, but never mentioned Hutcheson in any of his writings (p. 514). See also Kenneth S. Lynn, "Falsifying Jefferson", Commentary 66 (Oct. 1978), 66–71. Ralph Luker, in "Garry Wills and the New Debate Over the Declaration of Independence" (The Virginia Quarterly Review, Spring 1980, 244–61) agreed that Wills overstated Hutcheson's influence to provide a communitarian reading of the Declaration, but he also argued that Wills's critics similarly read their own views into the document.
Jump up ^ John Phillip Reid, "The Irrelevance of the Declaration", in Hendrik Hartog, ed., Law in the American Revolution and the Revolution in the Law (New York University Press, 1981), 46–89.
Jump up ^ Benjamin Franklin to Charles F.W. Dumas, December 19, 1775, in The Writings of Benjamin Franklin, ed. Albert Henry Smyth (New York: 1970), 6:432.
Jump up ^ Armitage, Global History, 21, 38–40.
Jump up ^ Gulf, C. & SFR Co. v. Ellis, 165 US 150 (1897): "While such declaration of principles may not have the force of organic law, or be made the basis of judicial decision as to the limits of right and duty.... it is always safe to read the letter of the Constitution in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence."
Jump up ^ Wills, Gary. Inventing America: Jefferson's Declaration of Independence, p. 25 (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2002): "the Declaration is not a legal instrument, like the Constitution".
Jump up ^ Cuomo, Mario. Why Lincoln Matters: Now More Than Ever, p. 137 (Harcourt Press 2004) (it "is not a law and therefore is not subjected to rigorous interpretation and enforcement").
Jump up ^ Strang, Lee "Originalism's Subject Matter: Why the Declaration of Independence Is Not Part of the Constitution", Southern California Law Review, Vol. 89, 2015.
Jump up ^ Warren, "Fourth of July Myths", 242–43.
Jump up ^ Hazelton, Declaration History, 299–302; Burnett, Continental Congress, 192.
^ Jump up to: a b c d The U.S. State Department (1911), The Declaration of Independence, 1776, pp. 10, 11.
Jump up ^ Warren, "Fourth of July Myths", 245–46; Hazelton, Declaration History, 208–19; Wills, Inventing America, 341.
Jump up ^ Ritz, "Authentication", 179–200.
Jump up ^ Ritz, "Authentication", 194.
Jump up ^ Hazelton, Declaration History, 208–19.
Jump up ^ Hazelton, Declaration History, 209.
Jump up ^ Merriam-Webster online; Dictionary.com.
Jump up ^ "TeachAmericanHistory.org: John Hancock" (PDF). Retrieved October 6, 2014.
Jump up ^ Malone, Story of the Declaration, 91.
^ Jump up to: a b Maier, American Scripture, 156.
Jump up ^ Armitage, Global History, 72.
Jump up ^ Maier, American Scripture, 155.
Jump up ^ Maier, American Scripture, 156–57.
Jump up ^ Armitage, Global History, 73.
Jump up ^ "The Declaration of Independence in World Context". Retrieved October 6, 2014.
^ Jump up to: a b The Contagion of Sovereignty: Declarations of Independence since 1776
Jump up ^ Armitage, Global History, 75. Retrieved October 6, 2014.
Jump up ^ Jessup, John J. (September 20, 1943). "America and the Future". Life: 105. Retrieved March 9, 2011.
Jump up ^ Hutchinson, Thomas (1776), Eicholz, Hans, ed., Strictures upon the Declaration of the Congress at Philadelphia in a Letter to a Noble Lord, &c., London
Jump up ^ Armitage, Global History, 74.
Jump up ^ Bailyn, Ideological Origins, 155–56.
Jump up ^ Armitage, Global History, 79–80. Retrieved October 6, 2014.
Jump up ^ Armitage, Global History, 76–77. Retrieved October 6, 2014.
Jump up ^ Peter Kolchin, American Slavery, 1619–1877 (1993), pp. 77–79, 81
^ Jump up to: a b c "The Declaration of Independence: A History". Charters of Freedom. National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved July 1, 2011.
Jump up ^ Malone, Story of the Declaration, 263.
Jump up ^ "Charters of Freedom Re-encasement Project". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved July 1, 2011.
Jump up ^ "Rare copy of United States Declaration of Independence found in Kew". The Daily Telegraph. July 3, 2009. Retrieved July 1, 2011.
^ Jump up to: a b c Ann Marie Dube (May 1996). "The Declaration of Independence". A Multitude of Amendments, Alterations and Additions: The Writing and Publicizing of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution of the United States. National Park Service. Retrieved July 1, 2011.
^ Jump up to: a b c Boyd, "Lost Original", 446.
Jump up ^ Boyd, Papers of Jefferson, 1:421.
Jump up ^ Becker, Declaration of Independence, 142 note 1. Boyd (Papers of Jefferson, 1:427–28) casts doubt on Becker's belief that the change was made by Franklin.
Jump up ^ Boyd, "Lost Original", 448–50. Boyd argued that, if a document was signed on July 4 (which he thought unlikely), it would have been the Fair Copy, and probably would have been signed only by Hancock and Thomson.
Jump up ^ Ritz, "From the Here", speculates that the Fair Copy was immediately sent to the printer so that copies could be made for each member of Congress to consult during the debate. All of these copies were then destroyed, theorizes Ritz, to preserve secrecy.
Jump up ^ Yuhas, Alan (April 22, 2017). "Rare parchment copy of US Declaration of Independence found in England". The Guardian. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
Jump up ^ "The Sussex Declaration". Declaration Resources Project. Harvard University. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
Jump up ^ Armitage, Global History, 87–88; Maier, American Scripture, 162, 168–69.
Jump up ^ McDonald, "Jefferson's Reputation", 178–79; Maier, American Scripture, 160.
Jump up ^ Armitage, Global History, 92.
Jump up ^ Armitage, Global History, 90; Maier, American Scripture, 165–67.
^ Jump up to: a b Maier, American Scripture, 167.
Jump up ^ Armitage, Global History, 82.
Jump up ^ Georges Lefebvre (2005). The Coming of the French Revolution. Princeton UP. p. 212.
Jump up ^ George Athan Billias, ed. (2009). American Constitutionalism Heard Round the World, 1776–1989: A Global Perspective. NYU Press. p. 92. CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list (link)
Jump up ^ Susan Dunn, Sister Revolutions: French Lightning, American Light (1999) pp. 143–45
Jump up ^ Armitage, Global History, 113.
Jump up ^ Armitage, Global History, 120–35.
Jump up ^ Armitage, Global History, 104, 113.
Jump up ^ Palley, Claire (1966). The Constitutional History and Law of Southern Rhodesia 1888–1965, with Special Reference to Imperial Control (First ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 750. OCLC 406157.
Jump up ^ Hillier, Tim (1998). Sourcebook on Public International Law (First ed.). London & Sydney: Cavendish Publishing. p. 207. ISBN 1-85941-050-2.
Jump up ^ Gowlland-Debbas, Vera (1990). Collective Responses to Illegal Acts in International Law: United Nations action in the question of Southern Rhodesia (First ed.). Leiden and New York: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. p. 71. ISBN 0-7923-0811-5.
Jump up ^ McDonald, "Jefferson's Reputation", 172.
Jump up ^ McDonald, "Jefferson's Reputation", 172, 179.
Jump up ^ McDonald, "Jefferson's Reputation", 179; Maier, American Scripture, 168–71.
Jump up ^ McDonald, "Jefferson's Reputation", 180–84; Maier, American Scripture, 171.
Jump up ^ Detweiler, "Changing Reputation", 571–72; Maier, American Scripture, 175–78.
Jump up ^ Detweiler, "Changing Reputation", 572; Maier, American Scripture, 175.
Jump up ^ Detweiler, "Changing Reputation", 572; Maier, American Scripture, 175–76; Wills, Inventing America, 324. See also John C. Fitzpatrick, Spirit of the Revolution (Boston 1924).
Jump up ^ Maier, American Scripture, 176.
Jump up ^ Wills, Inventing America, 90.
Jump up ^ Armitage, "Global History", 93.
Jump up ^ Maier, American Scripture, 196–97.
Jump up ^ Maier, American Scripture, 197. See also Philip S. Foner, ed., We, the Other People: Alternative Declarations of Independence by Labor Groups, Farmers, Woman's Rights Advocates, Socialists, and Blacks, 1829–1975 (Urbana 1976).
Jump up ^ Maier, American Scripture, 197; Armitage, Global History, 95.
Jump up ^ Wills, Inventing America, 348.
Jump up ^ John Hazelton, The Historical Value of Trumbull's – Declaration of Independence, The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography – Volume 31, (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1907), 38.
Jump up ^ Maier, American Scripture, 146–50.
Jump up ^ Cohen (1969), Thomas Jefferson and the Problem of Slavery
Jump up ^ (1) Armitage, Global History, 77.
(2) Day, Thomas. Fragment of an original letter on the Slavery of the Negroes, written in the year 1776. London: Printed for John Stockdale (1784). Boston: Re-printed by Garrison and Knapp, at the office of "The Liberator" (1831). p. 10. Retrieved February 26, 2014. If there be an object truly ridiculous in nature, it is an American patriot, signing resolutions of independency with the one hand, and with the other brandishing a whip over his affrighted slaves. At: Internet Archive: The Johns Hopkins University Sheridan Libraries: James Birney Collection of Antislavery Pamphlets.
Jump up ^ Wyatt-Brown, Lewis Tappan, 287.
Jump up ^ Mayer, All on Fire, 53, 115.
Jump up ^ Maier, American Scripture, 198–99.
Jump up ^ Detweiler, "Congressional Debate", 598.
Jump up ^ Detweiler, "Congressional Debate", 604.
Jump up ^ Detweiler, "Congressional Debate", 605.
Jump up ^ Maier, American Scripture, 199; Bailyn, Ideological Origins, 246.
Jump up ^ Maier, American Scripture, 200.
Jump up ^ Maier, American Scripture, 200–01.
Jump up ^ Maier, American Scripture, 201–02.
Jump up ^ McPherson, Second American Revolution, 126–27.
Jump up ^ Maier, American Scripture, 204.
Jump up ^ Maier, American Scripture, 204–05.
Jump up ^ "Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865): Political Debates Between Lincoln and Douglas 1897". Bartleby. p. 415. Retrieved January 26, 2013.
Jump up ^ Maier, American Scripture, 207.
Jump up ^ Wills, Lincoln at Gettysburg, 100.
Jump up ^ Wills, Lincoln at Gettysburg, 129–31.
Jump up ^ Wills, Lincoln at Gettysburg, 145.
Jump up ^ Wills, Lincoln at Gettysburg, 147.
Jump up ^ Wills, Lincoln at Gettysburg, 39, 145–46. See also Harry V. Jaffa, Crisis of the House Divided (1959) and A New Birth of Freedom: Abraham Lincoln and the Coming of the Civil War (2000); Willmoore Kendall and George W. Carey, The Basic Symbols of the American Political Tradition (1970); and M.E. Bradford, "The Heresy of Equality: A Reply to Harry Jaffa" (1976), reprinted in A Better Guide than Reason (1979) and Modern Age, the First Twenty-five Years (1988).
Jump up ^ Norton, et al (2010), p. 301.
Jump up ^ "Modern History Sourcebook: Seneca Falls: The Declaration of Sentiments, 1848". Retrieved October 6, 2014.
Jump up ^ Flood, Alison (September 8, 2011). "Michael Hart, inventor of the ebook, dies aged 64". The Guardian.
Jump up ^ "Crews finish installing World Trade Center spire". CNN. May 10, 2013. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
Jump up ^ "Tallest buildings in NY". Skyscraperpage.com. Retrieved June 23, 2012.
Jump up ^ "Tallest buildings under construction in the world". Skyscraperpage.com. Retrieved June 23, 2012.
Bibliography
Main article: Bibliography of Thomas Jefferson
Armitage, David. The Declaration Of Independence: A Global History, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-674-02282-9.
Bailyn, Bernard. The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution. Enlarged edition. Originally published 1967. Harvard University Press, 1992. ISBN 0-674-44302-0.
Becker, Carl. The Declaration of Independence: A Study in the History of Political Ideas. 1922. Available online from The Online Library of Liberty and Google Book Search. Revised edition New York: Vintage Books, 1970. ISBN 0-394-70060-0.
Boyd, Julian P. The Declaration of Independence: The Evolution of the Text. Originally published 1945. Revised edition edited by Gerard W. Gawalt. University Press of New England, 1999. ISBN 0-8444-0980-4.
Boyd, Julian P., ed. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 1. Princeton University Press, 1950.
Boyd, Julian P. "The Declaration of Independence: The Mystery of the Lost Original". Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 100, number 4 (October 1976), 438–67.
Burnett, Edward Cody. The Continental Congress. New York: Norton, 1941.
Christie, Ian R. and Benjamin W. Labaree. Empire or Independence, 1760–1776: A British-American Dialogue on the Coming of the American Revolution. New York: Norton, 1976.
Detweiler, Philip F. "Congressional Debate on Slavery and the Declaration of Independence, 1819–1821", American Historical Review 63 (April 1958): 598–616. in JSTOR
Detweiler, Philip F. "The Changing Reputation of the Declaration of Independence: The First Fifty Years". William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd series, 19 (1962): 557–74. in JSTOR
Dumbauld, Edward. The Declaration of Independence And What It Means Today. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1950.
Ellis, Joseph. American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic. New York: Knopf, 2007. ISBN 978-0-307-26369-8.
Dupont, Christian Y. and Peter S. Onuf, eds. Declaring Independence: The Origins and Influence of America's Founding Document. Revised edition. Charlottesville, Virginia: University of Virginia Library, 2010. ISBN 978-0-9799997-1-0.
Ferling, John E. A Leap in the Dark: The Struggle to Create the American Republic. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-19-515924-1.
Friedenwald, Herbert. The Declaration of Independence: An Interpretation and an Analysis. New York: Macmillan, 1904. Accessed via the Internet Archive.
Gustafson, Milton. "Travels of the Charters of Freedom". Prologue Magazine 34, no 4. (Winter 2002).
Hamowy, Ronald. "Jefferson and the Scottish Enlightenment: A Critique of Garry Wills's Inventing America: Jefferson's Declaration of Independence". William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd series, 36 (October 1979), 503–23.
Hazelton, John H. The Declaration of Independence: Its History. Originally published 1906. New York: Da Capo Press, 1970. ISBN 0-306-71987-8. 1906 edition available on Google Book Search
Journals of the Continental Congress,1774–1789, Vol. 5 ( Library of Congress, 1904–1937)
Jensen, Merrill. The Founding of a Nation: A History of the American Revolution, 1763–1776. New York: Oxford University Press, 1968.
Mahoney, D. J. (1986). "Declaration of independence". Society. 24: 46–48. doi:10.1007/BF02695936.
Lucas, Stephen E., "Justifying America: The Declaration of Independence as a Rhetorical Document", in Thomas W. Benson, ed., American Rhetoric: Context and Criticism, Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press, 1989
Maier, Pauline. American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence. New York: Knopf, 1997. ISBN 0-679-45492-6.
Malone, Dumas. Jefferson the Virginian. Volume 1 of Jefferson and His Time. Boston: Little Brown, 1948.
Mayer, David (2008). "Declaration of Independence". In Hamowy, Ronald. The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE; Cato Institute. pp. 113–15. doi:10.4135/9781412965811.n72. ISBN 978-1-4129-6580-4.
Mayer, Henry. All on Fire: William Lloyd Garrison and the Abolition of Slavery. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998. ISBN 0-312-18740-8.
McDonald, Robert M. S. "Thomas Jefferson's Changing Reputation as Author of the Declaration of Independence: The First Fifty Years". Journal of the Early Republic 19, no. 2 (Summer 1999): 169–95.
McPherson, James. Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. ISBN 0-19-505542-X.
Middlekauff, Robert. The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763–1789. Revised and expanded edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
Norton, Mary Beth, et al., A People and a Nation, Eighth Edition, Boston, Wadsworth, 2010. ISBN 0-547-17558-2.
Rakove, Jack N. The Beginnings of National Politics: An Interpretive History of the Continental Congress. New York: Knopf, 1979. ISBN 0-8018-2864-3.
Ritz, Wilfred J. "The Authentication of the Engrossed Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776". Law and History Review 4, no. 1 (Spring 1986): 179–204.
Ritz, Wilfred J. "From the Here of Jefferson's Handwritten Rough Draft of the Declaration of Independence to the There of the Printed Dunlap Broadside". Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 116, no. 4 (October 1992): 499–512.
Tsesis, Alexander. For Liberty and Equality: The Life and Times of the Declaration of Independence (Oxford University Press; 2012) 397 pages; explores the impact on American politics, law, and society since its drafting.
Warren, Charles. "Fourth of July Myths". The William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, vol. 2, no. 3 (July 1945): 238–72. JSTOR 1921451.
United States Department of State, "The Declaration of Independence, 1776, 1911.
Wills, Garry. Inventing America: Jefferson's Declaration of Independence. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1978. ISBN 0-385-08976-7.
Wills, Garry. Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Rewrote America. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992. ISBN 0-671-76956-1.
Wyatt-Brown, Bertram. Lewis Tappan and the Evangelical War Against Slavery. Cleveland: Press of Case Western Reserve University, 1969. ISBN 0-8295-0146-0.
External links
Listen to this article (2 parts) · (info)
Part 1 • Part 2
This audio file was created from a revision of the article "United States Declaration of Independence" dated 2006-11-18, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. (Audio help)
More spoken articles
Find more aboutUnited States Declaration of Independenceat Wikipedia's sister projects
Media from Wikimedia Commons
Quotations from Wikiquote
Texts from Wikisource
"Declare the Causes: The Declaration of Independence" lesson plan for grades 9–12 from National Endowment for the Humanities
Declaration of Independence at the National Archives
Declaration of Independence at the Library of Congress
"The Stylistic Artistry of the Declaration of Independence" by Stephen E. Lucas
Short film released in 2002 with actors reading the Declaration, with an introduction by Morgan Freeman
Mobile-Friendly Declaration of Independence
Various editions of the Declaration of Independence at the Online Books Page
Loyalist responses to the Declaration of Independence
Strictures upon the Declaration of the Congress at Philadelphia (London 1776), Thomas Hutchinson's reaction to the Declaration
The Loyalist Declaration of Independence published in The Royal Gazette, (New York) on November 17, 1781 (Transcription provided by Bruce Wallace and posted on The On-Line Institute for Advanced Loyalist Studies.)
[show]
v
t
e
Historical documents of the United States
[show]
Constitution
Preamble
& Articles
Preamble
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
Amendments
Ratified
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
Pending
Congressional Apportionment
Titles of Nobility
Corwin (State Domestic Institutions)
Child Labor
Unsuccessful
Equal Rights
District of Columbia Voting Rights
See also
List of Constitutional Amendments
Bill of Rights (Amendments 1–10)
Reconstruction Amendments (Amendments 13–15)
Amendment proposals in Congress
Conventions to propose amendments
State ratifying conventions
Formation
History
Articles of Confederation
Mount Vernon Conference
Annapolis Convention
Philadelphia Convention
Virginia Plan
New Jersey Plan
Connecticut Compromise
Three-Fifths Compromise
Committee of Detail
Signing
Independence Hall
Syng inkstand
The Federalist Papers
Anti-Federalist Papers
Massachusetts Compromise
Virginia Ratifying Convention
Hillsborough Convention
Drafting and ratification timeline
Clauses
Appointments
Appropriations
Assistance of Counsel
Bill of credit
Case or Controversy
Citizenship
Commerce
Compact
Compulsory Process
Confrontation
Contract
Copyright and Patent
Double Jeopardy
Due Process
Equal Protection
Establishment
Exceptions
Excessive Bail
Ex post facto
Extradition
Free Exercise
Free Speech
Fugitive Slave
Full Faith and Credit
General Welfare
Guarantee
Impeachment
Import-Export
Ineligibility (Emolument)
Militia
Natural-born citizen
Necessary and Proper
New States
No Religious Test
Oath or Affirmation
Origination
Petition
Postal
Presentment
Privileges and Immunities
Privileges or Immunities
Recommendation
Self-Incrimination
Speech or Debate
Speedy Trial
State of the Union
Supremacy
Suspension
Take Care
Takings
Taxing and Spending
Territorial
Title of Nobility
Treaty
Trial by Jury
Vesting
Vicinage
War Powers
List of clauses
Interpretation
Concurrent powers
Congressional enforcement
Constitutional law
Criminal procedure
Criminal sentencing
Dormant Commerce Clause
Enumerated powers
Equal footing
Executive privilege
Incorporation of the Bill of Rights
Judicial review
Nondelegation doctrine
Preemption
Saxbe fix
Separation of church and state
Separation of powers
Taxation power
Unitary executive theory
Signatories
Convention President
George Washington
New Hampshire
John Langdon
Nicholas Gilman
Massachusetts
Nathaniel Gorham
Rufus King
Connecticut
William Samuel Johnson
Roger Sherman
New York
Alexander Hamilton
New Jersey
William Livingston
David Brearley
William Paterson
Jonathan Dayton
Pennsylvania
Benjamin Franklin
Thomas Mifflin
Robert Morris
George Clymer
Thomas Fitzsimons
Jared Ingersoll
James Wilson
Gouverneur Morris
Delaware
George Read
Gunning Bedford Jr.
John Dickinson
Richard Bassett
Jacob Broom
Maryland
James McHenry
Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer
Daniel Carroll
Virginia
John Blair
James Madison
North Carolina
William Blount
Richard Dobbs Spaight
Hugh Williamson
South Carolina
John Rutledge
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
Charles Pinckney
Pierce Butler
Georgia
William Few
Abraham Baldwin
Convention Secretary
William Jackson
Display
and legacy
National Archives
Charters of Freedom Rotunda
Independence Mall
Constitution Day
Constitution Gardens
National Constitution Center
Scene at the Signing of the Constitution (painting)
A More Perfect Union (film)
Worldwide influence
[show]
Declaration of Independence
Primary author
Thomas Jefferson
Signatories
President of Congress
John Hancock (Massachusetts)
New Hampshire
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
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
South Carolina
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward Jr.
Thomas Lynch Jr.
Arthur Middleton
Georgia
Button Gwinett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
See also
Virginia Declaration of Rights
Lee Resolution
Committee of Five
Document's history
signing
portrait
Second Continental Congress
"All men are created equal"
"Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness"
"Consent of the governed"
Independence Hall
Syng inkstand
American Revolution
[show]
Articles of Confederation
Signatories
Primary drafter
John Dickinson
New Hampshire
Josiah Bartlett
John Wentworth Jr.
Massachusetts
John Hancock
Samuel Adams
Elbridge Gerry
Francis Dana
James Lovell
Samuel Holten
Rhode Island
William Ellery
Henry Marchant
John Collins
Connecticut
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
Oliver Wolcott
Titus Hosmer
Andrew Adams
New York
James Duane
Francis Lewis
William Duer
Gouverneur Morris
New Jersey
John Witherspoon
Nathaniel Scudder
Pennsylvania
Robert Morris
Daniel Roberdeau
Jonathan Bayard Smith
William Clingan
Joseph Reed
Delaware
Thomas McKean
John Dickinson
Nicholas Van Dyke
Maryland
John Hanson
Daniel Carroll
Virginia
Richard Henry Lee
John Banister
Thomas Adams
John Harvie
Francis Lightfoot Lee
North Carolina
John Penn
Cornelius Harnett
John Williams
South Carolina
Henry Laurens
William Henry Drayton
John Mathews
Richard Hutson
Thomas Heyward Jr.
Georgia
John Walton
Edward Telfair
Edward Langworthy
See also
Continental Congress
Congress of the Confederation
American Revolution
Perpetual Union
[show]
Continental Association
Signatories
President of Congress
Peyton Randolph
New Hampshire
John Sullivan
Nathaniel Folsom
Massachusetts Bay
Thomas Cushing
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Rhode Island
Stephen Hopkins
Samuel Ward
Connecticut
Eliphalet Dyer
Roger Sherman
Silas Deane
New York
Isaac Low
John Alsop
John Jay
James Duane
Philip Livingston
William Floyd
Henry Wisner
Simon Boerum
New Jersey
James Kinsey
William Livingston
Stephen Crane
Richard Smith
John De Hart
Pennsylvania
Joseph Galloway
John Dickinson
Charles Humphreys
Thomas Mifflin
Edward Biddle
John Morton
George Ross
The Lower Counties
Caesar Rodney
Thomas McKean
George Read
Maryland
Matthew Tilghman
Thomas Johnson, Junr
William Paca
Samuel Chase
Virginia
Richard Henry Lee
George Washington
Patrick Henry, Junr
Richard Bland
Benjamin Harrison
Edmund Pendleton
North Carolina
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
Richard Caswell
South Carolina
Henry Middleton
Thomas Lynch
Christopher Gadsden
John Rutledge
Edward Rutledge
See also
Virginia Association
First Continental Congress
Carpenters' Hall
Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress
[show]
v
t
e
Origins of the American Revolution: writings
American resolves, declarations, petitions, essays and pamphlets prior to the Declaration of Independence (July 1776)
Following the
Stamp Act (1765)
Virginia Resolves (May 1765)
Braintree Instructions (September 1765)
Declaration of Rights and Grievances (October 1765)
An Inquiry into the Rights of the British Colonies (1766)
Following the
Townshend Acts (1767)
Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania (1767, 1768)
Massachusetts Circular Letter (February 1768)
Journal of Occurrences (1768, 1769)
Virginia Association (May 1769)
Boston Pamphlet (1772)
Sheffield Declaration (January 1773)
Following the
Coercive Acts (1774)
Maryland
Chestertown Resolves (May 1774)
Bush River Resolution (March 1775)
Massachusetts
Suffolk Resolves (September 1774)
New York
Orangetown Resolutions (July 1774)
A Full Vindication of the Measures of Congress (December 1774)
The Farmer Refuted (February 1775)
North Carolina
Mecklenburg Resolves or Declaration (May 1775)
Liberty Point Resolves (June 1775)
Tryon Resolves (August 1775)
Halifax Resolves (April 1776)
Virginia
Fairfax Resolves (July 1774)
Fincastle Resolutions (January 1775)
Virginia Declaration of Rights (June 1776)
1st Continental
Congress
Declaration and Resolves (October 1774)
Continental Association (October 1774)
Petition to the King (October 1774)
2nd Continental
Congress
Olive Branch Petition (July 1775)
Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms (July 1775)
May 15 preamble (May 1776)
Lee Resolution (July 1776)
Essays and pamphlets
"Letters to the inhabitants of Canada" (1774, 1775, 1776)
A Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774)
Novanglus (1775)
Common Sense (January 1776)
Thoughts on Government (Spring, 1776)
[show]
v
t
e
Signers of the United States Declaration of Independence
Physical history of the Declaration of Independence, Memorial
J. Adams
S. Adams
Bartlett
Braxton
Carroll
Chase
Clark
Clymer
Ellery
Floyd
Franklin
Gerry
Gwinnett
Hall
Hancock
Harrison
Hart
Hewes
Heyward
Hooper
Hopkins
Hopkinson
Huntington
Jefferson
F. Lee
R. Lee
Lewis
Livingston
Lynch
McKean
Middleton
L. Morris
R. Morris
Morton
Nelson
Paca
Paine
Penn
Read
Rodney
Ross
Rush
Rutledge
Sherman
Smith
Stockton
Stone
Taylor
Thornton
Walton
Whipple
Williams
Wilson
Witherspoon
Wolcott
Wythe
[show]
v
t
e
United States articles
History
By event
Timeline of U.S. history
Pre-Columbian era
Colonial era
Thirteen Colonies
military history
Continental Congress
American Revolution
War
American frontier
America's Critical Period
Drafting and ratification of Constitution
Federalist Era
War of 1812
Territorial acquisitions
Territorial evolution
Mexican–American War
Civil War
Reconstruction Era
Indian Wars
Gilded Age
Progressive Era
African-American civil rights movement 1865–1896 / 1896–1954 / 1954–1968
Spanish–American War
Imperialism
World War I
Roaring Twenties
Great Depression
World War II
home front
Nazism in the United States
American Century
Cold War
Korean War
Space Race
Feminist Movement
Vietnam War
Post-Cold War (1991–2008)
War on Terror
War in Afghanistan
Iraq War
Recent events (2008–present)
By topic
Outline of U.S. history
Demographic
Discoveries
Economic
debt ceiling
Inventions
before 1890
1890–1945
1946–91
after 1991
Military
Postal
Technological and industrial
Geography
Territory
counties
federal district
federal enclaves
Indian reservations
insular zones
minor outlying islands
populated places
states
Earthquakes
Extreme points
Islands
Mountains
peaks
ranges
Appalachian
Rocky
National Park Service
National Parks
Regions
East Coast
West Coast
Great Plains
Gulf
Mid-Atlantic
Midwestern
New England
Pacific
Central
Eastern
Northern
Northeastern
Northwestern
Southern
Southeastern
Southwestern
Western
Rivers
Colorado
Columbia
Mississippi
Missouri
Ohio
Rio Grande
Yukon
Time
Water supply and sanitation
Politics
Federal
Executive
Cabinet
Civil service
Executive departments
Executive Office
Independent agencies
Law enforcement
President of the United States
Public policy
Legislative
House of Representatives
current members
Speaker
Senate
current members
President pro tempore
Vice President
Judicial
Courts of appeals
District courts
Supreme Court
Law
Bill of Rights
civil liberties
Code of Federal Regulations
Constitution
federalism
preemption
separation of powers
Federal Reporter
United States Code
United States Reports
Intelligence
Central Intelligence Agency
Defense Intelligence Agency
Federal Bureau of Investigation
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
National Reconnaissance Office
National Security Agency
Office of the Director of National Intelligence
Uniformed
Armed Forces
Army
Marine Corps
Navy
Air Force
Coast Guard
National Guard
NOAA Corps
Public Health Service Corps
51st state
political status of Puerto Rico
District of Columbia statehood movement
Elections
Electoral College
Foreign relations
Foreign policy
Hawaiian sovereignty movement
Ideologies
anti-Americanism
exceptionalism
nationalism
Local government
Parties
Democratic
Republican
Third parties
Red states and blue states
Purple America
Scandals
State government
governor
state legislature
state court
Uncle Sam
Economy
By sector
Agriculture
Banking
Communications
Energy
Insurance
Manufacturing
Mining
Tourism
Trade
Transportation
Companies
by state
Currency
Exports
Federal budget
Federal Reserve System
Financial position
Labor unions
Public debt
Social welfare programs
Taxation
Unemployment
Wall Street
Society
Culture
Americana
Architecture
Cinema
Cuisine
Dance
Demography
Education
Family structure
Fashion
Flag
Folklore
Languages
American English
Indigenous languages
ASL
Black American Sign Language
HSL
Plains Sign Talk
Arabic
Chinese
French
German
Italian
Russian
Spanish
Literature
Media
Journalism
Internet
Newspapers
Radio
Television
Music
Names
People
Philosophy
Public holidays
Religion
Sexuality
Sports
Theater
Visual art
Social class
Affluence
American Dream
Educational attainment
Homelessness
Home-ownership
Household income
Income inequality
Middle class
Personal income
Poverty
Professional and working class conflict
Standard of living
Wealth
Issues
Ages of consent
Capital punishment
Crime
incarceration
Criticism of government
Discrimination
affirmative action
antisemitism
intersex rights
islamophobia
LGBT rights
racism
same-sex marriage
Drug policy
Energy policy
Environmental movement
Gun politics
Health care
abortion
health insurance
hunger
obesity
smoking
Human rights
Immigration
illegal
International rankings
National security
Mass surveillance
Terrorism
Separation of church and state
Outline
Index
Book
Category
Portal
[show]
v
t
e
Pennsylvania during the American Revolutionary War
1774
First Continental Congress
Articles of Association
1775
Independence Hall
Second Continental Congress
1776
United States Declaration of Independence
Pennsylvania Constitution
Washington Crosses the Delaware
1777
Articles of Confederation
Philadelphia campaign
Battle of Brandywine
Battle of the Clouds
Liberty Bell moved to Allentown
Battle of Paoli
Battle of Germantown
Siege of Fort Mifflin
Battle of White Marsh
Battle of Matson's Ford
Valley Forge
1778
Battle of Crooked Billet
Battle of Barren Hill
British occupation of Philadelphia ends
Wyoming Valley battle and massacre
1781
Congress of the Confederation
Mutiny of the Pennsylvania Line
1783
1783 Mutiny
Authority control
WorldCat Identities
VIAF: 179420344
LCCN: n79029194
GND: 4187277-0
SUDOC: 03432576X
BNF: cb125091927 (data)
NLA: 35068086
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=United_States_Declaration_of_Independence&oldid=821948172"
Categories:
United States Declaration of Independence
1776 in law
1776 in the United States
1776 works
American Enlightenment
American political philosophy literature
American Revolution
Continental Congress
History of the United States (1776–89)
Independence Day (United States)
National human rights instruments
Official documents of the United States
Thomas Jefferson
United States historical documents
1776 in international relations
Hidden categories:
Webarchive template wayback links
CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list
Wikipedia indefinitely semi-protected pages
Use American English from July 2015
All Wikipedia articles written in American English
Use mdy dates from June 2016
All articles with unsourced statements
Articles with unsourced statements from July 2015
Articles with unsourced statements from April 2017
Spoken articles
Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers
Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers
Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers
Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers
Wikipedia articles with NLA identifiers
Good articles
Navigation menu
Personal tools
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Namespaces
Article
Talk
Variants
Views
Read
View source
View history
More
Search
Navigation
Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store
Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page
Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page
Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version
In other projects
Wikimedia Commons
Wikibooks
Wikiquote
Wikisource
Languages
Alemannisch
العربية
Aragonés
Asturianu
Azərbaycanca
বাংলা
Bân-lâm-gú
Беларуская
Български
Bosanski
Brezhoneg
Català
Čeština
Cymraeg
Dansk
Deutsch
Eesti
Ελληνικά
Español
Esperanto
Euskara
فارسی
Føroyskt
Français
Galego
客家語/Hak-kâ-ngî
한국어
Հայերեն
हिन्दी
Hrvatski
Ido
Bahasa Indonesia
Íslenska
Italiano
עברית
ಕನ್ನಡ
ქართული
Latina
Latviešu
Lëtzebuergesch
Lietuvių
Magyar
Македонски
मराठी
მარგალური
Bahasa Melayu
Nederlands
日本語
Norsk
Norsk nynorsk
Oʻzbekcha/ўзбекча
ਪੰਜਾਬੀ
Patois
Polski
Português
Română
Русский
Scots
Shqip
Simple English
Slovenčina
Slovenščina
کوردی
Српски / srpski
Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски
Suomi
Svenska
தமிழ்
ไทย
Türkçe
Українська
Tiếng Việt
文言
粵語
中文
Edit links
This page was last edited on 23 January 2018, at 15:15.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Cookie statement
Mobile view
Enable previews

tag: div

attr: id class

value: mw-page-base noprint

key: html

type: local

value: mw-head-base noprint

tag: a

tag: img

attr: alt src width height srcset data-file-width data-file-height

value: This is a good article. Follow the link for more information.

attr: href title

value: mw-indicator-good-star mw-indicator

value: mw-indicator-pp-default mw-indicator

value: mw-indicator-spoken-icon mw-indicator

attr: id class lang

value: firstHeading firstHeading en

value: siteSub noprint

value: jump-to-nav mw-jump

tag: th

attr: colspan style

tag: tr

value: United States Declaration of Independence.jpg

attr: href class

tag: td

value: National Archives and Records Administration

value:
/wiki/Philadelphia,_Pennsylvania
mw-redirect
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

value: Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness

attr: alt src width height class srcset data-file-width data-file-height

value:
/wiki/British_Constitution
mw-redirect
British Constitution

value:
/wiki/Coercive_Acts
mw-redirect
Coercive Acts

value:
/wiki/Province_of_Massachusetts
mw-redirect
Province of Massachusetts

value:
/wiki/Petition_to_the_King_(1774)
mw-redirect
Petition to the King (1774)

value:
/wiki/Independence_Hall_(United_States)
mw-redirect
Independence Hall (United States)

value:
/wiki/Middle_colonies
mw-redirect
Middle colonies

value:
/wiki/Pennsylvania_Provincial_Assembly
mw-redirect
Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly

value:
/wiki/John_Dickinson_(delegate)
mw-redirect
John Dickinson (delegate)

value: float: right; clear: right; margin: 0.5em 0 0.8em 1.4em; width:30em; padding: 10px; border: 1px solid #aaa; font-size: 88%; background-color: #F9F9F9;

value: Colonial government in the Thirteen Colonies

value:
/wiki/Robert_Livingston_(1746-1813)
mw-redirect
Robert Livingston (1746-1813)

value:
/wiki/Table_(parliamentary)
mw-redirect
Table (parliamentary)

value: This claim needs references to reliable sources. (July 2015)

value:
noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact
white-space:nowrap;

value:
/wiki/John_Ferling
mw-redirect
John Ferling

value:
/wiki/Committee_of_the_Whole
mw-redirect
Committee of the Whole

value:
/wiki/George_Read_(signer)
mw-redirect
George Read (signer)

value:
/wiki/Inalienable_rights
mw-redirect
Inalienable rights

value: Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness

value:
/wiki/Right_to_revolution
mw-redirect
Right to revolution

value:
/wiki/Samuel_Huntington_(statesman)
mw-redirect
Samuel Huntington (statesman)

value:
/wiki/William_Williams_(signer)
mw-redirect
William Williams (signer)

value:
/wiki/Richard_Stockton_(1730-1781)
mw-redirect
Richard Stockton (1730-1781)

value:
/wiki/Robert_Morris_(merchant)
mw-redirect
Robert Morris (merchant)

value:
/wiki/John_Morton_(Pennsylvania)
mw-redirect
John Morton (Pennsylvania)

value:
/wiki/James_Smith_(political_figure)
mw-redirect
James Smith (political figure)

value:
/wiki/George_Taylor_(delegate)
mw-redirect
George Taylor (delegate)

value:
/wiki/John_Penn_(delegate)
mw-redirect
John Penn (delegate)

value:
/wiki/Jean_Jacques_Burlamaqui
mw-redirect
Jean Jacques Burlamaqui

value: Signing of the United States Declaration of Independence

value:
/wiki/North_Ministry
mw-redirect
North Ministry

value:
/wiki/Natural_rights
mw-redirect
Natural rights

value: Article One of the United States Constitution

value: Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

value: Russia in the American Revolutionary War

value: Proclamation of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam

value: Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire

value: Declaration of the Independence of New Zealand

value: Czechoslovak declaration of independence

value: Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence

value: s:Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union

value: About 50 men, most of them seated, are in a large meeting room. Most are focused on the five men standing in the center of the room. The tallest of the five is laying a document on a table.

value: List of state capitols in the United States

value:
/wiki/Slave_state
mw-redirect
Slave state

value:
/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln_Peoria_speech
mw-redirect
Abraham Lincoln Peoria speech

value:
/wiki/Lincoln-Douglas_debates_of_1858
mw-redirect
Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858

value:
/wiki/Stephen_Douglas
mw-redirect
Stephen Douglas

value: float: right; clear: right; margin: 0.5em 0 0.8em 1.4em; width:33%; padding: 10px; border: 1px solid #aaa; font-size: 88%; background-color: #F9F9F9;

value:
/wiki/Seneca_Falls_(hamlet),_New_York
mw-redirect
Seneca Falls (hamlet), New York

value: Postage stamps and postal history of the United States

value: width:121px;padding:2px; border: 1px #cccccc solid; line-height: 1.5em;

value: width:121px;padding:2px 1px 2px 2px; border: 1px #cccccc solid; line-height: 1.5em;

value: width:246px;font-size: 85%; padding:2px; line-height: 1.5em;

value: border: 1px #cccccc solid; border-collapse: collapse; background: #f9f9f9; margin: 0 0 0 1em; clear:right;

value:
/wiki/Musical_theater
mw-redirect
Musical theater

value: This claim needs references to reliable sources. (April 2017)

value: Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence

value: Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations

value: A Summary View of the Rights of British America

value:
/wiki/Speech_from_the_Throne
mw-redirect
Speech from the Throne

value:
nofollow
http://www.wdl.org/en/item/109/
external text

value:
nofollow
external text
https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/468591593

value:
nofollow
external free
http://www.news.wisc.edu/3049

value: Category:CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list

value:
nofollow
external text
//www.worldcat.org/oclc/406157

value:
nofollow
https://archive.org/
external text

value:
nofollow
external text
https://archive.org/details/birney

value: -moz-column-width: 30em; -webkit-column-width: 30em; column-width: 30em; list-style-type: decimal;

value:
nofollow
external text
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1848882

value:
nofollow
external text
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1920163

value:
nofollow
external text
//doi.org/10.1007%2FBF02695936

value:
nofollow
external text
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1921451

value: File:Declaration of Independence Part 1.ogg

value: United States Declaration of Independence Part 2.ogg

value: text-align: center; font-size: 90%; margin-bottom: .4em;

attr: alt src title width height srcset data-file-width data-file-height

value:
float: left; margin-left: 5px;
floatnone

value:
/wiki/Wikipedia:Media_help
mw-redirect
Wikipedia:Media help

value: font-size: xx-small; line-height: 1.6em; margin-left: 60px;

value: padding-bottom: 0.75em; text-align: center;

value: display: inline-block; width: 31px; line-height: 31px; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center;

value: c:Category:United States Declaration of Independence

value: display: inline-block; margin-left: 4px; width: 182px; vertical-align: middle;

value: q:United States Declaration of Independence

value: s:United States Declaration of Independence

value: border-top:1px solid #aaa; padding-top: 0.75em;

value: metadata plainlinks plainlist mbox-small

value: border:1px solid #aaa; padding:0.75em; background:#f9f9f9;

value: Template talk:Historical American Documents

value: Preamble to the United States Constitution

value: Article Two of the United States Constitution

value: Article Three of the United States Constitution

value: Article Four of the United States Constitution

value: Article Five of the United States Constitution

value: Article Six of the United States Constitution

value: Article Seven of the United States Constitution

value: First Amendment to the United States Constitution

value: Second Amendment to the United States Constitution

value: Third Amendment to the United States Constitution

value: Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution

value: Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution

value: Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution

value: Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution

value: Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution

value: Ninth Amendment to the United States Constitution

value: Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

value: Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution

value: Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution

value: Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

value: Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

value: Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

value: Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

value: Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

value: Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

value: Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

value: Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution

value: Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution

value: Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution

value: Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution

value: Twenty-fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution

value: Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution

value: Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution

value: Twenty-seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution

value:
/wiki/Article_the_First
mw-redirect
Article the First

value: District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment

value: List of amendments to the United States Constitution

value: List of proposed amendments to the United States Constitution

value: Convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution

value: History of the United States Constitution

value: Constitutional Convention (United States)

value: Signing of the United States Constitution

value: Timeline of drafting and ratification of the United States Constitution

value:
/wiki/Bill_of_credit
mw-redirect
Bill of credit

value: Oath of office of the President of the United States

value: List of clauses of the United States Constitution

value: United States constitutional criminal procedure

value: United States constitutional sentencing law

value: Separation of church and state in the United States

value: Separation of powers under the United States Constitution

value: George Read (American politician, born 1733)

value: Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States

value: United States Constitution and worldwide influence

value: nowraplinks collapsible collapsed navbox-subgroup

value: Samuel Huntington (Connecticut politician)

value: William Williams (Connecticut politician)

value: Richard Stockton (Continental Congressman)

value: Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress

value: nowraplinks collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner

value: Template talk:American Revolution origins

value: A Full Vindication of the Measures of Congress

value: Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms

value: United States Declaration of Independence

value: Template:Signers of the U.S. Declaration of Independence

value: Template talk:Signers of the U.S. Declaration of Independence

value:
/wiki/John_Penn_(Continental_Congress)
mw-redirect
John Penn (Continental Congress)

value:
/wiki/George_Read_(U.S._statesman)
mw-redirect
George Read (U.S. statesman)

value:
navbox-image
1
width:1px;padding:0px 0px 0px 2px

value:
/wiki/America%27s_Critical_Period
mw-redirect
America's Critical Period

value: Territorial evolution of the United States

value: African-American civil rights movement (1865–1896)

value: African-American civil rights movement (1896–1954)

value: African-American civil rights movement (1954–1968)

value: History of the United States (1865–1918)

value: Military history of the United States during World War II

value: United States home front during World War II

value: History of the United States (1991–2008)

value: History of the United States (2008–present)

value: Demographic history of the United States

value: Timeline of United States inventions (before 1890)

value: Timeline of United States inventions (1890–1945)

value: Timeline of United States inventions (1946–91)

value: Timeline of United States inventions (after 1991)

value: Technological and industrial history of the United States

value: Lists of populated places in the United States

value: List of earthquakes in the United States

value: List of extreme points of the United States

value: List of mountain peaks of the United States

value: List of areas in the United States National Park System

value:
/wiki/Pacific_States
mw-redirect
Pacific States

value: Drinking water supply and sanitation in the United States

value: United States federal executive departments

value: Executive Office of the President of the United States

value: Independent agencies of the United States government

value: Federal law enforcement in the United States

value: Current members of the United States House of Representatives

value: Speaker of the United States House of Representatives

value: Current members of the United States Senate

value: President pro tempore of the United States Senate

value: United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps

value: Political ideologies in the United States

value: List of federal political scandals in the United States

value: List of companies of the United States by state

value: Chinese language and varieties in the United States

value: Educational attainment in the United States

value: Professional and working class conflict in the United States

value: Criticism of the United States government

value: Federal drug policy of the United States

value: Environmental movement in the United States

value: Illegal immigration to the United States

value: International rankings of the United States

value:
/wiki/Book:United_States
mw-redirect
Book:United States

value: nowraplinks hlist collapsible collapsed navbox-inner

value: Template:Pennsylvania during the American Revolutionary War

value: Template talk:Pennsylvania during the American Revolutionary War

value:
navbox-image
7
width:1px;padding:0px 0px 0px 2px

value: Washington's crossing of the Delaware River

value:
/wiki/Pennsylvania_Line_Mutiny
mw-redirect
Pennsylvania Line Mutiny

value: nowraplinks collapsible collapsed navbox-inner

value:
nofollow
external text
https://viaf.org/viaf/179420344

value:
nofollow
external text
https://d-nb.info/gnd/4187277-0

value:
nofollow
external text
https://www.idref.fr/03432576X

value:
nofollow
external text
https://nla.gov.au/anbd.aut-an35068086

value: Category:United States Declaration of Independence

value: Category:American political philosophy literature

value: Category:History of the United States (1776–89)

value: Category:Independence Day (United States)

value: Category:National human rights instruments

value: Category:Official documents of the United States

value: Category:United States historical documents

value: Category:1776 in international relations

value: Category:Webarchive template wayback links

value: Category:Wikipedia indefinitely semi-protected pages

value: Category:Use American English from July 2015

value: Category:All Wikipedia articles written in American English

value: Category:All articles with unsourced statements

value: Category:Articles with unsourced statements from July 2015

value: Category:Articles with unsourced statements from April 2017

value: Category:Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers

value: Category:Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers

value: Category:Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers

value: Category:Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers

value: Category:Wikipedia articles with NLA identifiers

value: Discussion about edits from this IP address [ctrl-alt-n]

value: A list of edits made from this IP address [ctrl-alt-y]

value: You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory

value: You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [ctrl-alt-o]

value: Discussion about the content page [ctrl-alt-t]

value: p-namespaces navigation vectorTabs p-namespaces-label

value:
p-variants
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-variants-label

value:
This page is protected.
You can view its source [ctrl-alt-e]

value: Past revisions of this page [ctrl-alt-h]

value: p-views navigation vectorTabs p-views-label

value:
p-cactions
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-cactions-label

value:
mw-wiki-logo
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page

value:
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page [ctrl-alt-z]
z

value: Featured content – the best of Wikipedia

value: Find background information on current events

value:
/wiki/Special:Random
Load a random article [ctrl-alt-x]
x

value: portal navigation p-navigation p-navigation-label

value: Guidance on how to use and edit Wikipedia

value: About the project, what you can do, where to find things

value: A list of recent changes in the wiki [ctrl-alt-r]

value: portal navigation p-interaction p-interaction-label

value: List of all English Wikipedia pages containing links to this page [ctrl-alt-j]

value: Recent changes in pages linked from this page [ctrl-alt-k]

value:
/wiki/Wikipedia:File_Upload_Wizard
Upload files [ctrl-alt-u]
u

value: A list of all special pages [ctrl-alt-q]

value: Permanent link to this revision of the page

value: Link to connected data repository item [ctrl-alt-g]

value: Printable version of this page [ctrl-alt-p]

value: portal navigation p-wikibase-otherprojects p-wikibase-otherprojects-label

value:
uls-settings-trigger
Language settings
0
button
true

value: Unabhängigkeitserklärung der Vereinigten Staaten – Alemannisch

value: إعلان الاستقلال الأمريكي – Arabic

value: Declaración d'Independencia d'os Estatos Unitos – Aragonese

value: Declaración d'Independencia de los Estaos Xuníos – Asturian

value: মার্কিন যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের স্বাধীনতার ঘোষণাপত্র – Bangla

value: Bí-kok To̍k-li̍p Soan-giân – Chinese (Min Nan)

value: Дэкларацыя незалежнасці ЗША – Belarusian

value: Декларация за независимост на САЩ – Bulgarian

value: Američka deklaracija o nezavisnosti – Bosnian

value: Disklêriadur dieubidigezh Stadoù Unanet Amerika – Breton

value: Declaració d'Independència dels Estats Units d'Amèrica – Catalan

value: Deklarace nezávislosti Spojených států amerických – Czech

value: Datganiad Annibyniaeth yr Unol Daleithiau – Welsh

value: Unabhängigkeitserklärung der Vereinigten Staaten – German

value: Ameerika Ühendriikide Iseseisvusdeklaratsioon – Estonian

value: Διακήρυξη της Ανεξαρτησίας των ΗΠΑ – Greek

value: Declaración de Independencia de los Estados Unidos – Spanish

value: interlanguage-link interwiki-es badge-Q17437798 badge-goodarticle

value: Usona Deklaro de Sendependeco – Esperanto

value: Ameriketako Estatu Batuetako Independentzia Aldarrikapena – Basque

value: اعلامیه استقلال ایالات متحده آمریکا – Persian

value: Amerikanska Frælsisyvirlýsingin – Faroese

value: Déclaration d'indépendance des États-Unis – French

value: Declaración de Independencia dos Estados Unidos de América – Galician

value: Mî-koet Thu̍k-li̍p Siên-ngièn – Hakka Chinese

value: 미국 독립선언 – Korean

value: ԱՄՆ-ի անկախության հռչակագիր – Armenian

value: संयुक्त राज्य की स्वतंत्रता का घोषणापत्र – Hindi

value: Američka deklaracija o neovisnosti – Croatian

value: Deklarasi Kemerdekaan Amerika Serikat – Indonesian

value: Sjálfstæðisyfirlýsing Bandaríkjanna – Icelandic

value: Dichiarazione d'indipendenza degli Stati Uniti d'America – Italian

value: הכרזת העצמאות של ארצות הברית – Hebrew

value: ಅಮೆರಿಕದ ಸ್ವಾತಂತ್ರ್ಯ – Kannada

value: აშშ-ის დამოუკიდებლობის დეკლარაცია – Georgian

value: Declaratio Libertatis Civitatum Americae Foederatarum – Latin

value: Onofhängegkeetserklärung vun de Vereenegte Staate vun Amerika – Luxembourgish

value: Jungtinių Valstijų nepriklausomybės deklaracija – Lithuanian

value: Az Egyesült Államok függetlenségi nyilatkozata – Hungarian

value: Декларација за независност на САД – Macedonian

value: अमेरिकेच्या स्वातंत्र्याचा जाहीरनामा – Marathi

value: ააშ-იშ დუდიშალაშ დეკლარაცია – Mingrelian

value: Perisytiharan Kemerdekaan Amerika Syarikat – Malay

value: Amerikaanse Onafhankelijkheidsverklaring – Dutch

value: アメリカ独立宣言 – Japanese

value: Den amerikanske sjølvstendeerklæringa – Norwegian Nynorsk

value: ਅਮਰੀਕਾ ਦੀ ਆਜ਼ਾਦੀ ਦੀ ਘੋਸ਼ਣਾ – Punjabi

value: Yunaitid Stiet Diklarieshan a Indipendans – Jamaican Creole English

value: Deklaracja niepodległości Stanów Zjednoczonych – Polish

value: Declaração da Independência dos Estados Unidos – Portuguese

value: Declarația de independență a Statelor Unite ale Americii – Romanian

value: Декларация независимости США – Russian

value: Unitit States Declaration o Unthirldom – Scots

value: Deklarata e Pavarësisë së Shteteve të Bashkuara – Albanian

value: United States Declaration of Independence – Simple English

value: Deklarácia nezávislosti Spojených štátov – Slovak

value: Deklaracija neodvisnosti ZDA – Slovenian

value: ڕاگەیەنراوەی سەربەخۆییی ویلایەتە یەکگرتووەکان – Central Kurdish

value: Декларација независности САД – Serbian

value: Deklaracija nezavisnosti (Sjedinjene Države) – Serbo-Croatian

value: Yhdysvaltain itsenäisyysjulistus – Finnish

value: USA:s självständighetsförklaring – Swedish

value: அமெரிக்க விடுதலைச் சாற்றுரை – Tamil

value: คำประกาศอิสรภาพสหรัฐอเมริกา – Thai

value: Amerikan Bağımsızlık Bildirisi – Turkish

value: Декларація незалежності США – Ukrainian

value: 美國獨立宣言 – Chinese

value: /static/images/wikimedia-button-1.5x.png 1.5x, /static/images/wikimedia-button-2x.png 2x

value: /static/images/poweredby_mediawiki_132x47.png 1.5x, /static/images/poweredby_mediawiki_176x62.png 2x

value: mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-0 ns-subject page-United_States_Declaration_of_Independence rootpage-United_States_Declaration_of_Independence skin-vector action-view