The declaration of independence6/20/2023 Many delegates wanted to defer a decision on independence or avoid it outright. It came from the Virginian Richard Henry Lee, who offered a resolution insisting that "all political connection is, and ought to be, dissolved" between Great Britain and the American colonies. While the issue had been discussed quietly in the corridors of the Continental Congress for some time, the first formal proposal for independence was not made in the Continental Congress until June 7, 1776. At the same time, the continuing war and rumors of a large-scale invasion of British troops and German mercenaries diminished hopes for reconciliation. Encouraged by Thomas Paine’s pamphlet, “Common Sense,” more and more colonists began to consider independence in the spring of 1776. Only when King George III failed to address colonists' complaints against Parliament or entertain their appeals for compromise did colonists begin to consider independence as a last resort. The Declaration of Independence by John Trumbull image courtesy Architect of the Capitolĭespite the outbreak of violence, the majority of colonists wanted to remain British. Eventually, tensions culminated in the shots fired between British troops and colonial militia at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775. But after initially compromising on the Stamp Act, Parliament supported increasingly oppressive measures to force colonists to obey the new laws. Colonists felt that they were being treated as second-class citizens. Even when the taxes were relatively light, they met with stiff colonial resistance on principle, with colonists concerned that “taxation without representation” was tyranny and political control of the colonies was increasingly being exercised from London. Between 17, Parliament issued a series of taxes on the colonies, including the Stamp Act of 1765, the Townshend Duties of 1766, and the Tea Act of 1773. In that conflict with France, Britain incurred an enormous debt and looked to its American colonies to help pay for the war. Even as late as June 1775, Thomas Jefferson said that he would "rather be in dependence on Great Britain, properly limited, than on any nation upon earth, or than on no nation." īut this favorable relationship began to face serious challenges in the wake of the Seven Years' War. For most of the eighteenth century, the relationship between Britain and her American colonies was mutually beneficial. In return, colonists traded primarily with Britain, obeyed British laws and customs, and pledged their loyalty to the British crown. The mother country purchased colonists' goods, defended them from Native American Indian and European aggressors, and extended British rights and liberty to colonists. Until the spring of 1776, most colonists believed that the British Empire offered its citizens freedom and provided them protection and opportunity. The Declaration of Independence is the first of the three Charters of Freedom along with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.Map of the British Colonies in North America in 1763Īmerica's declaration of independence from the British Empire was the nation's founding moment. What became the most famous version of the Declaration was a handwritten copy signed by the delegates, known as the engrossed version, which is on display in the National Archives in Washington, D.C. In 1777, Congress issued the Goddard Broadside, which listed all of the signers. ![]() The first published version was a typeset broadside printed by John Dunlap, which only listed the names of John Hancock and Charles Thomson as signers. The birthday of the United States of America-Independence Day-is celebrated on July 4, the day the wording of the Declaration was adopted by the Congress.Ĭongress issued the Declaration in several forms. Written primarily by Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration is 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 United States Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, announcing that the Thirteen Colonies then at war with Great Britain were no longer a part of the British Empire.
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