United States Declaration of Independence

United States Declaration of Independence
The 1823 facsimile of the engrossed copy of the Declaration of Independence
Created	June–July 1776
Ratified	July 4, 1776; 248 years ago (1776-07-04)
Location	Engrossed copy: National Archives Building Rough draft: Library of Congress
Author(s)	Thomas Jefferson, Committee of Five
Signatories	56 delegates to the Second Continental Congress
Purpose	To announce and explain separation from Great Britain[1]: 5

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The Committee of Five presents their draft of the Declaration of Independence to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia
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The Declaration of Independence, formally titled The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America in the engrossed version and original printing, is the founding document of the United States. On July 4, 1776, it was adopted unanimously by the 56 delegates to the Second Continental Congress, who convened at Pennsylvania State House, later renamed Independence Hall, in the colonial era capital of Philadelphia. These delegates became known as the nation's Founding Fathers. The Declaration explains why the Thirteen Colonies regarded themselves as independent sovereign states no longer subject to British colonial rule, and has become one of the most circulated, reprinted, and influential documents in history.

The Second Continental Congress charged the Committee of Five, including John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman, with authoring the Declaration. Adams, a leading proponent of independence, persuaded the Committee to charge Jefferson with writing the document's original draft, which the Second Continental Congress then edited. Jefferson largely wrote the Declaration in isolation between 11-28 June 1776, from the home he was renting at 700 Market Street in Philadelphia. The Declaration was a formal explanation of why the Continental Congress voted to declare American independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain, over a year after the American Revolutionary War commenced with the Battles of Lexington and Concord, in April 1775. Two days prior to the Declaration's adoption, the Second Continental Congress passed the Lee Resolution, which established the consensus of the Congress that the British had no governing authority over the Thirteen Colonies. The Declaration justified the independence of the United States by listing 27 colonial grievances against King George III and by asserting certain natural and legal rights, including a right of revolution.

After unanimously ratifying the text, Congress issued the Declaration of Independence in several forms. It was published as the printed Dunlap broadside, which was widely distributed. The Declaration was first read to the public simultaneously at noon on July 8, 1776, in three exclusively designated locations: Easton, Pennsylvania; Philadelphia; and Trenton, New Jersey.^[2] What Jefferson called his "original Rough draft", one of several revisions,^[3] is preserved at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., complete with changes made by Adams and Franklin, and Jefferson's notes of changes made by Congress. The best-known version is the signed copy displayed at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., popularly regarded as the official document; this copy, engrossed by Timothy Matlack, was ordered by Congress on July 19, and signed primarily on August 2, 1776.^[4][5] The 56 delegates who signed the Declaration represented each of the Thirteen Colonies.

The Declaration inspired many similar documents, the first being the 1789 Declaration of United Belgian States issued during the Brabant Revolution in the Austrian Netherlands. It served as the primary model for numerous declarations of independence in Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Oceania following its adoption.^[6]: 113 The Declaration has proven an influential and globally impactful 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." Stephen Lucas called the Declaration of Independence "one of the best-known sentences in the English language."^[7] Historian Joseph Ellis wrote that it contains "the most potent and consequential words in American history".^[8] 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.^[9]: 126 In 1863, following the Battle of Gettysburg, the bloodiest battle of the American Civil War, Lincoln made the Declaration the centerpiece of his Gettysburg Address, an enduring 271-word statement dedicating Gettysburg National Cemetery.^[10]