Franklin and Adams made some changes, and then the document received more alterations when reviewed by the Congress. Jefferson, a delegate from Virginia, did most of the writing.Īccording to Jefferson, the other members unanimously decided that Jefferson alone would write the initial draft of the document. They were Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingstone. The Declaration of Independence was drafted by five members of Congress called the Committee of Five. The assembly that ultimately approved the Declaration of Independence was the Second Continental Congress. Collectively these representatives were known as the Continental Congress. The Declaration of Independence was written and accepted by representatives of the 13 American colonies. The document ends with the statement that the colonies have the right to be free and because Great Britain has taken their freedom, they are no longer part of Great Britain. This section explains that the colonies shared their grievances to Great Britain and were ignored. This section presents evidence of Great Britain’s abuses against the colonies. This states the colonies are right to reject the power of Great Britain because it has not treated the colonies justly. This states that independence is both inevitable and necessary. The Declaration of Independence is composed of five sections: But the declaration helped the colonists get aid from other countries. The colonists had to keep fighting the British until 1883 before they won their independence. That began in April 1775 with the Battle of Lexington and Concord. The Declaration of Independence did not start the American Revolution. The Declaration of Independence was the formal proclamation that the colonies would now be an independent country separate from Great Britain. The document that formally records this act is also known by this name. The signers of the Declaration of Independence included future Presidents, Vice Presidents, and members of the United States Congress.Declaration of Independence is the name given to the Second Continental Congress’s public act of declaring the American colonies independent from Great Britain on July 4, 1776. One of the New Hampshire delegates, Matthew Thornton, added his signature later at the bottom of the right column. Some of the delegates were not in Philadelphia on that day, but signed the document later. Delegates from Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, the southernmost states, ended the list with the column on the left. Using this protocol, signatures of the New Hampshire delegates began the list with the column on the right. At that time, a general practice was to sign below text on the right and by geographic location. He used large bold script and signed under the text in the center of the page. The actual signing finally took place on August 2, 1776.Īs President of the Second Continental Congress, John Hancock was the first to sign this historic document. The order called for handwritten ornamental script to be used on parchment paper with the title "The unanimous declaration of the thirteen United States of America." Using a quill pen, this took some time to finish. On July 19, Congress ordered that an official copy of the document be created. The Congress did not have the approval of all 13 colonies until July 9, 1776. The Declaration of Independence was approved by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, but it was not signed until almost a month later.
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