Tukker Whimpey

The Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence was and is one of the most important documents in
American history. This document was adopted in the summer of 1776 by the US congress, to
declare the separation of the American colonies from the British crown.
In the 1700s the American colonies were under the power of the British crown. That
meant that the king had the reign over the land, the people had to pay taxes and had control
over the armed forces. After the French and Indian war the British would need more troops in
the new world to protect it witch this caused an open welfare with the mother country so the
king had tried many different way to tax. This had many uncertainties with the future of the
American colonies. Many people at this time did not want to be part of the British Empire
anymore; they wanted to be their own country.
In June of 1776 the Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia with the intention
of voting for independence from England. This is where Richard Henry Lee introduces a
resolution urging congress to declare the independence from Great Britain. June 11 the Second
Continental Congress appointed a committee of five men to write the Declaration of
Independence. The men that had been appointed were Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, Ben
Franklin of Pennsylvania, John Adams of Massachusetts, Robert Livingston of New York, and
Roger Sherman of Connecticut. This committee was headed by Adams and Franklin. Congress
wanted men to write the King stating why the United States

John Adams was a representative of Massachusetts. He had drafted a preamble to his

colleague Richard Henry Lees resolution which elaborated on it. He later became the first Vice
President of the United States and the second President of the United States.
Benjamin Franklin was very intelligent person; he had founded many different
organizations such as hospitals, insurance companies, libraries, and fire-fighting clubs. Although
he was part of the committee he kind of sat back and let Thomas Jefferson do most or all of the
writing of the Declaration, he did take it and revise it before they presented it to congress.
Thomas Jefferson was instructed to write the Declaration. In 1775 Thomas joined the
Continental Congress representing Virginia. He was the first United States Secretary of State. In
1809 he became the third president of the United States. In June of 1776 he began his work. As
He wrote the Declaration he didnt use any books to help him but his earlier writings are where
he got a lot of his inspiration.
The committee had met several times to talk about the construction and organization of
the Declaration. Jefferson had then drafted up a copy which took two and a half weeks to come
up with. Then he had shown it to Franklin and Adams were they made a few changes to it. June
28 they gave the draft to congress. The delegates from South Carolina and Georgia didnt want
to sign it do to the statements against slavery, also some of the delegates form New England
didnt want to sign it as well. Then in July they had met to debate and revise the letter; which
took close to four days to complete: Where about a fourth of Jeffersons words were cut out of
the original.

On July 2, 1776 Congress had voted and declared independence from Great Britain.
Then of July 4 they came up with the final draft of the Declaration. It was then signed by all fifty
six of the Delegates of congress. A Few of the members had signed it very big like John Hancock
so that the king could see who had singed. Many people think that everyone had signed the
document on the July 4 but it took up to two months to get everyone that did sign it, to sign.
Jefferson wrote the Declaration and had divided into five sections with an introduction,
a preamble, a body that was divided in two sections, and a conclusion. In general the intro
states that it has come time that it is necessary for American Colonies to separate from Great
Britains power over them. In the preliminary has one of the most important statements that
our government is to be baste off of witch is We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all
men are created equal meaning that we believe that there is no one person is better than
another. It continues that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights;
that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness meaning that the Creator has
given man this right and a government shouldnt get in the way. The Declaration was a very
well written and thought out document.
The Declaration of Independents from then on had justified the separations from the
British Empire, and the thirteen colonies had regarded themselves as the thirteen newly
independent sovereign states.