is the declaration of independence an essay

Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence is the foundational document of the United States of America. Written primarily by Thomas Jefferson, it explains why the Thirteen Colonies decided to separate from Great Britain during the American Revolution (1765-1789). It was adopted by the Second Continental Congress on 4 July 1776, the anniversary of which is celebrated in the US as Independence Day.

The Declaration was not considered a significant document until more than 50 years after its signing, as it was initially seen as a routine formality to accompany Congress' vote for independence. However, it has since become appreciated as one of the most important human rights documents in Western history. Largely influenced by Enlightenment ideals, particularly those of John Locke , the Declaration asserts that "all men are created equal" and are endowed with the "certain unalienable rights" to "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness"; this has become one of the best-known statements in US history and has become a moral standard that the United States, and many other Western democracies, have since strived for. It has been cited in the push for the abolition of slavery and in many civil rights movements, and it continues to be a rallying cry for human rights to this day. Alongside the Articles of Confederation and the US Constitution, the Declaration of Independence was one of the most important documents to come out of the American Revolutionary era. This article includes a brief history of the factors that led the colonies to declare independence from Britain, as well as the complete text of the Declaration itself.

Road to Independence

For much of the early part of their struggle with Great Britain, most American colonists regarded independence as a final resort, if they even considered it at all. The argument between the colonists and the British Parliament, after all, largely boiled down to colonial identity within the British Empire ; the colonists believed that, as subjects of the British king and descendants of Englishmen, they were entitled to the same constitutional rights that governed the lives of those still in England . These rights, as expressed in the Magna Carta (1215), the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679, and the Bill of Rights of 1689, among other documents, were interpreted by the Americans to include self-taxation, representative government, and trial by jury. Englishmen exercised these rights through Parliament, which, at least theoretically, represented their interests; since the colonists were not represented in Parliament, they attempted to exercise their own 'rights of Englishmen' through colonial legislative assemblies such as Virginia's House of Burgesses .

Parliament, however, saw things differently. It agreed that the colonists were Britons and were subject to the same laws, but it viewed the colonists as no different than the 90% of Englishmen who owned no land and therefore could not vote, but who were nevertheless virtually represented in Parliament. Under this pretext, Parliament decided to directly tax the colonies and passed the Stamp Act in 1765. When the Americans protested that Parliament had no authority to tax them because they were not represented in Parliament, Parliament responded by passing the Declaratory Act (1766), wherein it proclaimed that it had the authority to pass binding legislation for all Britain's colonies "in all Cases whatsoever" (Middlekauff, 118). After doubling down, Parliament taxed the Americans once again with the Townshend Acts (1767-68). When these acts were met with riots in Boston, Parliament sent regiments of soldiers to restore the king's peace. This only led to acts of violence such as the Boston Massacre (5 March 1770) and acts of disobedience such as the Boston Tea Party (16 December 1773).

While the focal point of the argument regarded taxation, the Americans believed that their rights were being violated in other ways as well. As mandated in the so-called Intolerable Acts of 1774, Britain announced that American dissidents would now be tried by Vice-Admiralty courts or shipped to England for trial, thereby depriving them of a jury of peers; British soldiers could be quartered in American-owned buildings; and Massachusetts' representative government was to be suspended as punishment for the Boston Tea Party, with a military governor to be installed. Additionally, there was the question of land; both the Royal Proclamation of 1763 and the Quebec Act of 1774 restricted the westward expansion of Americans, who believed they were entitled to settle the West. While the colonies viewed themselves as separate polities within the British Empire and would not view themselves as a single entity for many years to come, they had nevertheless become bound together over the years due to their shared Anglo background and through their military cooperation during the last century of colonial wars with France. Their resistance to Parliament only tied them closer together and, after the passage of the Intolerable Acts, the colonies announced support for Massachusetts and began mobilizing their militias.

When the American Revolutionary War broke out in 1775, all thirteen colonies soon joined the rebellion and sent representatives to the Second Continental Congress, a provisional wartime government. Even at this late stage, independence was an idea espoused by only the most radical revolutionaries like Samuel Adams . Most colonists still believed that their quarrel was with Parliament alone, that King George III of Great Britain (r. 1760-1820) secretly supported them and would reconcile with them if given the opportunity; indeed, just before the Battle of Bunker Hill (17 June 1775), regiments of American rebels reported for duty by announcing that they were "in his Majesty's service" (Boatner, 539). In August 1775, King George III dispelled such notions when he issued his Proclamation of Rebellion, in which he announced that he considered the colonies to be in a state of rebellion and ordered British officials to endeavor to "withstand and suppress such rebellion". Indeed, George III would remain one of the biggest advocates of subduing the colonies with military force; it was after this moment that Americans began referring to him as a tyrant and hope of reconciliation with Britain diminished.

Writing the Declaration

By the spring of 1776, independence was no longer a radical idea; Thomas Paine 's widely circulated pamphlet Common Sense had made the prospect more appealing to the general public, while the Continental Congress realized that independence was necessary to procure military support from European nations. In March 1776, the revolutionary convention of North Carolina became the first to vote in favor of independence, followed by seven other colonies over the next two months. On 7 June, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced a motion putting the idea of independence before Congress; the motion was so fiercely debated that Congress decided to postpone further discussion of Lee's motion for three weeks. In the meantime, a committee was appointed to draft a Declaration of Independence, in the event that Lee's motion passed. This five-man committee was comprised of Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Robert R. Livingston of New York, John Adams of Massachusetts, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia.

The Declaration was primarily authored by the 33-year-old Jefferson, who wrote it between 11 June and 28 June 1776 on the second floor of the Philadelphia home he was renting, now known as the Declaration House. Drawing heavily on the Enlightenment ideas of John Locke, Jefferson places the blame for American independence largely at the feet of the king, whom he accuses of having repeatedly violated the social contract between America and Great Britain. The Americans were declaring their independence, Jefferson asserts, only as a last resort to preserve their rights, having been continually denied redress by both the king and Parliament. Jefferson's original draft was revised and edited by the other men on the committee, and the Declaration was finally put before Congress on 1 July. By then, every colony except New York had authorized its congressional delegates to vote for independence, and on 4 July 1776, the Congress adopted the Declaration. It was signed by all 56 members of Congress; those who were not present on the day itself affixed their signatures later.

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 separation. Remove Ads Advertisement 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 toward these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such a 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. – 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 to 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. Remove Ads Advertisement 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 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. Love History? Sign up for our free weekly email newsletter! He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws of 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 rules 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, be 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 and 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 against us, and has endeavored 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. 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. 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 the 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.

The following is a list of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence, many of whom are considered the Founding Fathers of the United States. John Hancock , as president of the Continental Congress, was the first to affix his signature. Robert R. Livingston was the only member of the original drafting committee to not also sign the Declaration, as he had been recalled to New York before the signing took place.

Massachusetts: John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry.

New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton.

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.

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Bibliography

• Boatner, Mark M. Cassell's Biographical Dictionary of the American War of Independence. London: Cassell, 1973., 1973.
• Britannica: Text of the Declaration of Independence Accessed 25 Mar 2024.
• Declaration of Independence - Signed, Writer, Date | HISTORY Accessed 25 Mar 2024.
• Declaration of Independence: A Transcription | National Archives Accessed 25 Mar 2024.
• Meacham, Jon. Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power. Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2013.
• Middlekauff, Robert. The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789. Oxford University Press, 2007.
• Wood, Gordon S. The Radicalism of the American Revolution. Vintage, 1993.

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Declaration of Independence

By: History.com Editors

Updated: June 25, 2024 | Original: October 27, 2009

The Declaration of Independence was the first formal statement by a nation’s people asserting their right to choose their own government.

When armed conflict between bands of American colonists and British soldiers began in April 1775, the Americans were ostensibly fighting only for their rights as subjects of the British crown. By the following summer, with the Revolutionary War in full swing, the movement for independence from Britain had grown, and delegates of the Continental Congress were faced with a vote on the issue. In mid-June 1776, a five-man committee including Thomas Jefferson , John Adams and Benjamin Franklin was tasked with drafting a formal statement of the colonies’ intentions. The Congress formally adopted the Declaration of Independence—written largely by Jefferson—in Philadelphia on July 4 , a date now celebrated as the birth of American independence.

America Before the Declaration of Independence

Even after the initial battles in the Revolutionary War broke out, few colonists desired complete independence from Great Britain, and those who did–like John Adams– were considered radical. Things changed over the course of the next year, however, as Britain attempted to crush the rebels with all the force of its great army. In his message to Parliament in October 1775, King George III railed against the rebellious colonies and ordered the enlargement of the royal army and navy. News of his words reached America in January 1776, strengthening the radicals’ cause and leading many conservatives to abandon their hopes of reconciliation. That same month, the recent British immigrant Thomas Paine published “Common Sense,” in which he argued that independence was a “natural right” and the only possible course for the colonies; the pamphlet sold more than 150,000 copies in its first few weeks in publication.

Did you know? Most Americans did not know Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence until the 1790s; before that, the document was seen as a collective effort by the entire Continental Congress.

In March 1776, North Carolina’s revolutionary convention became the first to vote in favor of independence; seven other colonies had followed suit by mid-May. On June 7, the Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee introduced a motion calling for the colonies’ independence before the Continental Congress when it met at the Pennsylvania State House (later Independence Hall) in Philadelphia. Amid heated debate, Congress postponed the vote on Lee’s resolution and called a recess for several weeks. Before departing, however, the delegates also appointed a five-man committee–including Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, John Adams of Massachusetts, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania and Robert R. Livingston of New York–to draft a formal statement justifying the break with Great Britain. That document would become known as the Declaration of Independence.

Thomas Jefferson Writes the Declaration of Independence

Jefferson had earned a reputation as an eloquent voice for the patriotic cause after his 1774 publication of “A Summary View of the Rights of British America,” and he was given the task of producing a draft of what would become the Declaration of Independence. As he wrote in 1823, the other members of the committee “unanimously pressed on myself alone to undertake the draught [sic]. I consented; I drew it; but before I reported it to the committee I communicated it separately to Dr. Franklin and Mr. Adams requesting their corrections….I then wrote a fair copy, reported it to the committee, and from them, unaltered to the Congress.”

As Jefferson drafted it, the Declaration of Independence was divided into five sections, including an introduction, a preamble, a body (divided into two sections) and a conclusion. In general terms, the introduction effectively stated that seeking independence from Britain had become “necessary” for the colonies. While the body of the document outlined a list of grievances against the British crown, the preamble includes its most famous passage: “We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable 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.”

The Continental Congress Votes for Independence

The Continental Congress reconvened on July 1, and the following day 12 of the 13 colonies adopted Lee’s resolution for independence. The process of consideration and revision of Jefferson’s declaration (including Adams’ and Franklin’s corrections) continued on July 3 and into the late morning of July 4, during which Congress deleted and revised some one-fifth of its text. The delegates made no changes to that key preamble, however, and the basic document remained Jefferson’s words. Congress officially adopted the Declaration of Independence later on the Fourth of July (though most historians now accept that the document was not signed until August 2).

The Declaration of Independence became a significant landmark in the history of democracy. In addition to its importance in the fate of the fledgling American nation, it also exerted a tremendous influence outside the United States, most memorably in France during the French Revolution . Together with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights , the Declaration of Independence can be counted as one of the three essential founding documents of the United States government.

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Thomas Jefferson Declaration of Independence: Right to Institute New Government

Through the many revisions made by Jefferson, the committee, and then by Congress, Jefferson retained his prominent role in writing the defining document of the American Revolution and, indeed, of the United States. Jefferson was critical of changes to the document, particularly the removal of a long paragraph that attributed responsibility of the slave trade to British King George III. Jefferson was justly proud of his role in writing the Declaration of Independence and skillfully defended his authorship of this hallowed document.

Influential Precedents

Instructions to virginia's delegates to the first continental congress written by thomas jefferson in 1774.

Thomas Jefferson, a delegate to the Virginia Convention from Albemarle County, drafted these instructions for the Virginia delegates to the first Continental Congress. Although considered too radical by the Virginia Convention, Jefferson's instructions were published by his friends in Williamsburg. His ideas and smooth, eloquent language contributed to his selection as draftsman of the Declaration of Independence. This manuscript copy contains additional sections and lacks others present in the published version, A Summary View of the Rights of British America.

Thomas Jefferson. Instructions to Virginia's Delegates, 1774. Manuscript. Manuscript Division (39)

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Fairfax County Resolves, July 18, 1774

The Fairfax County Resolves were written by George Mason (1725–1792) and George Washington (1732/33–1799) and adopted by a Fairfax County Convention chaired by Washington and called to protest Britain's harsh measures against Boston. The resolves are a clear statement of constitutional rights considered to be fundamental to Britain's American colonies. The Resolves call for a halt to trade with Great Britain, including an end to the importation of slaves. Jefferson tried unsuccessfully to include in the Declaration of Independence a condemnation of British support of the slave trade.

George Mason and George Washington. Fairfax County Resolves, 1774. Manuscript. Manuscript Division (40)

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George Mason's Virginia Declaration of Rights

The Virginia Declaration of Rights was drafted by George Mason and Thomas Ludwell Lee (1730–1778) and adopted unanimously in June 1776 during the Virginia Convention in Williamsburg that propelled America to independence. It is one of the documents heavily relied on by Thomas Jefferson in drafting the Declaration of Independence. The Virginia Declaration of Rights can be seen as the fountain from which flowed the principles embodied in the Declaration of Independence, the Virginia Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. The document exhibited here is Mason's first draft to which Thomas Ludwell Lee added several clauses. Even a cursory examination of Mason's and Jefferson's declarations reveal the commonality of language and principle.

George Mason and Thomas Ludwell Lee. Draft of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, 1776. Manuscript. Manuscript Division (41)

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Thomas Jefferson's Draft of a Constitution for Virginia, predecessor of The Declaration Of Independence

Immediately on learning that the Virginia Convention had called for independence on May 15, 1776, Jefferson, a Virginia delegate to the Continental Congress, wrote at least three drafts of a Virginia constitution. Jefferson's drafts are not only important for their influence on the Virginia government, they are direct predecessors of the Declaration of Independence. Shown here is Jefferson's litany of governmental abuses by King George III as it appeared in his first draft.

Thomas Jefferson. Draft of Virginia Constitution, 1776. Manuscript. Manuscript Division (45)

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The Fragment

Fragment of the earliest known draft of the declaration, june, 1776.

This is the only surviving fragment of the earliest draft of the Declaration of Independence. This fragment demonstrates that Jefferson heavily edited his first draft of the Declaration of Independence before he prepared a fair copy that became the basis of “the original Rough draught.” None of the deleted words and passages in this fragment appears in the “Rough draught,” but all of the undeleted 148 words, including those careted and interlined, were copied into the “Rough draught” in a clear form.

Thomas Jefferson. Draft fragment of the Declaration of Independence, 1776, Manuscript. Manuscript Division (48)

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The Rough Draft

Original rough draft of the declaration.

Written in June 1776, Thomas Jefferson's draft of the Declaration of Independence, included eighty-six changes made later by John Adams (1735–1826), Benjamin Franklin 1706–1790), other members of the committee appointed to draft the document, and by Congress. The “original Rough draught” of the Declaration of Independence, one of the great milestones in American history, shows the evolution of the text from the initial composition draft by Jefferson to the final text adopted by Congress on the morning of July 4, 1776. At a later date perhaps in the nineteenth century, Jefferson indicated in the margins some but not all of the corrections suggested by Adams and Franklin. Late in life Jefferson endorsed this document: “Independence Declaration of original Rough draught.”

Thomas Jefferson. Draft of Declaration of Independence, 1776. Manuscript. Manuscript Division (49)

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The Graff House where Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence

The house of Jacob Graff, brick mason, located at the southwest corner of Market and Seventh Street, Philadelphia, was the residence of Thomas Jefferson when he drafted the Declaration of Independence. The three-story brick house is pictured here in Harper's Weekly, April 7, 1883. Jefferson rented the entire second floor for himself and his household staff.

Harper's Weekly, April 7, 1883. Reproduction of journal page. Prints and Photographs Division (43)

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Submitting the Declaration of Independence to the Continental Congress, June 28, 1776

This image is considered one of the most realistic renditions of this historical event. Jefferson is the tall person depositing the Declaration of Independence on the table. Benjamin Franklin sits to his right. John Hancock (1737–1793) sits behind the table. Fellow committee members, John Adams, Roger Sherman (1721–1793), and Robert R. Livingston (1746–1813) stand (left to right) behind Jefferson.

Edward Savage and/or Robert Edge Pine. Congress Voting the Declaration of Independence, c. 1776. Copyprint of oil on canvas, Courtesy of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (53)

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The “Declaration Committee,” chaired by Thomas Jefferson

On June 11, 1776, anticipating that the vote for independence would be favorable, Congress appointed a committee to draft a declaration: Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Robert R. Livingston of New York, and John Adams of Massachusetts. Currier and Ives prepared this imagined scene for the one hundredth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Currier and Ives. The Declaration Committee, New York, 1876. Copyprint of lithograph. Prints and Photographs Division (56)

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The Final Document

George washington's copy of the declaration of independence.

This is the surviving fragment of John Dunlap's initial printing of the Declaration of Independence, which was sent to George Washington by John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress on July 6, 1776. General Washington had the Declaration read to his assembled troops in New York on July 9. Later that night the Americans destroyed a bronze statue of Great Britain's King George III, which stood at the foot of Broadway on the Bowling Green.

[ In Congress, July 4, 1776. A Declaration By the Representatives of the United States of America, In General Congress Assembled. ] [Philadelphia: John Dunlap, July 4, 1776]. Broadside with broken at lines 34 and 54 with text below line 54 missing. Manuscript Division (51)

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Independence Hall

Congress voted for Independence in the Pennsylvania State House located on Chestnut Street between Fifth and Sixth Streets. Charles Willson Peale painted this northwest view of the state house and its sheds in 1778. The building was ornamented by two clocks and a steeple, which was removed shortly after the British left Philadelphia in 1778.

James Trenchard after a painting by Charles Willson Peale. A NW View of the State House in Philadelphia in Columbian Magazine, 1787. Copyprint of engraving. Rare Book & Special Collections Division (44)

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Prospect of Philadelphia

This is a view of the city of Philadelphia in 1768 from the Jersey shore, with a street map and an enlarged engraving of the State House and the River Battery. Jefferson would have seen Philadelphia, as depicted, when he visited Annapolis, Philadelphia, and New York in 1766. The Philadelphia skyline had not dramatically changed when Jefferson returned in 1775.

George Heap under the direction of Nicholas Scull, surveyor general of Pennsylvania. Prospect of the City of Philadelphia, 1768. Copyprint of map and engraving. Prints and Photographs Division (6)

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Destroying the statue of King George III

After hearing the Declaration of Independence read on July 9, the American army destroyed the statue of King George III at the foot of Broadway on the Bowling Green in New York City.

John C. McRae after Johnannes A. Oertel. Pulling down the statue of George III by the “Sons of Freedom,” at the Bowling Green, City of New York, July 1776. New York : Published by Joseph Laing, [ca. 1875] Copyprint of engraving. Prints and Photographs Division (52)

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First public reading of the Declaration of Independence

Pennsylvania militia colonel John Nixon (1733–1808) is portrayed in the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence on July 6, 1776. This scene was created by William Hamilton after a drawing by George Noble and appeared in Edward Barnard, History of England (London, 1783).

The Manner in Which the American Colonies Declared Themselves Independent of the King of England, Throughout the Different Provinces, on July 4, 1776. Copyprint of etching. Prints and Photographs Division (57)

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The Aftermath

Jefferson's draft of the declaration of independence, as reported to congress.

This copy of the Declaration represents the fair copy that the committee presented to Congress. Jefferson noted that “the parts struck out by Congress shall be distinguished by a black line drawn under them, & those inserted by them shall be placed in the margin or in a concurrent column.” Despite its importance in the story of the evolution of the text, this copy of the Declaration has received very little public attention.

Thomas Jefferson. Draft of Declaration of Independence, 1776. Manuscript. //www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/images/vc50p2.jpg ">Page 2 . //www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/images/vc50p3.jpg ">Page 3 . //www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/images/vc50p4.jpg ">Page 4 . Manuscript Division (50)

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Jefferson consoled for his “mangled” manuscript

Thomas Jefferson sent copies of the Declaration of Independence to a few close friends, such as Richard Henry Lee (1732–1794), indicating the changes that had been made by Congress. Lee, replied: “I wish sincerely, as well for the honor of Congress, as for that of the States, that the Manuscript had not been mangled as it is. It is wonderful, and passing pitiful, that the rage of change should be so unhappily applied. However the Thing is in its nature so good, that no Cookery can spoil the Dish for the palates of Freemen.”

Richard Henry Lee to Thomas Jefferson, July 21, 1776. Manuscript letter. Manuscript Division (54)

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The Goddess Of Liberty

In this allegorical print, the Goddess of Liberty points to Thomas Jefferson's portrait while gazing at the portrait of George Washington. It was made late in Jefferson's second presidential administration. The cupids here are the Genius of Peace and the Genius of Gratitude, and in this context Jefferson is “Liberty's Genius.”

The Goddess of Liberty with a Portrait of Thomas Jefferson, Salem, Massachusetts, January 15, 1807. Copyprint of painting. Courtesy of Yale University Art Gallery, the Mabel Brady Garvan Collection (32)

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Thomas Jefferson's portable writing desk

The Declaration of Independence was composed on this mahogany lap desk, designed by Jefferson and built by Philadelphia cabinet maker Benjamin Randolph. Jefferson gave it to Joseph Coolidge, Jr. (1798–1879) when he married Ellen Randolph, Jefferson's granddaughter. In giving it, Jefferson wrote on November 18, 1825: “Politics, as well as Religion, has it's superstitions. These, gaining strength with time, may, one day give imaginary value to this relic, for it's association with the birth of the Great Charter of our Independence.” Coolidge replied, on February 27, 1826, that he would consider the desk “no longer inanimate, and mute, but as something to be interrogated and caressed.”

Benjamin Randolph after a design by Thomas Jefferson. Portable writing desk, Philadelphia, 1776. Courtesy of the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution (30)

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Thomas Jefferson's monogrammed silver pen

Thomas Jefferson ordered this small cylindrical silver fountain pen with a gold nib from his agent in Richmond, Virginia. It was probably made by William Cowan (1779–1831), a Richmond watchmaker. An elliptical cap that screws into the end of the cylinder and caps the ink reservoir is engraved “TJ”.

Probably by William Cowan. Silver pen, Richmond, Virginia, c.1824. Courtesy of the Monticello, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, Inc. (31)

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Lord Kames, Henry Home, Essays on the Principles of Morality and Natural Religion

This is Jefferson's personal copy of the Scottish moral philosopher's work and is one of the few books annotated by Jefferson. Lord Kames (1696–1782) was a leader of the “moral sense” school, that advocated that men had an inner sense of right and wrong. Lord Kames provided the philosophical foundation of the phrase “pursuit of happiness,” which was appropriated by Jefferson as an inalienable right of mankind in the Declaration of Independence.

Lord Kames (Henry Home). Essays on the Principles of Morality and Natural Religion. Two parts. Edinburgh: R. Fleming, for A. Kincaid and A. Donaldson, 1751. Rare Book and Special Collections Division (34)

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Algernon Sidney, Discourses Concerning Government

Jefferson considered Algernon Sidney's (1622–1683) Discourses the best fundamental textbook on the principles of government. In a December 13, 1804 letter to Mason Weems, Jefferson commented that “they are in truth a rich treasure of republican principles . . . it is probably the best elementary book of the principles of government.” Sidney was a republican executed by the British for seditious writings including the Discourses. This is Jefferson's personal copy which was sold to Congress in 1815.

Algernon Sidney. Discourses Concerning Government by Algernon Sidney with his Letters, Trial Apology and some Memoirs of His Life. London: Printed for A. Millar, 1763. Rare Book and Special Collections Division (35)

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Liberty And Science

Thomas Jefferson is pictured, at the beginning of his first presidential term, holding the Declaration of Independence with scientific instruments in the background. Tiebout used the bust portrait of Rembrandt Peale and created an imaginary full-body, because no standing portrait of Jefferson had been painted.

Cornelius Tiebout. Thomas Jefferson: President of the United States, Philadelphia, 1801. Copyprint of engraving. Prints and Photographs Division (95)

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Text of the Declaration of Independence

Note: The source for this transcription is the first printing of the Declaration of Independence, the broadside produced by John Dunlap on the night of July 4, 1776. Nearly every printed or manuscript edition of the Declaration of Independence has slight differences in punctuation, capitalization, and even wording. To find out more about the diverse textual tradition of the Declaration, check out our Which Version is This, and Why Does it Matter? resource.

        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.           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. 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 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 harrass 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 Benefits 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 and 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.           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.           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.

Signed by Order and in Behalf of the Congress, JOHN HANCOCK, President.

Attest. CHARLES THOMSON, Secretary.

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Course: US history   >   Unit 11

The declaration of independence.

• The Articles of Confederation
• The Constitution of the United States
• Frederick Douglass, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?"
• Letter from a Birmingham Jail

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Declaration of Independence Causes and Effects

America's Founding Documents

Declaration of Independence: A Transcription

Note: The following text is a transcription of the Stone Engraving of the parchment Declaration of Independence (the document on display in the Rotunda at the National Archives Museum .)  The spelling and punctuation reflects the original.

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.

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.--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 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 harrass 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 benefits 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.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish 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.

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.

Button Gwinnett

George Walton

North Carolina

William Hooper

Joseph Hewes

South Carolina

Edward Rutledge

Thomas Heyward, Jr.

Thomas Lynch, Jr.

Arthur Middleton

Massachusetts

John Hancock

Samuel Chase

William Paca

Thomas Stone

Charles Carroll of Carrollton

George Wythe

Richard Henry Lee

Thomas Jefferson

Benjamin Harrison

Thomas Nelson, Jr.

Francis Lightfoot Lee

Carter Braxton

Pennsylvania

Robert Morris

Benjamin Rush

Benjamin Franklin

John Morton

George Clymer

James Smith

George Taylor

James Wilson

George Ross

Caesar Rodney

George Read

Thomas McKean

William Floyd

Philip Livingston

Francis Lewis

Lewis Morris

Richard Stockton

John Witherspoon

Francis Hopkinson

Abraham Clark

New Hampshire

Josiah Bartlett

William Whipple

Samuel Adams

Robert Treat Paine

Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island

Stephen Hopkins

William Ellery

Connecticut

Roger Sherman

Samuel Huntington

William Williams

Oliver Wolcott

Matthew Thornton

Back to Main Declaration Page

Background Essay: Applying the Ideals of the Declaration of Independence

Guiding Questions: Why have Americans consistently appealed to the Declaration of Independence throughout U.S. history? How have the ideals in the Declaration of Independence affected the struggle for equality throughout U.S. history?

• I can explain how the ideals of the Declaration of Independence have inspired individuals and groups to make the United States a more equal and just society.

Essential Vocabulary

In an 1857 speech criticizing the Supreme Court decision in Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857), Abraham Lincoln commented that the principle of equality in the Declaration of Independence was “meant to set up a standard maxim [fundamental principle] for a free society.” Indeed, throughout American history, many Americans appealed to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence to make liberty and equality a reality for all.

A constitutional democracy requires vigorous deliberation and debate by citizens and their representatives. Therefore, it should not be surprising that the meanings and implications of the Declaration of Independence and its principles have been debated and contested throughout history. This civil and political dialogue helps Americans understand the principles and ideas upon which their country was founded and the means of working to achieve them.

Applying the Declaration of Independence from the Founding through the Civil War

Individuals appealed [pointed to as evidence] to the principles of the Declaration of Independence soon after it was signed. In the 1770s and 1780s, enslaved people in New England appealed to the natural rights principles of the Declaration and state constitutions as they petitioned legislatures and courts for freedom and the abolition of slavery. A group of enslaved people in New Hampshire stated, “That the God of Nature, gave them, Life, and Freedom, upon the Terms of the most perfect Equality with other men; That Freedom is an inherent [of a permanent quality] Right of the human Species, not to be surrendered, but by Consent.” While some of these petitions were unsuccessful, others led to freedom for the petitioner.

The women and men who assembled at the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention , the first women’s rights conference held in the United States, adopted the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions , a list of injustices committed against women. The document was modeled after the Declaration of Independence, but the language was changed to read, “We hold these truths to be self-evident : [clear without having to be stated] that all men and women are created equal.” It then listed several grievances regarding the inequalities that women faced. The document served as a guiding star in the long struggle for women’s suffrage.

The Declaration of Independence was one of the centerpieces of the national debate over slavery. Abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, and Abby Kelley all invoked the Declaration of Independence in denouncing slavery. On the other hand, Senators Stephen Douglas and John Calhoun, Justice Roger Taney, and Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens all denied that the Declaration of Independence was meant to apply to Black people.

Abraham Lincoln was president during the crisis of the Civil War, which was brought about by this national debate over slavery. He consistently held that the Declaration of Independence had universal natural rights principles that were “applicable to all men and all time.” In his Gettysburg Address, Lincoln stated that the nation was “conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

The Declaration at Home and Abroad: The Twentieth Century and Beyond

The case of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) revealed a split over the meaning of the equality principle even in the Supreme Court. The majority in the 7–1 decision thought that distinctions and inequalities based upon race did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment and did not imply inferiority, and therefore, segregation was constitutional. Dissenting Justice John Marshall Harlan argued for equality when he famously wrote, “In the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens. There is no caste here. Our constitution is colorblind.”

The expansion of American world power in the wake of the Spanish-American War of 1898 triggered another debate inspired by the Declaration of Independence. The war brought the United States into more involvement in world affairs. Echoing earlier debates over Manifest Destiny during nineteenth-century westward expansion, supporters of American global expansion argued that the country would bring the ideals of liberty and self-government to those people who had not previously enjoyed them. On the other hand, anti-imperialists countered that creating an American empire violated the Declaration of Independence by taking away the liberty of self-determination , or freedom of government without foreign interference, and consent from Filipinos and Cubans.

Politicians of differing perspectives viewed the Declaration in opposing ways during the early twentieth century. Progressives [a political and social reform group that began in the late 19th century] such as Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson argued that the principles of the Declaration of Independence were important for an earlier period in American history, to gain independence from Great Britain and to set up the new nation. They argued that the modern United States faced new challenges introduced by an industrial economy and needed a new set of ideas that required a more active government and more powerful national executive. They were less concerned with preserving an ideal of liberty and equality and more concerned with regulating society and the economy for the public interest. Wilson in particular rejected the views of the Founding, criticizing both the Declaration and the Constitution as irrelevant for facing the problems of his time.

President Calvin Coolidge disagreed and adopted a conservative position when he argued that the ideals of the Declaration of Independence should be preserved and respected. On the 150th anniversary of the Declaration, Coolidge stated that the principles formed the American belief system and were still the basis of American republican institutions. They were still applicable regardless of how much society had changed.

During World War II, Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan threatened the free nations of the world with aggressive expansion and domination. The United States and the coalition of Allied powers fought for several years to reverse their conquests. President Franklin Roosevelt and other free-world leaders proclaimed the principles of liberty and self-government from the Declaration of Independence in documents such as the Atlantic Charter , the Four Freedoms speech, and the United Nations Charter.

After World War II, American social movements for justice and equality called upon the Declaration of Independence and its principles. For example, in his “I Have a Dream” speech, Martin Luther King, Jr., referred to the Declaration as the “sacred heritage” of the nation but said that it had not lived up to its ideals for Black Americans. King demanded that the United States live up to its “sacred obligation” of liberty and equality for all.

The natural rights republican ideals of the Declaration of Independence influenced the creation of American constitutional government founded upon liberty and equality. They also shaped the expectation that a free people would live in a just society. Indeed, the Declaration states that to secure natural rights is the fundamental duty of government. Achieving those ideals has always been part of a robust and dynamic debate among the sovereign people and their representatives.

Inspired by the ideals of the Declaration of Independence, many social movements, politicians, and individuals helped make the United States a more equal and just society. The Emancipation Proclamation ; the Thirteenth , Fourteenth , and Fifteenth Amendments ; the Nineteenth Amendment ; the 1964 Civil Rights Act ; and the 1965 Voting Rights Act were only some of the achievements in the name of equality and justice. As James Madison wrote in Federalist 51 , “Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society. It ever has been and ever will be pursued until it be obtained.”

Related Content

Graphic Organizer: The Declaration of Independence and Equality in U.S. History

Documents: The Declaration of Independence and Equality in U.S. History

The Guiding Star of Equality: The Declaration of Independence and Equality in U.S. History Answer Key

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The Declaration of Independence in Global Perspective

By david armitage.

The Declaration was addressed as much to "mankind" as it was to the population of the colonies. In the opening paragraph, the authors of the Declaration—Thomas Jefferson, the five-member Congressional committee of which he was part, and the Second Continental Congress itself—addressed "the opinions of Mankind" as they announced the necessity 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. . . .

After stating the fundamental principles—the "self-evident" truths—that justified separation, they submitted an extensive list of facts to "a candid world" to prove that George III had acted tyrannically. On the basis of those facts, his colonial subjects could now rightfully leave the British Empire. The Declaration therefore "solemnly Publish[ed] and Declare[d], That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES" and concluded with a statement of the rights of such states that was similar to the enumeration of individual rights in the Declaration’s second paragraph in being both precise and open-ended:

. . . 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.

This was what the Declaration declared to the colonists who could now become citizens rather than subjects, and to the powers of the earth who were being asked to choose whether or not to acknowledge the United States of America among their number.

The final paragraph of the Declaration announced that the United States of America were now available for alliances and open for business. The colonists needed military, diplomatic, and commercial help in their revolutionary struggle against Great Britain; only a major power, like France or Spain, could supply that aid. Thomas Paine had warned in Common Sense in January 1776 that "the custom of all courts is against us, and will be so, until by an independence, we take rank with other nations." So long as the colonists remained within the empire, they would be treated as rebels; if they organized themselves into political bodies with which other powers could engage, then they might become legitimate belligerents in an international conflict rather than treasonous combatants within a British civil war.

The Declaration of Independence was primarily a declaration of interdependence with the other powers of the earth. It marked the entry of one people, constituted into thirteen states, into what we would now call international society. It did so in the conventional language of the contemporary law of nations drawn from the hugely influential book of that title (1758) by the Swiss jurist Emer de Vattel, a copy of which Benjamin Franklin had sent to Congress in 1775. Vattel’s was a language of rights and freedom, sovereignty and independence, and the Declaration’s use of his terms was designed to reassure the world beyond North America that the United States would abide by the rules of international behavior. The goal of the Declaration’s authors was still quite revolutionary: to extend the sphere of European international relations across the Atlantic Ocean by turning dependent colonies into independent political actors. The historical odds were greatly against them; as they knew well, no people had managed to secede from an empire since the United Provinces had revolted from Spain almost two centuries before, and no overseas colony had done so in modern times.

The other powers of the earth were naturally curious about what the Declaration said. By August 1776, news of American independence and copies of the Declaration itself had reached London, Edinburgh, and Dublin, as well as the Dutch Republic and Austria. By the fall of that year, Danish, Italian, Swiss, and Polish readers had heard the news and many could now read the Declaration in their own language as translations appeared across Europe. The document inspired diplomatic debate in France but that potential ally only began serious negotiations after the American victory at the Battle of Saratoga in October 1777. The Franco-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce of February 1778 was the first formal recognition of the United States as "free and independent states." French assistance would, of course, be crucial to the success of the American cause. It also turned the American war into a global conflict involving Britain, France, Spain, and the Dutch Republic in military operations around the globe that would shape the fate of empires in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Ocean worlds.

The ultimate success of American independence was swiftly acknowledged to be of world-historical significance. "A great revolution has happened—a revolution made, not by chopping and changing of power in any one of the existing states, but by the appearance of a new state, of a new species, in a new part of the globe," wrote the British politician Edmund Burke. With Sir William Herschel’s recent discovery of the ninth planet, Uranus, in mind, he continued: "It has made as great a change in all the relations, and balances, and gravitation of power, as the appearance of a new planet would in the system of the solar world." However, it is a striking historical irony that the Declaration itself almost immediately sank into oblivion, "old wadding left to rot on the battle-field after the victory is won," as Abraham Lincoln put it in 1857. The Fourth of July was widely celebrated but not the Declaration itself. Even in the infant United States, the Declaration was largely forgotten until the early 1790s, when it re-emerged as a bone of political contention in the partisan struggles between pro-British Federalists and pro-French Republicans after the French Revolution. Only after the War of 1812 and the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, did it become revered as the foundation of a newly emergent American patriotism.

Imitations of the Declaration were also slow in coming. Within North America, there was only one other early declaration of independence—Vermont’s, in January 1777—and no similar document appeared outside North America until after the French Revolution. In January 1790, the Austrian province of Flanders expressed a desire to become a free and independent state in a document whose concluding lines drew directly on a French translation of the American Declaration. The allegedly self-evident truths of the Declaration’s second paragraph did not appear in this Flemish manifesto nor would they in most of the 120 or so declarations of independence issued around the world in the following two centuries. The French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen would have greater global impact as a charter of individual rights. The sovereignty of states, as laid out in the opening and closing paragraphs of the American Declaration, was the main message other peoples beyond America heard in the document after 1776.

More than half of the 192 countries now represented at the United Nations have a founding document that can be called a declaration of independence. Most of those countries came into being from the wreckage of empires or confederations, from Spanish America in the 1810s and 1820s to the Soviet Union and the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Their declarations of independence, like the American Declaration, informed the world that one people or state was now asserting—or, in many cases in the second half of the twentieth century re-asserting—its sovereignty and independence. Many looked back directly to the American Declaration for inspiration. For example, in 1811, Venezuela’s representatives declared "that these united Provinces are, and ought to be, from this day, by act and right, Free, Sovereign, and Independent States." The Texas declaration of independence (1836) likewise followed the American in listing grievances and claiming freedom and independence. In the twentieth century, nationalists in Central Europe and Korea after the First World War staked their claims to sovereignty by going to Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Even the white minority government of Southern Rhodesia in 1965 made their unilateral declaration of independence from the British Parliament by adopting the form of the 1776 Declaration, though they ended it with a royalist salutation: "God Save the Queen!" The international community did not recognize that declaration because, unlike many similar pronouncements made during the process of decolonization by other African countries, it did not speak on behalf of all the people of their country.

Invocations of the American Declaration’s second paragraph in later declarations of independence are conspicuous by their scarcity. Among the few are those of Liberia (1847) and Vietnam (1945). The Liberian declaration of independence recognized "in all men, certain natural and inalienable rights: among these are life, liberty, and the right to acquire, possess, and enjoy property": a significant amendment to the original Declaration’s right to happiness by the former slaves who had settled Liberia under the aegis of the American Colonization Society. Almost a century later, in September 1945, the Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh opened his declaration of independence with the "immortal statement" from the 1776 Declaration: "All men are created equal. They are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." However, Ho immediately updated those words: "In a broader sense, this means: All the peoples of the earth are equal from birth, all the peoples have a right to live, to be happy and free." It would be hard to find a more concise summary of the message of the Declaration for the post-colonial predicaments of the late twentieth century.

The global history of the Declaration of Independence is a story of the spread of sovereignty and the creation of states more than it is a narrative of the diffusion and reception of ideas of individual rights. The farflung fortunes of the Declaration remind us that independence and popular sovereignty usually accompanied each other, but also that there was no necessary connection between them: an independent Mexico became an empire under a monarchy between 1821 and 1823, Brazil’s independence was proclaimed by its emperor, Dom Pedro II in 1822, and, as we have seen, Ian Smith’s Rhodesian government threw off parliamentary authority while professing loyalty to the British Crown. How to protect universal human rights in a world of sovereign states, each of which jealously guards itself from interference by outside authorities, remains one of the most pressing dilemmas in contemporary politics around the world.

So long as a people comes to believe their rights have been assaulted in a "long Train of Abuses and Usurpations," they will seek to protect those rights by forming their own state, for which international custom demands a declaration of independence. In February 2008, the majority Albanian population of Kosovo declared their independence of Serbia in a document designed to reassure the world that their cause offered no precedent for any similar separatist or secessionist movements. Fewer than half of the current powers of the earth have so far recognized this Kosovar declaration. The remaining countries, among them Russia, China, Spain, and Greece, have resisted for fear of encouraging the break-up of their own territories. The explosive potential of the American Declaration was hardly evident in 1776 but a global perspective reveals its revolutionary force in the centuries that followed. Thomas Jefferson’s assessment of its potential, made weeks before his death on July 4, 1826, surely still holds true today: "an instrument, pregnant with our own and the fate of the world."

David Armitage is the Lloyd C. Blankfein Professor of History and Director of Graduate Studies in History at Harvard University. He is also an Honorary Professor of History at the University of Sydney. Among his books are The Declaration of Independence: A Global History (2007) and The Age of Revolutions in Global Context, c. 1760–1860 (2010).

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Rhetoric of The Declaration of Independence Essay

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The ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle, prescribed three modes of rhetorical persuasion – ethos, pathos, and logos. An outstanding rhetoric persuasion should have an ethical appeal, an emotional appeal, as well as a logical appeal. In the Declaration of Independence document, and Thomas Jefferson’s account, the founding fathers not only aired grievances, truths, and the denial of liberty, but they also artistically embroidered all the elements of rhetoric persuasion in their assertions. The Declaration of Independence appeals to ethics, emotions, and logic – the three fundamental elements of rhetoric.

The Declaration of Independence’s appeal to ethics is undisputable. In the opening paragraphs of the declaration, there is an ethical appeal for why the colonists needed separation from the colonizer. The first paragraph of the declaration read,

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 […] decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation (“The Declaration of Independence”).

In the statement above, Jefferson and the founding fathers were appealing to ethics. It was necessary and essential to have an ethical explanation for that desire to gain support for their need to be independent. The founding fathers needed to explain why they needed to separate as decent respect to the opinions of humankind. In the second paragraph, the declaration continued on the ethical appeal stating that humans bore equal and unalienable rights – “to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (“The Declaration of Independence”).

These statements are moral, ethical, and legal overtones that the audience can associate themselves with. If someone were to ask, “Why is this separation necessary?” The answer would come right from the second paragraph. Jefferson and the founding fathers were more than aware that such a move as declaring independence required an ethical appeal with salient and concrete causes in place of light and transient causes, and they appealed to ethics right at the beginning of the declaration.

Other than appealing to ethics, Jefferson and the founding fathers required the audience to have an emotional attachment to the Declaration of Independence. The audience had to feel the same way as the founding fathers did. In the second paragraph of the declaration document, the drafters appealed that the people had a right to change and abolish a government that had become destructive of the equal and inalienable rights of all humankind. “Humankind is more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to the right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed” (“The Declaration of Independence”).

However, if there is “a long train of abuses and usurpations” (“The Declaration of Independence”), there was a need to reduce the adversities under absolute Despotism, as the people’s right and duty. At the beginning of paragraph 30, the drafters of the declaration called their preceding assertions oppressions. An oppressed person is not a happy person. By making the audience – the colonists – remember their suffering and how patient they had been with the colonizers, Jefferson and the drafters appealed to the audience’s emotions.

The other rhetorical appeal in the Declaration of Independence is that of logic – logos. Other than bearing ethical and emotional overtones, the declaration equally bore logical sentiments. At the end of paragraph two, The Declaration of Independence reads, “To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world” (“The Declaration of Independence”), after which follows a string of grievances against the King of England and the colonizers. The entire draft bears logical appeal and the rationale behind the call for independence. How the founding fathers interwove the causes for independence in the declaration is a representation of logic.

There is evidence of inductive reasoning showing what the colonists required – independence from England – and why that was the only resort. The declaration is also logically appealing because it is not that the colonists have not sought the colonizer’s ear for the grievances they had; they had “In every stage of these Oppressions Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms, but their repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury” (“The Declaration of Independence”). Reason would only dictate that the colonists resort to other measures such as declaring themselves independent from a tyrannical system.

A rhetorical analysis of the Declaration for Independence shows the employment of ethical (ethos), emotional (pathos), and logical (logos) appeals by the drafters. In the statement of their reasons for calling to be independent of the crown, the founding fathers elucidated an ethical appeal. In the statement of their grievances against the King of England, the drafters appealed emotionally to their audience. Lastly, the drafters of the declaration interwove logic into every argument they presented by employing inductive reasoning in the description of the relationship between the colonies and the colonizer and why they formerly needed emancipation from the latter.

“ The Declaration of Independence: The Want, Will, and Hopes of the People . “ Ushistory.org , 2018. Web.

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Common Sense and the Declaration of Independence: A Comparison and Contrast

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Home — Essay Samples — History — Declaration of Independence — An Analysis of the Declaration of Independence and Its Use

An Analysis of The Declaration of Independence and Its Use

• Categories: American History Declaration of Independence

About this sample

Words: 960 |

Published: Sep 12, 2018

Words: 960 | Pages: 2 | 5 min read

Table of contents

Declaration of independence outline, declaration of independence essay example, introduction.

• Introduction to the importance of literature materials in recording American history
• Mention of The Declaration of Independence as a historical document

Summary of The Declaration of Independence

• Overview of the historical context and reasons for its creation
• Brief description of the main tenets of the document

Analysis of the Document

• Discussion of the document as a response to British tyranny
• Influence of Enlightenment ideas on the Declaration
• Role of Thomas Jefferson as the main author and leader
• Highlighting the oppression faced by Americans and the need for political representation

Limits and Exclusions in the Declaration

• Mention of the document's exclusion of women and minorities
• Discussion of their mistreatment and lack of representation
• Recap of the document's significance in recording American history
• Acknowledgment of its influence and limitations

Summary of the Declaration of Independence

The analysis of the document.

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The Declaration of Independence essay

Sovereignty is the utmost power that a state, a country, or a nation will always strive and long for. This is especially true to a group of people bestowed with innate gifts of freedom and democracy. Constricting these people’s necks to conceal and to repress the spirit of freedom among them will always lead these suppressors to failure—because no matter what happens, the people’s hearts will always prevail. No barriers can scare the people to stop dreaming about the future independent and sovereign nation that they long for not only for themselves but for their future lineage as well.

This declaration was the formal proclamation of the independence of the thirteen states of the United States of America from the allegiance and supremacy of the British colonies over them. This manifesto thoroughly discusses the laws of nature which illustrate how each person is created equal and are bestowed with their fair share of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness (Armitage 157). It is also emphasized in the manifesto how each nation has equal abilities to acquire political independence and sovereignty.

Also, it gives importance to the people being governed as the sole foundation of the government by which all its goals must all be directed to the purposes set forth by the people. In addition, if the government starts to deviate from its purposes, it has been said that the people have the right and the duty to abolish and replace it with a new government that will serve for the people’s good. These were the messages that the states would like to declare to all of the people to open their minds to the on-going assaults and mishaps that King George’s and the British colonies’ tyranny had caused them.

Various accounts of charges and proofs of tyranny against King George were listed to demonstrate that the violation of the rights of the colony made him incompetent to be a ruler of a free people. Many times, the people pleaded for justice from the British government, yet they remained deaf and blind from their needs. From the knowledge divulged by the declaration, the thirteen states denounced their ultimatum, and this led to the complete separation from the British Colony.

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Thus, the supreme acquisition of the independence and sovereignty that the nation had dreamed for so long is now turning into reality. This eventful proclamation of independence of the various states from the British Colony is the ultimate start of a new hope and a better life for all of the people of the United States of America that is totally free from the tyrannical form of leadership.

Armitage, David. The Declaration of Independence: A Global History. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007. Print.

Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library

Declaring freedom: declaration of independence and other documents of national history on view through july 15, 2024.

June 20, 2024

By Michael Morand

About the first printing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776

Other documents declaring freedom on view at beinecke.

Other essential documents on view include key texts published by Black Americans in Connecticut and nearby in the early decades of the new republic, including:

• A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Ventur e, a Native of Africa: But Resident above Sixty Years in the United States of America / Related by Himself,  New London, Connecticut, 1798; the narrative of a man who purchased his freedom in Connecticut in 1765.
• The Blind African Slave, or, Memoirs of Boyrereau Brinch, Nick-named Jeffrey Brace , St. Albans, Vermont, 1810; memoir of an enslaved man who won his freedom through service in the Revolutionary War.
• Life of William Grimes , the Runaway Slave, Written by Himself,  New York, New York, 1825, and New Haven, Connecticut, 1855; first book-length narrative written by a person who escaped from enslavement in the U.S. 
• Walker’s Appeal … To the Coloured Citizens of the World , but in Particular, and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of America, Written in Boston, State of Massachusetts, September 28, 1829 , by David Walker, third and last edition, Boston, Massachusetts, 1830; an early publication of Black liberation in the U.S.

Through July 7, visitors can also see numerous documents related to Frederick Douglass in the building-wide exhibition  Douglass, Baldwin, Harrington: The Collections of Walter O. Evans at Beinecke Library . Items on view in the show include:

• Frederick Douglass, “Speech of Mr. Douglass at a Mass Meeting Fanuel [sic] Hall for Abolition of Slavery in the District of Columbia,” February 4, 1842, undated typescript copy; “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” July 5, 1852, excerpts, undated typescript copy. Walter O. Evans Collection of Frederick Douglass and Douglass Family Papers.
• Douglass, Oration, Delivered in Corinthian Hall, Rochester, Rochester: Lee, Mann, & Co., 1852. Slavery Pamphlets Collection. 

Exhibition hours

The Dunlap Broadside will be on view on the library’s mezzanine from Thursday, June 20, through Monday, July 15, 2024. Located at 121 Wall Street, the library’s exhibition hall is free and open to the public daily. See  Hours and other details  for more information on daily hours. Please note: the library is closed on Thursday, July 4, in observance of Independence Day. Visitors are also welcome to view reproductions of the Declaration and other documents on the north ground floor windows of the library (toward Grove Street).  This outdoor display can be viewed 24 hours a day  through mid-July 2024. 

Public readings on July 5, 2024, 4pm

All are welcome to attend special public readings of the Declaration of Independence and Frederick Douglass’s oration on Friday, July 5, at 4pm, on the library mezzanine.  For more information, visit the detailed calendar listing online . Those unable to attend are welcome to enjoy video readings of the Declaration of Independence and Douglass’s Oration, originally recorded in 2020, on the  Beinecke Library YouTube channel . You can also enjoy a 2020  video of the1848 Seneca Falls Woman’s Rights Convention Declaration  read by U.S. Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro.

Declaration of Independence

1848 Woman’s Rights Convention

Douglass’s 1852 oration

Life of William Grimes

More to see nearby in New Haven related to the Declaration of Independence

American history is alive and accessible throughout New Haven. Visitors are also encouraged to see other markers of U.S. history related to the Declaration of Independence located near the Beinecke Library. 

Immediately north of the library, the  Grove Street Cemetery , 227 Grove Street, is the burial site of Roger Sherman, a signatory of the Declaration and one of the Committee of Five charged with drafting and presenting the Declaration. It is also the final resting place of William Grimes and other notable New Haveners. The first chartered burial ground in the U.S., the cemetery is free and open to the public daily, 9am to 4pm. On Thursday, July 4, at 9am, the General David Humphreys Branch of the Connecticut Society of the Sons of the American Revolution will honor all 56 signers of the U.S. Declaration of Independence and local veterans of the Revolutionary War at their 72nd annual Independence Day ceremony. All are welcome to attend.

A few blocks south of the Beinecke Library, the  Yale University Art Gallery , 1111 Chapel Street, holds numerous works of art related to the founding of the nation. The works on view to the public include John Trumbull’s The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776 , a depiction of the Committee of Five presenting the document to John Hancock. Visit the art gallery’s website for more information on hours. The gallery is free and open to all.

How reciting the Pledge of Allegiance became a sacred, patriotic ritual

On flag day, a historian of religions in america explains how the pledge of allegiance, which honors the american flag, is part of american civil religion..

(The Conversation) — The Continental Congress, the legislative body for the newly declared United States, adopted an official flag on June 14, 1777. The delegates resolved that “the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white: that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”

In the early years of the nation, though, this flag rarely appeared except in government and military displays.

That changed with the Civil War. As historian and author Marc Leepson writes in his book about the U.S. flag , Northerners began displaying it in homes and businesses to show support for the Union. After the war, the flag became a symbol of the reunified nation.

In 1885, schoolteacher Bernard Cigrand commemorated for the first time the anniversary of the adoption of the U.S. flag with his students at the Stony Hill School in Wisconsin. He subsequently launched a campaign to establish June 14 as Flag Day. In 1949, the U.S. Congress passed a resolution designating June 14 of each year as Flag Day.

The American flag. Library of Congress

One of the more popular patriotic rituals honoring the U.S. flag is the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. For generations, schoolchildren have recited the pledge daily. It opens legislative sessions of the United States Senate and countless other government, public and private gatherings.

As a historian of religions in America , I view this ubiquitous ritual through the lens of American civil religion – the patriotic beliefs, ceremonies and symbols that are sacred to Americans.

Civil religion

The concept of civil religion originated in European Enlightenment philosophy. Philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote in his 1762 treatise “ Social Contract ” that “a State has never been founded without religion serving as its base.”

American sociologist Robert Bellah used Rousseau’s concept of civil religion in his 1967 analysis of U.S. civic culture. Bellah claimed that an “American civil religion” persists alongside other religious traditions. American Christians, Jews and followers of other conventional religious traditions are also patriotic devotees of the national faith.

Bellah’s argument has inspired considerable debate . Numerous scholars have found the idea of civil religion useful. Bellah’s original essay noted references to God in presidential addresses and the sacred character of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. Other scholars have used civil religion to explain judicial interpretations of the U.S. Constitution’s religion clauses and in characterizing nationally significant places such as the Lincoln, Washington and Jefferson monuments in Washington, D.C., as sacred spaces .

Critics dispute Bellah’s assumptions. Historian of religion John F. Wilson , for instance, claimed that Bellah’s view of civil religion distorts the complex political, cultural and civic cultures of the United States. Wilson argues that Bellah’s concept reduces complex national cultures, including the religious elements, to a one-dimensional “religion” of the nation.

Additionally, historian Charles H. Lippy observes that Bellah’s interpretation of civil religion refers only to a particular segment of the U.S. population as “ the prerogative of white males of economic privilege .”

In my book on American religious history , I use the concept of civil religion to understand patriotic ceremonies and commemorations. In particular, civil religion provides insight into historical controversies surrounding the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance.

Conflicts of faith

The Pledge of Allegiance began as a promotion in a children’s magazine. In his book about the pledge , author Richard Ellis describes an upsurge of devotion to the flag after the Civil War.

It included a movement to place the sacred banner in every school. A popular children’s magazine, “The Youth’s Companion,” joined the effort in 1892. It designated the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ discovery of America as the date for a national flag ceremony .

The magazine urged every school in the nation to observe a ritual flag salute. The ceremony was to include a Pledge of Allegiance composed by Francis Bellamy, a former Baptist minister. His original pledge read, “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the Republic for which it stands – one Nation indivisible – with Liberty and Justice for all.”

The flag salute caught on, and by World War I several versions were in use. An official flag code adopted in the 1920s included a revised version of Bellamy’s Pledge of Allegiance. It added “the flag of the United States of America” because of anti-immigrant sentiments; the original “my Flag,” many thought, could refer to immigrants’ native country. The flag code also stipulated a salute , with “the right hand over the heart” to be extended “palm upward, toward the Flag” upon saying the words “to the Flag.”

Schoolchildren reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. John Moore/Getty Images

Not all Americans were enthusiastic about the pledge. The most common complaints were religious . For instance, followers of traditions with strong pacifist commitments opposed reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. They objected to the implication that defending the flag would mean resorting to violence in violation of their religious beliefs. Others regarded the Pledge of Allegiance as a form of “ idol worship .”

In 1935, the Jehovah’s Witnesses condemned the requirement for schoolchildren to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. They regarded the prescribed salute to the U.S. flag as similar to the German Nazi salute. The salutes used nearly identical hand motions. For the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the two salutes demonstrated “ unfaithfulness to God .”

Reverence for the American flag

The Jehovah’s Witnesses challenged the multiple state laws requiring children to recite the pledge. Their case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court, however, rejected their religious argument in favor of “national unity.”

Public opinions, though, shifted with American involvement in World War II. The comparison to the Nazi salute made more Americans uncomfortable with the U.S. flag salute. In a subsequent case brought by Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Supreme Court reversed its previous ruling. On Flag Day in 1943, the court ruled that the government cannot “prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion.”

The Cold War context after World War II brought an additional change to the Pledge of Allegiance. National leaders often emphasized the religious roots of the American nation in their condemnation of the official atheism of the USSR. They commonly used the term “ under God ” to characterize the United States in contrast to the “godless” Soviets.

Consequently, President Dwight Eisenhower signed a congressional resolution on Flag Day 1954. It added the phrase “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance.

Celebration of Flag Day began in 1885, and the Pledge of Allegiance was first recited on Columbus Day in 1892. Although neither carries the weight of law today, resolutions of the U.S. Congress have recognized both.

Despite past controversies, reverence for the flag continues today for many U.S. citizens. Along with the Pledge of Allegiance, Flag Day celebrations, I believe, show an ongoing patriotic devotion in the civil religion of the people of the United States.

(Thomas S. Bremer, Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies, Rhodes College. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)

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Hopewell Furnace Commemorates the Declaration of Independence

by Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site

Photo courtesy of  Paul Weaver  on  Unsplash

The National Park Service and the Friends of Hopewell Furnace invite you to join in commemorating the 248th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4. The annual formal commemoration ceremony will take place at 2 p.m. from the steps of Ironmaster’s House on site. Other programming will be offered throughout the day and is open and free to the public.

This year’s ceremony will include musical performances by Molly Herman and Mekhi Bloodworth, presenting of colors by Girl Scouts of the Daniel Boone Service Unit 763 and Boy Scouts of Pack and Troop 595, and the reading of winning essay submissions from local middle school and high school students. The ceremony will conclude with the public being invited to take part in a reading of the Declaration of Independence.

In addition to the 2 p.m. ceremony, throughout the day from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m., a variety of programming will be offered onsite, including orientation talks, molding and aluminum casting demonstrations, modern and period Junior Ranger activities, blacksmithing demonstrations, and more!

Hopewell Furnace was established as a National Historic Site on Aug. 3, 1938, and preserves the late 18th-century and early 19th-century setting of an iron-making community, including the charcoal-fueled furnace and its natural and cultural resources. This community illustrates the essential role of industrialization in the growth of the early United States. The furnace was established in 1771 by Ironmaster Mark Bird and operated as a furnace for the next 112 years.

The park’s facilities are currently open Wednesday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Hopewell Furnace is located at 2 Mark Bird Ln., Elverson, PA 19520, about five miles south of Birdsboro, PA, off Route 345. Admission to the park is free. For more information, call 610-582-8773 or visit the park’s website at  www.nps.gov/hofu .

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Opinion | Letters: Remember sacrifices required to make…

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Opinion | update: man, 30, dead in i-78 crash in lehigh county; highway reopens, subscriber only, opinion | letters: remember sacrifices required to make declaration of independence a reality.

The signing and reading of our Declaration of Independence to Continental Army soldiers in early July 1776 followed fighting that began at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, on April 19, 1775. Hostilities continued until American and French troops defeated Gen. Cornwallis’ British army at Yorktown, Virginia, on Oct. 19, 1781 and were officially ended with a treaty in 1783.

This Declaration — one of civilization’s most important documents – includes these memorable lines: “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.” Our Constitution created in 1787 helps America pursue these ideals some 240 years later. Partial recompense for the tragedy of enslaved persons is found in 750,000 Civil War deaths.

These lines follow life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness: “ … whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it.” Friends, beware of extreme elements pointed in this direction today; the declaration warns “that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes.”

On July 4, remember the costs incurred to obtain and maintain independence, and be thankful.

James Largay

Upper Saucon Township

Debate choices not very inspiring

One guy says: I like soldiers who aren’t captured in war; men who fought in Vietnam were suckers and stupid; the election was stolen; Vladimir Putin is a genius; I can end the Ukraine war in one day; it would never have happened if I were president; Hannibal Lector was a wonderful man.

The other guy says: We have to make the rich pay more taxes; I know nothing of my son’s business deals overseas; antisemitism won’t be tolerated in this country (well?); my son’s laptop was a Russian plant; the border is secure; my uncle was eaten by cannibals in New Guinea.

I can’t wait for June 27. The TV debate between dumb and dumber. Or is it liar and bigger liar? You make the call.

Robert Molchan

McCormick has experience on national security issues

During these turbulent times, Pennsylvania needs a senator who can adeptly navigate complex national security issues, and Dave McCormick’s background qualifies him for this task. His commitment to protecting our country makes him the ideal candidate to champion policies prioritizing safety and security of both our nation and its citizens. He is a leader with proven credentials and experience, not a follower, as are our present senators.

McCormick’s leadership during the 2008 global fiscal crisis as the U.S. Treasury’s undersecretary for international affairs displayed his ability to manage complex challenges. His expertise in economics, finance and global affairs uniquely positions him to address the changing nature of national security issues and evolving crises.

With his prior service in key roles on the National Security Council and in the Department of Commerce, McCormick has a proven commitment to safeguarding U.S. interests, demonstrating a deep understanding of both domestic and international challenges.

In a constantly evolving threat environment, McCormick’s extensive experience is crucial. He has consistently shown commitment to national security, employing a strategic and measured approach, while upholding the integrity of military missions.

I urge fellow Pennsylvanians to support Dave McCormick for a safer and more secure future.

Robert Pohlman

Middle Smithfield Township

How sad that we’re ignoring science about climate change

It is depressing, discouraging and demoralizing to contemplate how far a rational being, i.e., man, has come to understand his world, and then to see that scientific understanding derided by so many. We have come very far because of our ability to view the world from a sound, factual basis, and in so doing, improve our lives and the lives of other earth inhabitants. Yet now too many of us seem to accept fiction as fact, and to dismiss what has been soundly and scientifically proven. What has happened to our grasp of knowledge? Are we devolving and no longer evolving thanks to false prophets like Donald Trump, whose profound ignorance of the world is nothing short of breathtaking? Whose every word is accepted as the truth?

We have so much to lose by not accepting the scientifically proven fact that humans are responsible for climate change. We have the power to improve and help guarantee mankind’s future, but instead we’re squandering this precious opportunity. What kind of life can future generations look forward to, one of security, or one of merely living to survive?

Marianne Phillips

Trump could get lessons from Putin, Kim Jong Un

Vladimir Putin went to North Korea to visit his “BFF” Kim Jong Un. This is a perfect opportunity for Donald Trump to catch up with his two heroes and get some tips on being a ruthless dictator at the same time. On the way back to his various trials in the U.S., Trump can also check on Chinese shipments to Trump’s various businesses in the U.S. Why support U.S. businesses when you can get a better deal in China? Supporting U.S. businesses is for suckers, just like Trump reportedly said serving your country in the military is. Trump, make America great again?  What a bad joke.

Richard Kohn

Choosing renewable energy honors past, looks to future

Even if mining coal or drilling oil is part of your family heritage and heroic past, it doesn’t mean it should be part of your children’s future. We can be grateful for the oil and gas we use today and still want safer and healthier alternatives. Our ancestors bravely moved forward, away from their old traditions to create our modern society. Now it is our turn to work for a more just and sustainable planet. We can best honor our past endeavors by having the courage to embrace new innovations and clean energy. I, for one, will vote for candidates who can visualize a healthy, peaceful country connected by mass transportation and fueled by renewable energy. I want our next leaders to be able to learn from our past mistakes and inspire us to be our best selves. I want them to address climate change and environmental injustice. I hope they will have the will to protect not only our children but all life on our fragile blue planet. Please help me elect leaders who care, leaders who will work to make life better for all future generations.

Debra Orben

Springfield Township

The Morning Call encourages community dialogue on important issues. Submit a letter to the editor at  [email protected] .

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Philly Declaration House exhibit offers ‘a window into understanding’ the struggles for freedom in the United States

Through Sept. 8, the exhibit at the Declaration House asks visitors what the Declaration of Independence means to them today.

• Cory Sharber

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Exploring paradox of Jefferson as freedom fighter, slave owner at Constitution Center

10 years ago

The project was unveiled during a block party Monday on Seventh Street outside the Declaration House. J. Calvin Jefferson Sr. is a descendant of three enslaved families at Monticello and said he hopes people witnessing the exhibit can think about what would have been through Hemmings’ head back in 1776.

“Robert Hemmings being up here, being enslaved … and how he’s witnessing Thomas Jefferson developing the Declaration of Independence with ‘all men are equal,’” Jefferson Sr. said. “That in itself and he wasn’t equal.”

Jefferson Sr. connected the struggles of freedom then to the present day, specifically legislation developing over time.

“In the beginning, it didn’t include poor whites, it didn’t include Black folks, it didn’t include Native Americans and it didn’t include women,” Jefferson Sr. said. “Over those years, amendments to the Constitution have included everybody. So if we don’t be careful, all of that is going to go.”

Monument Lab director Paul Farber said the project aims to paint a fuller picture of Jefferson’s and Hemmings’ time at the Declaration House where “the stories of freedom and enslavement are entangled together.”

“That’s not just about the past, that’s actually a window into understanding where we are today,” Farber said. “Better understanding around that will lead to healing, but also we have to make room for the fuller history to live and breathe.”

The exhibit will be on display through Sept. 8. During weekends at Declaration House, visitors are invited to respond to the project’s central question with hand-drawn responses: What does the Declaration of Independence mean to us today? Those will be collected by Monument Lab and shared with Independence National Historical Park as they develop future programming ahead of America’s Semiquincentennial in 2026 .

The block party was a part of the Wawa Welcome America Festival that will run through July 4.

Editor’s Note: WHYY was one of the hosts of Monday’s block party. Paul Farber was the host of The Statue, a podcast series produced by WHYY Digital Studios in 2023.

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About Cory Sharber

Cory Sharber is a general assignment reporter for WHYY News.

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Fourth of July 2024: When is Independence Day, why do we celebrate?

Certain days on the calendar just bring out the little kid in all of us.

Along with Christmas, Independence Day is one of those days that makes us giddy.

Whether it's the cookouts, a day at the beach, ball games or the oooohs and aaaahs of fireworks , Independence Day is just special.

When is Independence Day 2024?

Thursday, July 4.

Why do we celebrate Independence Day?

Independence Day celebrates the passage of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress in 1776. It announced to King George our political separation from Great Britain.

Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?

The writers were Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert Livingston.

What did the Declaration of Independence say?

The preamble of the Declaration of Independence announced the intentions of the 13 colonies to become independent.

"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.

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."

Fireworks guide 2024: Where are Delaware, Maryland fireworks for 4th of July 2024? Here's a guide for you

The remainder of the document listed the grievances the colonists had with Great Britain. Here's a look at the entire document.

Did the Declaration of Independence give us our freedom?

It declared our intent to establish an independent country. However, there was still a war to be fought with Great Britain for our freedom The Revolutionary War ended on September 3, 1783, when the Treaty of Paris was ratified separating the newly formed United States from England.

Depreciation Lands Museum in Hampton celebrates Independence Day June 30

The Depreciation Lands Museum in Hampton hosts its annual Independence Day Celebration on June 30.

Festivities begin at 1 p.m., and at 3 o’clock, a bell will ring signifying the start of a riveting reading of the Declaration of Independence by Dennis Rable, a volunteer.

“The reading will be followed by patriotic music and tours of the grounds with all volunteers dressed to the time period,” said volunteer Kimberly Chaffee.

The museum’s main attraction is the log house built in 1803 by the Armstrong family. The current location of the log home is not where it once stood. The original location was on Route 8 near today’s ALDI.

In 1975, Hampton Township took the old home apart piece by piece, labeling each plank and meticulously reconstructing the log home at its current location at 4743 S. Pioneer Road.

“The only thing we had to update was the fireplace, and that was just for safety,” said Chaffee.

After moving the home to its new location, volunteers began making the site a destination.

“If you want to come and experience authentic to period dress and acting that will take you back to post-Revolutionary War and early American frontier, then this is the place for you,” said Chaffee.

Pioneer living is often thought of as a more Western endeavor, the Depreciation Lands Museum offers an experience that is true to the Pittsburgh area.

The museum location has a genuine blacksmith, and the kitchen will be cooking authentic-to-period food as well.

About 37 volunteers help keep the museum clean, repair damage and work the events. All proceeds go to funding and supporting its preservation.

Many of the volunteers take their “jobs” very seriously. Don’t be surprised if you see one or some of the volunteers in full character and on patrol, looking for threats to the village.

In addition to the current buildings and characters, the museum has a new authentic item that will be on display for June 30.

“We just got a barn loom. It’s a large piece of equipment that was used for weaving cloth,” said Chaffee. “It’s roughly 5 feet by 6 feet and is manually operated. The barn loom will be on display in the church which is also on the same grounds as the museum.”

The Independence Day Celebration is one of the many special events at the museum, which is open every Sunday through early fall. Visitors are welcome to walk the grounds for free or pay a minimal fee for a tour. For more information, visit www.dlmuseum.org .

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