Declaration of Rebellion The Declaration of Rebellion was a document addressed to the Galactic Emperor , Sheev Palpatine , that marked the formal declaration of open resistance against the Galactic Empire . Its text was written by Senator - in - Exile Mon Mothma , the chancellor of the Alliance to Restore the Republic , and was designed to push back against the Imperial notion that the Rebel Alliance was a group of terrorist s . The Declaration came to be known as one of the foundational documents of the New Republic , which arose to replace the fallen Empire after the signing of the Galactic Concordance , which brought the end of the Galactic Civil War . History . In the years after the formation of the Galactic Empire in 19 BBY , various rebel cells began a campaign of armed resistance against the Galactic Emperor , Darth Sidious , and his Imperial regime . Many of these cells eventually came together under the leadership of such individuals as Senator Mon Mothma of Chandrila , Viceroy Bail Organa of Alderaan , and Captain Hera Syndulla of Ryloth . Together , these cells formed the Alliance to Restore the Republic . The Empire painted the Rebel Alliance as blood thirsty anarchists , so the Alliance sought to push back on that notion and make clear that their goal was to restore the Galactic Republic that Sidious , known publicly as Emperor Palpatine , had supplanted at the end of the Clone Wars . To counter the Imperial propaganda , Senator - in - Exile Mon Mothma crafted the Declaration of Rebellion . The document was a condemnation of Emperor Palpatine and detailed what the Alliance saw as his crimes against the galaxy . The Alliance purposefully crafted the document in language based around the law to both legitimize the rebel cause and to emphasize that the Empire was an illegal regime . The document stressed that the Rebellion sought to build a better galaxy , not destroy it as the Empire claimed , and that the Rebellion ' s true name was the Alliance to Restore the Republic . Mothma delivered the Declaration of Rebellion from an undisclosed location using the HoloNet and other channels . The message spread throughout the galaxy , with various posters and other artwork being created with Mothma ' s words . In some cases , this artwork was crafted by the Rebel Alliance itself to spread its own message , but mostly was the work of revolutionaries who sought a unifying message and banner to fight under . In the years that followed , the Galactic Civil War led to the defeat of the Empire . The Declaration came to be seen as one of the foundational documents of the New Republic , which came to power towards the end of the war and replaced the Imperial regime . Behind the scenes . The text of the Declaration of Rebellion first appeared in the " Rebel Alliance Sourcebook " , a 1990 reference book written by Paul Murphy . The text was brought into the official " Star Wars " canon in the 2016 reference book " " , by Lucasfilm Story Group creative executive Pablo Hidalgo . The declaration shares some overall similarities in structure , tone and choice of words with the US Declaration of Independence of 1776 , which inspired several similar documents in real life .