United States Declaration of Independence

The **United States Declaration of Independence** is an important document in the history of the United States of America. It was ratified on July 4, 1776. It says that the Americans were no longer under British rule. Instead, the thirteen British colonies came together to become a union of free and independent states. In the conclusion of the Declaration of Independence a quote was: "with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."

## Before the Declaration 
Before 1776, the United States of America was not a country. The individual states were colonies of the British Empire. They were called British Colonies. This means that the King and Parliament of Great Britain ruled the Colonies. "Plundered our seas,..." meant that the founding Fathers blamed the British for the American Revolution.

### Effects 
During this time, many American people were angry at Great Britain. Many Americans did not like paying taxes to Great Britain when they did not have anyone to speak for them in Parliament. The American people wanted to be treated like British citizens.

### Taking action 
Responding to actions taken by Great Britain, including the Intolerable Acts, the different colonies formed a Continental Congress to make decisions for all of the colonies. They met in the American city of Philadelphia. During a meeting of the Second Continental Congress, on June 11, 1776, they chose five people to write a document that would become the Declaration of Independence. These people were:
* John Adams, from the Massachusetts Bay Colony
* Benjamin Franklin, from the Province of Pennsylvania
* Thomas Jefferson, from the Virginia Colony
* Robert R. Livingston, from the Province of New York
* Roger Sherman, from the Connecticut Colony

## The Declaration of Independence 
### Picking a Writer
The committee decided that one person would write the document, while the rest would give him advice on what to write. John Adams decided that Thomas Jefferson should write the document. He bought him a few drinks and told him that he was more qualified to write it because he was a Virginian and he was simply a better writer. Jefferson got to work.

### What it says 
In the Declaration, Jefferson starts by writing about people's rights, and what the government should and should not do. This part of the Declaration is called the Preamble. He then lists specific bad things that the British government did to the colonies. He says these included putting people in jail with no reason; making taxes that were too high; and not respecting people who lived in the colonies.

### Agreeing on the Declaration 
On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress argued about the Declaration and made some changes to it. After making changes, they approved the Declaration. They declared their independence from the British Empire that day, at the Pennsylvania State House.

However, the Continental Congress did not officially approve the Declaration until July 4. On that day, twelve of the thirteen groups that represented the colonies approved and ordered the Declaration to be printed. (The Province of New York did not vote.) This version of the Declaration was signed only by the President of the Congress, John Hancock.

On July 15, the New York group agreed with the rest of the colonies' groups. This meant that everyone in the Congress agreed on the Declaration.

On July 19, the Declaration's title was changed from "A Declaration of the Representatives of the United States of America in General Congress assembled" to "the unanimous declaration of the thirteen United States of America."

Overall, 56 men signed the Declaration. However, some people signed at different times. Many people signed a parchment paper copy of the Declaration on July 2. Many of these signers were not there when the original Declaration was adopted on July 4.

## Related pages
* Continental Congress
* American Revolutionary War
* Colonialism
* Independence Day (United States)

## References
## Other websites 
* 
* Declaration of Independence, with Jefferson's account, all the signers, extensive related information, from ushistory.org
* The Rough Draft of the Declaration of Independence  - Text of the rough draft at Duke University's website
* Library of Congress: Declaration of Independence and related resources
* PBS/NOVA: The Preservation and History of the Declaration
* National Geographic News: "U.S. Independence Celebrated on the Wrong Day?" (July 2, 2004)
* Colonial Hall: A line by line historical analysis of the grievances 
* Virtualology: A Brief History of the Declaration and ownership of Dunlap printings
* "The Speech of the Unknown" from the book *Washington and His Generals: or, Legends of the Revolution* by George Lippard, published in 1847

### Maps, photos, and other media 
* Deutsches Historisches Museum: First Printing in German of the Declaration of Independence 
* "Drafting of the Declaration of Independence. The Committee: Franklin, Jefferson, Adams, Livingston, and Sherman."  1776. Copy of engraving after Alonzo Chappel. (large version )
* "The Declaration of Independence"  by John Trumbull. (large version )
* Interactive Flash Version of John Sumit Trumbull's "Declaration of Independence"
* Interactive High-resolution viewer with annotations of the Declaration on Footnote.com 

### Signers 
* The Price They Paid Sorting Fact from Fiction.
* Signers of the Declaration of Independence

## More reading
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