America's Founding Documents | National Archives America's Founding Documents These three documents, known collectively as the Charters of Freedom, have secured the rights of the American people for more than two and a quarter centuries and are considered instrumental to its founding and philosophy of the United States. Declaration of Independence The Charters of Freedom The Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights, collectively known as the Charters of Freedom, have guaranteed the rights and freedoms of Americans for over 200 years. The spectacular new book The Charters of Freedom-"A New World Is At Hand" written by Alice Kamps, Curator at the National Archives, showcases the National Archives' renovated Rotunda, the newly re-encased Charters of Freedom, and the exhibition that flanks their permanent display. The book describes the dramatic events that culminated in these historic documents, the materials and techniques used in their creation and conservation, and their adventures on the road to a permanent safe haven at the National Archives. The Charters of Freedom Bundle Facsimiles These elegant facsimiles on parchment paper of the Charters of Freedom: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, are all three here offered to you in one bundle.

These historic facsimiles are perfect for educational purposes or to decorate your home or office. Please note: The Constitution facsimile in this bundle has all four pages of the original document on one sheet. The original Charters of Freedom are on permanent display in the Rotunda at the National Archives Museum. The Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom Located on the upper level of the National Archives museum, is the permanent home of the original Declaration of Independence, Constitution of the United States, and Bill of Rights. Designed by architect John Russell Pope as a shrine to American democracy, the ornate Rotunda with its soaring domed ceiling also features two murals by Barry Faulkner, depicting fictional scenes of the “presentations” of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Transcript of Declaration of Independence (Rough Draft) | Thomas Jefferson's Monticello Transcript of Declaration of Independence (Rough Draft) Note: Italicized words or phrases were omitted in the final draft. Bracketed words or phrases were added to the original draft and appear in the final draft. A Declaration by the Representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in General Congress assembled.

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 & 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 inherent and* [certain] inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, & 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 abolish it, & to institute new government, laying it's foundation on such principles, & organizing it's powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety & happiness.

Prudence indeed will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light & transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown 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 & usurpations begun at a distinguished period and 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, & to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; & such is now the necessity which constrains them to expunge [alter] their former systems of government. The history of the present king of Great Britain is a history of unremitting [repeated] injuries & usurpations, among which appears no solitary fact to contradict the uniform tenor of the rest but all have [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 for the truth of which we pledge a faith yet unsullied by falsehood. HE has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome & necessary for the public good.

HE has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate & pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; & 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, & 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 & continually 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 meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without & convulsions within. HE has endeavored 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, & raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.

HE has suffered [obstructed] the administration of justice totally to cease in some of these states [by] refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers. HE has made our judges dependant on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, & the amount & paiment of their salaries. HE has erected a multitude of new offices by a self assumed power and sent hither swarms of new officers to harass our people and eat out their substance. HE has kept among us in times of peace standing armies and ships of war without the consent of our legislatures. HE has affected to render the military independent of, & superior to the civil power.

HE has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitutions & 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 neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging it's boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these states [colonies]: FOR taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments: FOR suspending our own legislatures, & declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in allcases whatsoever. He has abdicated government here withdrawing his governors, and declaring us out of his allegiance & protection.

[by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.] He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, & destroyed the lives of our people. He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation & tyranny already begun with circumstanccs of cruelty and perfidy [scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, & 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 & brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands. He has [excited domestic insurection among us, & 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, & conditions of existence. He has incited treasonable insurrections of our fellow-citizens, with the allurements of forfeiture & confiscation of our property.

He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating it's most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. This piratical warfare, the opprobium of INFIDEL Powers, is the warfare of the CHRISTIAN king of Great Britain. Determined to keep open a market where MEN should be bought & sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce. And that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished die, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, by murdering the people on whom he also obtruded them: thus paying off former crimes committed against the LIBERTIES of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the LIVES of another. 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 injuries.

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 who mean to be free. Future ages will scarcely believe that the hardiness of one man adventured, within the short compass of twelve years only, to lay a foundation so broad & so undisguised for tyranny over a people fostered & fixed in principles of freedom. 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 a [an unwarrantable] jurisdiction over these our states [us].

We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration & settlement here, no one of which could warrant so strange a pretension: that these were effected at the expense of our own blood & treasure, unassisted by the wealth or the strength of Great Britain: that in constituting indeed our several forms of government, we had adopted one common king, thereby laying a foundation for perpetual league & amity with them: but that submission to their parliament was no part of our constitution, nor ever in idea, if history may be credited: and, we [have] appealed to their native justice and magnanimity [and we have conjured them by] as well as to the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations which were likely to [would inevitably] interrupt our connection and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice & of consanguinity, and when occasions have been given them, by the regular course of their laws, of removing from their councils the disturbers of our harmony, they have, by their free election, re-established them in power.

At this very time too they are permitting their chief magistrate to send over not only soldiers of our common blood, but Scotch & foreign mercenaries to invade & destroy us. These facts have given the last stab to agonizing affection, and manly spirit bids us to renounce forever these unfeeling brethren. We must endeavor to forget our former love for them, and hold them as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends. We might have been a free and a great people together; but a communication of grandeur & of freedom it seems is below their dignity. Be it so, since they will have it. The road to happiness & to glory is open to us too. We will tread it apart from them, and [We must therefore] acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our eternal 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 assebled [appealing to the Judge of the World for the recititude of our intentions] do in the name & by authority of the good people of these states [colonies] reject and renounce all allegiance & subjections to the kings of Great Britain & all others who may hereafter claim by, through or under them: we utterly disolve all political connection which may heretofore have subsisted between us & the people or parliment of Great Britain: and finally we do assert and declare these colonies to be free and independent states, [solemly Publish and Declare that these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, Free and Independent States; that they are dissolved from 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 allies, establish commerce, & do all other acts & 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, & our sacred honor. Source: Boyd, J.P. et al, editors. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950. Volume I page 426. The Declaration of Independence: Full text The Declaration of Independence The Want, Will, and Hopes of the People Menu IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776 The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America hen 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 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 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 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.

New Hampshire: Just A Few Important Words About The Declaration Of Independence : The Two-Way : NPR Just A Few Important Words About The Declaration Of Independence Embed Embed Just A Few Important Words About The Declaration Of Independence Just A Few Important Words About The Declaration Of Independence Embed Embed Artist John Trumbull's Declaration of Independence. It can be seen in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. /Library of Congress hide caption toggle caption /Library of Congress Artist John Trumbull's Declaration of Independence. It can be seen in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. /Library of Congress "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." It's Independence Day. Let's take a break from parades, patriotic songs and pyrotechnics to think about the Declaration of Independence, which was adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. The Declaration of Independence. National Archives hide caption toggle caption The Declaration of Independence. National Archives The line at the top of this post has the words that are probably most remembered.

But today, let's focus on a few words and phrases that have not have gotten as much attention. They are important in understanding the messages that were sent by Thomas Jefferson and those who helped him write the declaration. For guidance, we turned to Stephen Lucas , the Evjue-Bascom professor in the humanities at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He's the author of " The Stylistic Artistry of the Declaration of Independence ," a paper that's one of the first things you see on the National Archives' Web pages about the declaration . — "Necessary," "one people" and "another" Jefferson got right to the point in the introduction: "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." "Necessary," according to Lucas, "is the most important word" in that section. It makes the case that colonists had no choice. They had to break away.

Article continues after sponsorship Thomas Jefferson, president, statesman and principal author of the Declaration of Independence. National Archives hide caption toggle caption National Archives It's also a word that rebutted a British view. "It was very important to the British that the colonists be labeled 'rebels,' " Lucas said this week when we spoke to him by telephone. "The colonists wanted to ensure that they not be labeled as rebels." If revolution was "necessary," then they weren't rebels. That position was supported by the idea that the colonists were "one people" who needed to separate themselves from "another" (the British). They weren't subjects, or second-class citizens in any way. They were equals. The message wasn't just for American or British audiences. The declaration was telling the world that this wasn't a civil war between rebels and rulers. Potential allies such as the French might have wanted to avoid being part of that type of conflict. — "Facts ... submitted to a candid world" A large section of the declaration is devoted to a list of grievances against King George III.

The section is introduced with these lines: "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." That last sentence, Lucas wrote in his paper, "is so innocuous one can easily overlook its artistry and importance. The opening phrase — 'To prove this' — indicates the 'facts' to follow will indeed prove that George III is a tyrant. But prove to whom? To a 'candid world' — that is, to readers who are free from bias or malice, who are fair, impartial, and just." "Submitted" is also an interesting word choice. The "facts" were not being "suggested" or "alleged." They were being presented as what Jefferson and the others saw them — the truth. — A chiasmus: "Enemies in War, in Peace Friends" The declaration includes a message aimed straight at the British people.

Like their king, it reads, the British were "deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity." (Descent from the same ancestor.) But, the declaration adds, Americans will treat the British people "as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends." Today, a speechwriter would very likely had ended that section with "enemies in war, friends in peace." But the declaration employs a chiasmus. That's a rhetorical device in which the second of two parallel phrases is inverted. In this case, "Friends" was placed at the end of the phrase. The purpose, Lucas said, is to "slow the text." Especially when the line is read aloud, as the declaration would have been to crowds at the time, the chiasmus forces listeners to concentrate on the message: That the Americans were reasonable people being forced to take up arms, but that they would surely be friends with the British again some day. Obviously, there's much more that could be said about the language of the declaration.

In his paper, Lucas digs deep and notes that the declaration "gradually becomes a kind of drama, with its tensions expressed more and more in personal terms." Today is a good day to study it again , to listen to Morning Edition's annual reading and to see if you agree with Lucas' conclusions. We hope you enjoy Independence Day. Mark Memmott is NPR's standards and practices editor. He co-hosted The Two Way from its launch in May 2009 through April 2014. America's Founding Documents | National Archives America's Founding Documents These three documents, known collectively as the Charters of Freedom, have secured the rights of the American people for more than two and a quarter centuries and are considered instrumental to its founding and philosophy of the United States. Declaration of Independence The Charters of Freedom The Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights, collectively known as the Charters of Freedom, have guaranteed the rights and freedoms of Americans for over 200 years.

The spectacular new book The Charters of Freedom-"A New World Is At Hand" written by Alice Kamps, Curator at the National Archives, showcases the National Archives' renovated Rotunda, the newly re-encased Charters of Freedom, and the exhibition that flanks their permanent display. The book describes the dramatic events that culminated in these historic documents, the materials and techniques used in their creation and conservation, and their adventures on the road to a permanent safe haven at the National Archives. The Charters of Freedom Bundle Facsimiles These elegant facsimiles on parchment paper of the Charters of Freedom: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, are all three here offered to you in one bundle. These historic facsimiles are perfect for educational purposes or to decorate your home or office. Please note: The Constitution facsimile in this bundle has all four pages of the original document on one sheet. The original Charters of Freedom are on permanent display in the Rotunda at the National Archives Museum. The Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom Located on the upper level of the National Archives museum, is the permanent home of the original Declaration of Independence, Constitution of the United States, and Bill of Rights.

Designed by architect John Russell Pope as a shrine to American democracy, the ornate Rotunda with its soaring domed ceiling also features two murals by Barry Faulkner, depicting fictional scenes of the “presentations” of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Declaration of Independence - American Revolution - HISTORY.com Declaration of Independence A+E Networks Introduction 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. Google 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. Jefferson Drafts the Declaration of the Indpendence 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 Vote 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 July 4 (though most historians now accept that the document was not signed until August 2). As the first formal statement by a nation’s people asserting their right to choose their own government, 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. Tags Latino Rebels | The Declaration of Independence: The Full Text in English…. and Spanish by Latino Rebels The Declaration of Independence: The Full Text in English…. and Spanish It is still one of the greatest documents ever written.

Take a moment to just read it, and separate it from the historical context and how this country was formed. This Declaration of Independence , signed 236 years ago today, was in its essence, rebellious in nature. A huge FU to a King. The United States was formed through dissent (and many would say violence, genocide, and brutality). But that is not what this post is about. It is about a document that represented the collective minds of a band of white men who where living in the 18th century. Through action, they stood for something. There was a call for equality, even though that equality was very limited in 1776. Still, it was a start. The question for to ask: how does this document apply to us today in 2012? What does it say to us about Americans? Who abuses this document and who tries to be inspired by it? Who uses it to justify hate towards humans and who uses it to promote true equality? This post not only contains the full text of the Declaration, but also a Spanish translation we found from 1821. 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. From Semanario Político, Económico y Literario, Dec. 12, 1821.

Cuando en el curso de los acontecimientos humanos se hace necesario para un pueblo disolver los lazos políticos que le han unido con otro y asumir entre los poderes de la tierra, el rango separado é igual, para el cual lo habilitan las leyes de la naturaleza y de su Autor; un respeto decente por la opinion del género humano requiere que él declare las causas que le impelen á la separacion.

Nosotros creemos ser evidente en sí mismo, que todos los hombres nacen iguales y dotados por su Criador de ciertos derechos inagenables: que entre estos son los principales la seguridad de la libertad y la vida, que constituyen la humana felicidad: que para asegurar estos derechos se instituyeron entre los hombres los gobiernos, derivando sus justos poderes del consentimiento de los pueblos: que siempre que cualquiera forma de gobierno se haga destructiva de estos fines, toca al derecho imprescriptible de la sociedad alterarla, ó abolirla y escablecer otra nueva, zanjando sus fundamentos sobre aquellos principios, y organizando sus poderes de la manera que juzgue mas conducente para el efecto de su seguridad y felicidad.

La prudencia á la verdad dicta que los gobiernos establecidos no se varien por causas ligeras y transeuntes; y consta por la esperiencia que el género humano está mas dispuesto á sufrir, mientras que los males son soportables, que á hacerse justicia aboliendo las formas del gobierno á que ha estado acostumbrado. Pero cuando una larga serie de abusos y usurpaciones, continuando invariablemente al mismo fin, hace patente ser el designio de los gobernantes, oprimir al pueblo con absoluto despotismo; toca al derecho de este y á su deber, el desechar un gobierno semejanre y proveer nuevas guardas para su seguridad futura. Tal ha sido el paciente sufrimiento de estas colonias; y tal es ahora la necessidad que las compele á alterar su antiguo sistema. La historia del presente Rey de la Gran-Bretaña, es una historia de repetidas injurias y usurpaciones, cuyo objeto principal es y ha sido el establecimiento de una absoluta tirania sobre estos estados.

Para probar esto, sometemos los hechos al juicio de un mundo imparcial. El ha reusado asentir á las leyes mas convenientes y necesarias al bien público de estas colonias, prohibiendo á sus gobernadores sancionar aun aquellas que eran de inmediata y urgente necesidad á menosque se suspendiese su ejecucion hasta obtener su consentimiento, y estando asi suspensas las ha desatendido enteramente. Ha reprobado las providencias dictadas para la reparticion de distritos de los pueblos, exigiendo voilentamente que estos renunciasen el derecho de representacion en sus legislaturas, derecho inestimable para ellos, y formidable solo para los tiranos.

Ha convocado cuerpos legislativos fuera de los lugares acostumbrados, y en sidos distantes del depósito de sus registros públicos con el único fin de molestarlos hasta obligarlos á convenir con sus medidas, y cuando estas violencias no han tenido el efecto que se esperaba, se han disuelto las salas de representantes por oponerse firme y valerosamente á las inovaciones proyectadas contra los derechos del pueblo, reusando por largo tiempo despues de desolacion semejante que se eligiesen otros, por lo que los poderes legislativos incapaces de aniquilacion, han recaido sobre el pueblo para su ejercicio, quedando el estado entre tanto, espuesto á todo el peligro de una invasion esterior y de convulsiones internas.

El se ha esforzado á estobar los progresos de la poblacion en estos estados, obtruyendo á este fin las leyes para la naturalizacion de los estrangeros, reusando sancionar otras para promover su establecimiento en ellos, y prohibiéndoles adquirir nuevas propiedades en estos paises. En el órden judical ha ostruido la administracion de justicia, oponiéndose á las leyes necesarias para consolidar la autoridad de los tribunales, creando jueces que dependen solamente de su voluntad, por recibir de él el nombramiento de sus empleos y pagamento de sus sueldos, y mandando un emjambre de oficiales para oprimir nuestro pueblo y empobrecerlo con sus estafas y rapiñas.

Ha atentado á la libertad civil de los ciudadanos, manteniendo en tiempo de paz entre nosotros tropas armadas, sin el consentimiento de nuestra legislatura: procurando hacer al militar independiente y superior al poder civil: combinando con nuestros vecinos, con plan despódco para sujetarnos á una jurisdiccion estraña á nuestras leyes y no reconocida por nuestra constitucion: destruyendo nuestro tráfico en todas las parte del mundo y poniendo conribuciones sin nuestro consentimiento: privándonos en muchos casos de las defensas que proporciona el juicio por jurados: transportándonos mas allá de los mares para ser juzgados por delitos supuestos: aboliendo el libre sistema de la ley inglesa en una provincia confinante: alterando fundamentalmente las formas de nuestros gobiernos y nuestras propias legislaturas y declarándose el mismo investido con el poder de dictar leyes para nosotros en todos los casps, cualesquiera que fuesen.

El ha abdicado el derecho que tenia para gobernarnos, declarándonos la guerra y poniéndonos fuera de su proteccion: haciendo el pillage en nuestros mares: asolando nuestras costas: quitando la vida á nuestros conciudadanos y poniéndonos á merced de numerosos ejércitos estrangeros para completar la obra de muerte, desolacion y tirania comenzada y continuada con circunstancias de crueldad y pertidia totalmente indignas del gefe de una nacion civilizada. Ha compelido á nuestros conciudadanos hechos prisioneros en alta mar á llevar armas contra su pátria, constituyéndose verdugos de sus hermanos y amigos: exitando insurrecciones domésticas, y procurando igualmente irritar contra nosotros á los habitantes de las fronteras, los indios bárbaros y feroces cuyo método conocido de hacer la guerra, es la destruccion de todas las edades, sexos y condiciones.

A cada grado de estas opresiones, nosotros hemos suplicado por la reforma en los términos mas humildes: nuestras súplicas han sido contestadas solamente por repetidas injurias. Un príncipe, pues, cuyo caracter está asi marcado por todos los actors que pueden definir á un tirano, no es apto para ser el gobernador de un pueblo libre. Tampoco hemos faltado á la consideracion debida hácia nuestros hermanos los habitantes de la Gran-Bretaña: les hemos advertido de tiempo en tiempo el atentado cometido por su legislatura en estender una ilegitima jurisdiccion sobre las nuestras. les hemos recordado las circunstancias de nuestra emigracion y establecimiento en estos paises: hemos apelado á su natural justicia y magnanimidad, conjurándolos por los vínculos de nuestro origen comun á renunciar esas usurpaciones que inevitablemente acabarian por interrumpir nuestra correspondencia y conexiones. ellos han sido tambien sordos á la voz de la justicia y consanguinidad.

Nosotros debemos por tanto someternos á la necesidad que anuncia nuestra separacion, y mirarlos como al resto del género humano: enemigos en guerra, y en paz amigos. Los representantes, pues, de los Estados-Unidos, juntos en Congreso general, apelando al Juez supremo del universo, por la rectitud de nuestras intenciones, en el nombre y con la autoridad del pueblo de estas colonias, publicamos y declaramos: que ellas son, y por derecho deben ser estados libres é independientes: que estan absueltas de toda obligacion de fidelidad á la corona británica: que toda conexion política entre ellas y el estado de las Gran-Bretaña, es y debe ser totalmente disuelta, y que como estados libres é independientes, tienen un pleno poder para hacer la guerra, concluir la paz, contraer alianzas, establecer comercio y hacer todos los otros actos que los estados independientes pueden por derecho efectuar.

Y para sostener esta declaracion, con una firme confianza en la proteccion divina, nosotros empeñamos mutuamente nuestras vidas, nuestras fortunas y nuestro sagrado honor. Firmado por órden del Congreso. Full Text of the Declaration of Independence - ABC News ABC News The United States Declaration of Independence 0 Shares Email 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.

Click here to see the full image of the Declaration of Independence 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 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 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 complete 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 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.

— John Hancock New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton Massachusetts: John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry 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: Caesar Rodney, George Read, 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 0 Shares Texas Declaration of Independence | TSLAC Texas Declaration of Independence The Declaration of November 7, 1835, passed

 by the Consultation announced that the Texan war against Mexico principally intended to restore the Mexican Constitution of 1824, abrogated by the actions of President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, and to achieve separate Mexican statehood for Texas.

The members of the Consultation had hoped to attract popular support for the Texan cause from the other Mexican states. By the time the Convention of 1836 met at Washington-on-the-Brazos on March 1, 1836, such temporizing was no longer acceptable. On the first day, Convention President Richard Ellis appointed George C. Childress, James Gaines, Edward Conrad, Collin McKinney, and Bailey Hardeman a committee to draft a Declaration of Independence. George Childress, the committee chairman, is generally accepted as the author of the Texas Declaration of Independence, with little help from the other committee members. Since the six-page document was submitted for a vote of the whole convention on the following day, Childress probably already had a draft version of the document with him when he arrived. As the delegates worked, they received regular reports on the ongoing siege on the Alamo by the forces of Santa Anna's troops. A free and independent Republic of Texas was officially declared March 2, 1836, when the 59 delegates -- each representing one of the settlements in Texas -- approved the Texas Declaration of Independence.

After the delegates signed the original declaration, 5 copies were made and dispatched to the designated Texas towns of Bexar, Goliad, Nacogdoches, Brazoria, and San Felipe. 1,000 copies were ordered printed in handbill form. According to the endorsement on the Declaration of Independence, this original copy was deposited by Commissioner to the United States William H. Wharton with the United States Department of State in Washington, D.C. It was not returned to Texas until some time after June 1896. George C. Childress - Credited as the author of the Texas Declaration of Independence

Question: What are the first words of the US Declaration of Independence?
Answer: When in the course of human events ...