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The declaration of independence7/31/2023 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 delegates made no changes to that key preamble, however, and the basic document remained Jefferson’s words. 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 Continental Congress reconvened on July 1, and the following day 12 of the 13 colonies adopted Lee’s resolution for independence. The Continental Congress Votes for Independence 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.” In general terms, the introduction effectively stated that seeking independence from Britain had become “necessary” for the colonies. Adams requesting their corrections….I then wrote a fair copy, reported it to the committee, and from them, unaltered to the Congress.”Īs 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. I consented I drew it but before I reported it to the committee I communicated it separately to Dr. As he wrote in 1823, the other members of the committee “unanimously pressed on myself alone to undertake the draught. 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. Thomas Jefferson Writes the Declaration of Independence That document would become known as the Declaration of Independence. Livingston of New York–to draft a formal statement justifying the break with Great Britain. 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. Amid heated debate, Congress postponed the vote on Lee’s resolution and called a recess for several weeks. 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. 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. 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.ĭid 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. News of his words reached America in January 1776, strengthening the radicals’ cause and leading many conservatives to abandon their hopes of reconciliation. 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. 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. America Before the Declaration of IndependenceĮven 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.
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