Declaration of Independence
On 2 July 1776 the Continental Congress voted for independence; on 4 July it approved the final text of Thomas Jefferson's Declaration. The document had two distinct parts: a preamble setting out a philosophical theory of government — that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed; that when a government violates the natural rights of its citizens, they have the right to alter or abolish it — and a long bill of particulars listing the specific acts of George III that justified revolution. The philosophical preamble synthesised John Locke and the Scottish Enlightenment into the formulation '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.' The Declaration served simultaneously as a legal instrument (announcing the claim to statehood in international law), a diplomatic document (addressed as much to France and Spain as to the colonists), and a statement of political philosophy that would outlast its immediate circumstances. Congress removed Jefferson's passage condemning the slave trade — unacceptable to Southern delegates — producing the founding contradiction between universal rights and chattel slavery that the country would not resolve for 87 years. John Adams, who had nominated Jefferson to draft it, privately preferred 2 July as the anniversary; 4 July became the national holiday through the accident of the formal signing date.
- Year: 1776 CE
- Category: Political
