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Declaration of Independence

Declarations and Foundational Rights Instruments

The Declaration of Independence is the document by which the thirteen American colonies announced their separation from Great Britain in 1776, setting out the political principles used to justify that separation. It was principally drafted by Thomas Jefferson.

Facts
Year
1776 1
Key Provision
Declares the thirteen American colonies independent of Great Britain, grounding the act in the proposition that all men are created equal and endowed with unalienable rights including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, and that a people may alter or abolish a government destructive of those ends, before closing with a lengthy bill of particular grievances against King George III. 1
Classification
Document Type
Declaration or Manifesto 1
Original Language
English 2
Connections

Associated With

Consent of the Governed, Political Concepts

The Declaration of Independence (1776) directly invokes the principle, holding that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.

Source Declaration of Independence, 1776 (National Archives)

Drafted By

Thomas Jefferson, Political Figures
Source Thomas Jefferson (Britannica)

Influenced

Consent of the Governed, Political Concepts
Source Declaration of Independence, 1776 (National Archives)
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, Documents

Lafayette drafted the 1789 Declaration with input from Jefferson, then serving as the United States minister to France.

Source Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (Elysee)
Popular Sovereignty, Political Concepts
Source Declaration of Independence, 1776 (National Archives)

Influenced By

American Revolution, Movements

The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration on 4 July 1776, a year into the fighting.

Source American Revolution (Britannica)
John Locke, Political Figures

Shaped

United States, Countries
Sources
1. Declaration of Independence, 1776 (National Archives)
U.S. National Archives
  • Document type, description
    The Declaration of Independence is the document by which the thirteen American colonies announced their separation from Great Britain in 1776, setting out the political principles used to justify that separation.
  • Associated With: Consent of the Governed
  • Influenced: Consent of the Governed
  • Influenced: Popular Sovereignty
View the Source
2. U.S. National Archives: Declaration of Independence: A Transcription
U.S. National Archives
  • Opening line of the transcription
    The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
  • In Group: National Declarations, Petitions and Charters of Rights, Page text
    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.
View the Source
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (Elysee)
Elysee (French Presidency)Influenced: Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the CitizenView the Source
American Revolution (Britannica)
Encyclopaedia BritannicaInfluenced By: American RevolutionView the Source
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