Declaration of Independence

Why did America declare independence?

→ The Americans protested because the British Parliament was taxing them without consent or representation

→ To quiet the discontent and enforce tax laws, military forces were sent to the colonies

→ Friction between colonists and soldiers led to battles (Lexington and Concord were the first conflicts)

→ Henry Lee purposed America declare independence and authority for this congress to vote to officially end the relationship with Great Britain

Declaration of Independence Creation

→ 1776; Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia
→ Thomas Hefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston drafted a full, official statement to summarize the colonist’s views 

→ July 4th, 1776, the document was approved and became the Declaration of independence

Content of the Declaration of Independence

Drafted by Thomas Jefferson which the help of Adam Smith and Benjamin Franklin

Natural Rights: Fundamental rights that’re inherent to all individuals and cannot be taken away

Popular Sovereignty: All government power is derived from the consent of the governed

Purpose

To declare independence from the government and explain how abuses by too powerful British Crown violated natural rights and self-rule

This foundational document drew from enlightenment philosophers and upheld popular sovereignty

Aftermath

→ revolutionary war intensified

→ the colonies (now states) created the Articles of Confederation to have a more official government (nation's first constitution)

→ war continued till general george washington's army defeated the british at yorktown, virginia, 1781

→ treaty of paris 1783 officially ended the war