“We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” - The Declaration of Independence The Declaration of Independence is one of the most famous documents in the history of the United States of America. It helped the colonists declare independence from Great Britain and King George III. It is one of the documents that has made our country what it is today. Without the Declaration many things would be different. After reading this I hope you are able to see what these great men went through to make America’s founding document. On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia presented …show more content…
The debate for that was scheduled for July 1. The draft would be accepted if they voted for independence. When July first finally arrived, the congress started debating whether or not to vote for independence. The debate lasted around 9 hours, they debated from morning, through the afternoon, and into twilight. The first delegate to speak was John Dickinson of Pennsylvania. He said that the timing wasn’t right for independence. Then, John Adams spoke next to answer him. Adams made a masterful presentation explaining why independence was a good idea. After he spoke for more than an hour, new delegates from New Jersey entered the meeting place and asked Adams to repeat his speech. He politely declined, but they insisted he make the speech once more. So he did. This time fixing and editing things as he spoke making the speech better. Once he was done for the second time, after nine hours of debating, it was time to vote. The vote for independence was good with nine states voting yes, but it didn’t feel right to call themselves the United States if they weren’t all together. So they decided to have the final vote for independence the next day, July 2, in hope that the delegates the voted no might change their minds. On July 2, 1776, the Congress made the final vote for independence. This time all the colonies voted “aye” except for New York which didn’t vote because they awaited official confirmation, but they would
Representatives from the 13 colonies on July 4, 1776 signed the Declaration of Independence. They signed the document to gain their freedom from Great Britain.
The colonists declared independence because of the Battle of Bunker Hill. According to the John Adams video, “Many British attacked Bunker Hill against the colonists and burned down their wall. The colonists
Patrick Henry’s speech influenced Virginia to vote for independence. The South followed Virginia’s lead and also declared independence from England. The gap that separated the states that declared independence from those still under England’s rule was now non-existent. This speech really made the United States a reality because it was what really got the colonists on their feet. While the Declaration of Independence and “The Crisis” also influenced the colonists, Patrick Henry’s speech to the Virginia House of Burgesses brought the ‘united’ to the United
In the year 1776, there was an internal struggle within the colonies. It was almost like a game of tug-of-war, but instead it would be called tug-of-independence resulting in war. The Declaration of Independence did not accurately represent the views and wishes of all colonists because there was more than one idea of what the ideal solution to the question of independence. There were two major opinions when it came to the idea of the colonies becoming independent from Britain.
Although the reputation of being a land of the free, the American colonies were quite often filled with people who were not treated as free citizens or as equals. There was an often misunderstanding that the American colonists no longer wanted to British citizens anymore, and although that wasn’t the case, they still got treated fairly bad by the British Parliament. The American colonists still wanted to be viewed as loyal citizens, and seen as equals. Because the British Parliament treated the American colonies unfairly, the American colonists declared their independence to be freed from the British Parliament to be treated as equals.
The Declaration of Independence was perhaps the most pivotal document ever written in American history. In 1776, the second Constitutional Convention met to adopt this bold statement. The most famous portion is the opening, which lays out the foundations of the founding fathers’ philosophy. But much longer is the list of misdeeds that King George had committed upon the colonies.
For example, the document states that a government should be by and for the people and if this is not so, the people have a right to change or overthrow the government (Jefferson). The Declaration of Independence also holds one of the most well-known sentences in the English language, a revolutionary idea that all men are created equal. The original quote reads, “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, and among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” (Jefferson). Part of the quote is borrowed from John Locke, another revolutionary thinker in the colonies. He proposed the phrase as “life, liberty and the pursuit of property” in one of his informational books about various topics affecting humanity. However, a topic that was mostly kept out was slavery. While the Declaration mentioned that all men are created equal, the authors of the document, especially the author Thomas Jefferson with his massive house and farm, owned slaves and did not want to be hypocritical in any
On July 4 1776 in Philadelphia the continental congress and the founding fathers sing the final draft of the Declaration of Independence separating them from britain. The colonist were sick of Great britain’s king using unfair power on them. What were the reason the colonist declared their independence from britain? The colonist wanted independence because they wanted liberty, freedom of choice, and peace.
The Declaration of Independence finally gave the colonists freedom from Britain. The brave patriots decided to write a letter to the king saying that they wanted to be free and cut ties with Britain. The Second Continental Congress met to decide what to do about the Battle of Lexington and Concord. They met at a building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, called Independence hall, in May of 1775, to August of 1776. 55 delegates from all 13 colonies went to vote on a committee to write a letter to say that they wanted to cut ties with Britain. This committee of five included John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, Thomas Jefferson, and the main author, Benjamin Franklin. The Declaration of Independence was approved on July 2nd, 1776,
On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was proved by The 2nd Continental Congress. The ideal of establishing an independence country became the focus. After the victory of Boston, Washington gave up the decision to defend New York City and waited in Long Island. Unfortunately, the Continental Army lost the Brooklyn Heights and hardy could not withdraw onto Manhattan Island. The winter came and situation was really harsh, On Christmas night 1776 Washington suddenly attacked the British garrison at Trenton.
The Declaration of Independence was formed resulting from the treatment of 13 colonies from the British government without representation after subsequent denials to be represented and treated equal. This historic document was revolutionary because it’s what began the transition of our government into a democracy unlike that of parliament in the 1700’s. The British government and their ruling made decisions that didn’t involve what was right for the people; only what was in the best economic interest of parliament. This caused significant hardships on the American colonies which eventually led to them coming together as a people and forming this declaration.
Because of these laws, tensions were created, and had began to show when the Boston Tea Party had occurred. After that, more laws were created, so the colonists decided to create the First Continental Congress and send a list of complaints to King George III that ended up being ignored. The King had continued to ignore the colonies and put a limit on their freedom, resulting in the Second Continental Congress being formed in 1775. On June 7, 1776, after meeting in Philadelphia, Richard Henry Lee stated that the colonies deserve to be free and have their independance from England. The proposal got Americans a lot closer to independence and to governmental unity. This motion was adopted about a month later, on July 2, 1776, but they decided that a more formal “explanation” of separation from England was needed. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence which included some of the many things the King had done wrong. This document was a turning point in history that had broken the connection between England and America. It was said to be the “shout heard round the world” and had inspired many future similar revolutions in other countries. The Declaration of Independance is now an annually celebrated document, on July 4th of each
The thirteen British colonies of North America were slowly going into independence. The people (colonists) were proud of being British, they had no desire to separate from their own country. April 19, 1775 people made calls for independent. Also in that year of July the Second Continental Congress sent the King a request for redress and reconciliation, which Dickinson had to drain indubitably.
and attempted to suppress it. The result of the vote was in favor of independence, and, after
The Declaration of Independence, completed and signed in July of 1776, marked the official separation between the 13 colonies and Great Britain. An armed struggle between the colonies and Britain had begun just over a year before, with the Battles of Lexington and Concord. The formal declaration of independence established the new American revolutionary government and officially declared war against Great Britain. The primary purpose of the declaration was to assist the Second Continental Congress in obtaining aid from foreign countries. The document also clearly outlines the history of abuses the colonists had suffered under British rule since the end of the French