Declaration of Independence

There are many political documents that have made significance on this country today. They are the reason why we live the way we do today. They are what make this country what it is today. These documents give us the freedom in this country that others lack. One of these political documents would me the Declaration of Independence. It is essentially a document that justifies how the American Revolution is presented to the world. It also presents its unique combination of general principals and an abstract theory of government and specific grievances and injustices. It has given it enduring power as one of the great political documents of the west.

Few political documents have affected the world quite like the American Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence is the historic document in which the American Colonies declared freedom from Britain. The meaning of the document goes well beyond the immediate circumstances of the time. England had been waging war against the Americans for 14 months, since the shot heard around the world at concord, and when General Washington was already moving a growing continental army toward New York, when the colonists decided to put into effect the final break. The Second Continental congress, a meeting of delegates from the colonies, adopted the Declaration on July 4, 1776. This date has been declared as the birthday of the United States.

The Declaration of Independence expressed the colonies reasons for rejecting British rule. The opening paragraph states that the people of every country have the right to over throw any government that violates their essential rights. The remainder of the document listed ways the British had violated American rights. The ideas expressed in the Declaration have long inspired the pursuit of freedom and self-government throughout the world.

The events that led to the Declaration were that the American leaders repeatedly challenged the British Parliament to raise taxes. These taxes were the Stamp Act, Townshed Acts, and the Tea Act. The Stamp Act was a tax that required colonists to pay for tax stamps placed on various legal documents. The Townshed Acts were placed on imported goods. The Tea Act made British tea cheaper than tea the colonists had been smuggling into the colonies. The British hoped the colonists would purchase the tea at the lower price so they can tax the colonists. The people in Boston did not agree with this tax (Shi, Tindall 222).

On May 10, 1775, the Second Continental Congress hoped that the king would help resolve the colonist's differences with Parliament. When the Second Continental Congress, which was essentially the government of the United States From 1775 to 1788, first met in May 1775, King George III had not replied to the petition for redress of complaint that he had sent by the First Continental Congress. The congress gradually took on the responsibilities of a national government. By the end of July of 1775 they created the post office for the "United Colonies" (Freedman 46).

In 1776, the political writer Thomas Paine published Common Sense. This pamphlet attacked the concept of monarchy and made a powerful case for the independence of the American Colonies (Shi, Tindall 233). On May 15, 1776, the Virginia Convention passed a resolution that "the delegates appointed to represent this colony in General be instructed to propose to that respectable body, to declare the United Colonies free and independent states" (Cooke 81) which led to the freedom we have now and giving each state the ability to apply to some different laws.

On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced resolution to the second continental congress stating that "these United Colonies are and of right ought to be, free and independent StatesÐ'..." (Shi, Tindall 234). After several days of debate, the Continental Congress appointed a committee of five men. Those five men were Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Robert Livingston of New York, and Roger Sherman of Connecticut to draft a Declaration of Independence (Shi, Tindall 234).

Jefferson drew upon two sources: his own draft preamble to the Virginia's Declaration of Rights. Colonists believed they no longer thought them selves safe from British oppression. The quest for political liberty and the natural rights of man brought Jefferson to write the Declaration of Independence. The congress made eighty-six changes in Jefferson's Declaration, including shortening its overall length by one-forth (Shi, Tindall 236).

On July 2, congress