United States Declaration of Independence

The United States Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, announcing that the thirteen American colonies regarded themselves as independent states no longer subject to the British Crown. A committee of five, including John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Roger Sherman, chose Thomas Jefferson to write the draft, which Congress revised. Drawing on Enlightenment ideas of natural rights, it asserted that governments derive their just power from the consent of the governed, and it listed grievances against King George III. Independence had in fact been voted two days earlier, and most delegates signed the document in August. It became a model for later independence movements.

Open on the timeline