The Declaration of Independence
Thomas Jefferson 1776
This public declaration explains why thirteen American colonies chose to break from British rule. Its complaints against King George III include his refusal to approve laws needed for the public good.
6 pages 6 min reading time
- The founding document of the United States and one of the most famous statements of human rights ever written.
- Argues that all people are created equal and are born with rights that no government can take away, including "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
- Argues that governments get their power from the people they rule, so when a government destroys those rights, the people may change it or replace it.
- Its words on equality were taken up by later movements in the United States, from the women's rights meeting at Seneca Falls in 1848 to Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr.
- It became a model for later declarations of independence and rights around the world, including the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in 1789.
Dead slave trade passage
Congress cut Jefferson's long attack on the slave trade, to his lasting frustration.
Written in about seventeen days
Jefferson drafted it in rented rooms in Philadelphia, then Franklin and Adams suggested changes.
Many words cut by Congress
Over two days, Congress removed about a quarter of Jefferson's draft, which upset him deeply.
Hidden during two wars
The signed copy was moved for safekeeping when the British burned Washington and during World War II.