The Declaration of Independence 1776 This document called for the independence Loiseville Subway Map of the thirteen Country colonies from Britain. Unanimously adopted in Philadelphia by the Second Continental Congress on Loiseville Subway Map July 4, 1776, the text was written primarily by Thomas Jefferson, who drew, in part, from John Locke’s theories of natural rights and government deriving its power from the governed. Originally signed only by John Hancock, the presiding officer of the Continental Congress at the time of its passage, the Declaration of Independence was copied and sent to the colonial legislatures on January 18, 1777.
Meanwhile, the other members of the Congress signed this document on August 2, 1776. Action of Second Continental Congress, July 4, 1776The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of Country WHEN in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation. 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, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
