Declaration of Independence
On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress, meeting
in Philadelphia in the Pennsylvania State House (now Independence
Hall), approved the Declaration
of Independence, severing the colonies' ties to the British
Crown.
Library of Congress Web Site | External
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A
Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation
The text of the Declaration
of Independence appears in the Journals
of the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.
Additional references to the Declaration of Independence
can be found in the Journals of the
Continental Congress on the following dates in
1776:
- June
7 - Richard Henry Lee introduced a resolution urging
Congress to declare independence from Great Britain.
- June
11 - Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin,
Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston were appointed
to a committee to draft a declaration of independence.
- June
28 - A fair copy of the committee draft of the Declaration
of Independence was read in Congress.
- July
1-4 - Congress debated and revised the Declaration
of Independence.
- July
2 - Congress declared independence by adopting the
Lee Resolution.
- July
4 - Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence.
- July
19 - Congress ordered the Declaration of Independence
engrossed (officially inscribed) and signed by members.
- August
2 - The engrossed copy of the Declaration of Independence
was signed by most of the delegates. Elbridge Gerry,
Oliver Wolcott, Lewis Morris, Thomas McKean, and Matthew
Thornton all signed on a later date.
A printed copy of the final version of the Declaration
of Independence is available in the United
States Statutes at Large and Elliot's
Debates.
Documents
from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention,
1774-1789
In 1777, Mary
Katherine Goddard printed the first official copy
of the Declaration of Independence with the names of the
signers attached.
George
Washington Papers at the Library of Congress
Includes his General
Orders for July 9, 1776 announcing the Declaration
of Independence to the Continental Army in New York. Also
contains Washington's printed
copy of the Declaration of Independence.
Search
this collection to find additional documents related to
the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution.
The
James Madison Papers
Contains Thomas
Jefferson's notes on debates in the Continental Congress
from 1776, including Jefferson's copy of the Declaration
of Independence as amended by Congress.
The
Thomas Jefferson Papers at the Library of Congress
Includes Jefferson's Notes
on Debates and Proceedings on Declaration of Independence
and Articles of Confederation, Continental Congress, June
7, 1776. Search
this collection to find additional papers related to the
Declaration of Independence, including Jefferson's rough
draft.
Words
and Deeds in American History
On July 6, 1776, John
Hancock sent George Washington a copy of the resolution
concerning the reading of the Declaration of Independence
to the Revolutionary army.
Meet
Amazing Americans: Thomas Jefferson - The Declaration of
Independence
American
Treasures of the Library of Congress - Declaration of Independence
This online exhibition contains Jefferson's rough draft
of the Declaration, with emendations by John Adams and
Benjamin Franklin. Also includes a fragment of an early
draft of the document, a letter to Roger Weightman with
Jefferson's reflections on the Declaration, Jefferson's
draft of the Virginia Constitution, and an excerpt from
Henry Home, Lord Kames' Essays on
the Principles of Morality and Natural Religion
regarding the pursuit of happiness.
Creating
the United States
This online exhibition offers insights into how the
nation’s founding documents were forged and the
role that imagination and vision played in the unprecedented
creative act of forming a self–governing country.
The exhibition includes a section on creating the Declaration
of Independence.
Declaring
Independence: Drafting the Documents
This exhibition includes a timeline of events related
to the Declaration and a detailed essay on the drafting
of the documents. Also contains images of the Dunlap Broadside
and a number of prints portraying the debating and signing
of the Declaration of Independence.
April
12, 1776
The Provincial Congress of North Carolina authorized
its delegates to the Continental Congress to vote for
independence.
July
4, 1776
The Declaration of Independence was enacted on July 4,
1776.
Publishing
the Declaration of Independence
Robin Shields discusses the American Declaration of Independence,
focusing on its distribution through early American newspapers.
Fifteen newspapers containing the Declaration from the
Library of Congress' Serial and Government Publication
Division's American newspaper collection are profiled.
Shields highlights the importance of newspapers for the
success of the American Revolution and the influence newspaper
printers had on the independence movement.
Charters
of Freedom, Declaration of Independence, National Archives
and Records Administration
Declaration
of Independence, USHistory.org
Our
Documents, Declaration of Independence, National Archives
and Records Administration
Signers
of the Declaration: Historic Places Commemorating the Signing
of the Declaration of Independence, National Park Service
Boyd, Julian P. The Declaration of
Independence: The Evolution of the Text. Rev. ed.
Charlottesville: International Center for Jefferson Studies
at Monticello in association with the Library of Congress,
1999. [Catalog
Record]
Cook, Don. The Long Fuse: How Britain
Lost the American Colonies, 1760-1785. New York:
Atlantic Monthly Press, 1995. [Catalog
Record]
Gerber, Scott Douglas, ed. The Declaration
of Independence: Origins and Impact. Washington,
D.C.: CQ Press, 2002. [Catalog
Record]
Maier, Pauline. American Scripture:
Making the Declaration of Independence. New York:
Knopf, 1997. [Catalog
Record]
Wood, Gordon. The American Revolution.
New York: Modern Library, 2002. [Catalog
Record]
Fradin, Dennis B. The Signers: The
Fifty-Six Stories Behind the Declaration of Independence.
New York: Walker, 2002. [Catalog
Record]
Freedman, Russell. Give Me Liberty!:
The Story of the Declaration of Independence. New
York: Holiday House, 2000. [Catalog
Record]
Graves, Kerry A. The Declaration of
Independence: The Story Behind America's Founding Document.
Philadelphia: Chelsea Clubhouse, 2004. [Catalog
Record]
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