![]() This was noted by contemporary African-American writers. This line has come to represent a moral standard to which Americans should strive, even if this claim contradicted with the existence of slavery in the United States at the time. The Declaration has become a lasting statement of human rights, especially its claim 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.” What is the legacy of the Declaration of Independence? Most, however, had voted in favour of independence on 2 July 1776. Some of these signatories were not delegates to Congress at the time of the vote for independence, while others who did vote did not sign the Declaration. The large list of delegates who signed the Declaration gave the impression of mutual support and conviction. Image Credit: Alamy Who signed the Declaration of Independence? (2 August 1776)ĥ6 members of Congress began signing the Declaration of Independence on 2 August 1776. John Trumbull’s depiction of the presentation of the draft of the Declaration of Independence to Congress. At the time, he credited the political philosophers John Locke, Montesquieu and a wider struggle for English liberties. The authorship of the Declaration of Independence is usually attributed to Thomas Jefferson, but Jefferson only later gained renown as its author. During the war for independence, and for some time afterwards, it was central to the political utility of the Declaration for it to be thought of as a collective statement. As a result of a resolution passed on 19 July 1776, the word “unanimous” was inserted. There are differences in the wording of the original printing and the final official copy. It was then sent to the printer for publication. The wording of the Declaration of Independence was approved on 4 July 1776. Approval of the Declaration (4 July 1776) It arguably constitutes an early version of the Declaration, from which the Declaration uses the language of “free and independent States” separate from the British Empire. The final paragraph of the large “broadside” paper on which the Declaration was printed repeated the text of the Lee resolution. Proposed by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, this had formally asserted the independence of the Thirteen States when it had passed by Congress on 2 July 1776. ![]() While completing their edits on the Declaration, Congress resumed debating the Lee resolution. Image Credit: Alamy Congress debates the Lee resolution (1 July 1776) An 1823 Stone facsimile of the 1776 United States Declaration of Independence.
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