United States Declaration of Independence

The 1776 document in which the thirteen American colonies declared independence from Great Britain and explained their reasons for doing so.

Natural rights: Rights held by people by virtue of their humanity, rather than granted by governments. The declaration grounds its claim to equality and liberty in rights people possess inherently.
Preamble to the Declaration of Independence: The opening passage explaining why a people may dissolve political ties and must state its reasons. It frames independence as a matter requiring public justification.
American Revolution: The political and military struggle through which thirteen British colonies became the United States. The declaration was a turning point in this wider struggle for independence.
United States: A federal republic founded in 1776 from thirteen former British colonies in North America. The declaration announced the political independence that made the new nation possible.
All men are created equal: A phrase in the Declaration of Independence asserting equality as a foundation for political legitimacy. Its sweeping claim became a standard against which American institutions and practices were judged.
Social contract: A political theory that treats legitimate government as based on an agreement between rulers and the governed. The declaration argues that government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed.
Grievances of the Declaration of Independence: The declaration’s list of accusations against King George III and the British government. The grievances provide the evidence for the document’s charge of repeated abuses.
Second Continental Congress: The assembly of colonial delegates that coordinated the American war effort and declared independence in 1776. It commissioned, debated, revised, and adopted the declaration.
American Revolutionary War: The military conflict from 1775 to 1783 in which the colonies fought Britain for independence. The declaration turned an ongoing rebellion into an explicit war for national independence.
Slavery in the United States: The system of racialized enslavement that existed in the United States from its colonial era until 1865. The declaration’s language of liberty coexisted with slavery, a contradiction that shaped its reception.

Linked from 53 pages