| ST AIDENS - SOUTH AFRICA 4th July - USA |
| The United States was an act of the Second Continental Congress, adopted on July 4, 1776, which declared that the Thirteen Colonies were independent of the Kingdom of Great Britain. The document, formally titled , written chiefly by Thomas Jefferson, explained the justifications for secession from the British crown, and was an expansion of the Lee Resolution (passed by Congress on July 2), which first proclaimed independence. An engrossed copy of the Declaration was signed by most of the delegates on August 2 and is now on display in the National Archives in Washington, D.C. The Declaration is considered to be a preceding founding document of the later formed United States of America, where July 4th is celebrated as Independence Day. At the time the Declaration was issued, the American colonies were "united" in declaring their independence from Great Britain, but were not yet declaring themselves to be a single nation. That union would evolve and take shape during the next few years after the Declaration was issued. U.S. President Abraham Lincoln succinctly explained the central importance of the Declaration to American history in his Gettysburg Address of 1863: History Background As relations between Great Britain and its American colonies became increasingly strained, the Americans set up a shadow government in each colony, with a Continental Congress and Committees of Correspondence linking these shadow governments. As soon as fighting broke out in April 1775, these shadow governments took control of each colony and ousted all the royal officials. That marked the beginning of the American Revolutionary War. Sentiment for outright independence grew rapidly in response to British actions; the options were clarified by Thomas Paine's pamphlet , released in January 1776. Draft and adoption In June of 1776, a committee of the Second Continental Congress consisting of John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, Robert R. Livingston of New York, and Roger Sherman of Connecticut (the "Committee of Five"), was formed to draft a suitable declaration to frame this resolution. The committee decided that Jefferson would write the draft, which he showed to Franklin and Adams. Franklin himself made at least 48 corrections. Jefferson then produced another copy incorporating these changes, and the committee presented this copy to the Continental Congress on June 28, 1776. A formal declaration for independence was delayed on July 2, 1776, pursuant to the "Lee Resolution" presented by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia on June 7, 1776, The full Declaration was reworked somewhat in general session of the Continental Congress. Congress, meeting in Independence Hall in Philadelphia, finished revising Jefferson's draft statement on July 4, approved it, and sent it to a printer. At the signing, Benjamin Franklin is quoted as having stated: "We must all hang together, or assuredly we'll all hang separately," a play on words indicating that failure to stay united and succeed would risk being tried and executed, individually, for treason. |
