INDEPENDENCE DAY - THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IS 237 YEARS OLD

The Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the 13 American colonies, then at war with Great Britain, regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. Instead they formed a union that would become a new nation—the United States of America.John Adams was a leader in pushing for independence, which was unanimously approved on July 2. A committee had already drafted the formal declaration, to be ready when congress voted on independence.

Adams persuaded the committee to select Thomas Jefferson to compose the original draft of the document,^[2] which congress would edit to produce the final version. The Declaration was ultimately a formal explanation of why Congress had voted on July 2 to declare independence from Great Britain, more than a year after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. The national birthday, the Independence Day is celebrated on July 4, although Adams wanted July 2.

After ratifying the text on July 4, Congress issued the Declaration of Independence in several forms. It was initially published as the printed Dunlap broadside that was widely distributed and read to the public. The most famous version of the Declaration, a signed copy that is popularly regarded as theDeclaration of Independence, is displayed at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Although the wording of the Declaration was approved on July 4, the date of its signing was August 2.^[3] The original July 4 United States Declaration of Independence manuscript was lost while all other copies have been derived from this original document.^[4]

The sources and interpretation of the Declaration have been the subject of much scholarly inquiry. The Declaration justified the independence of the United States by listing colonial grievances against King George III, and by asserting certain natural and legal rights, including a right of revolution. Having served its original purpose in announcing independence, references to the text of the Declaration were few for the next four score years. Abraham Lincoln made it the centerpiece of his rhetoric (as in theGettysburg Address of 1863), and his policies. Since then, it has become a major statement onhuman rights, particularly its second sentence:

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.

This has been called "one of the best-known sentences in the English language",^[5] containing "the most potent and consequential words in American history."^[6] The passage came to represent a moral standard to which the United States should strive. This view was notably promoted byAbraham Lincoln, who considered the Declaration to be the foundation of his political philosophy, and argued that the Declaration is a statement of principles through which the United States Constitution should be interpreted.^[7] It has inspired work for the rights of marginalized people throughout the world.^{[citation needed]} It provided inspiration to numerous national declarations of independence throughout the world.

Contents   [hide]  1 Background 1.1 Congress convenes 2 Toward independence 2.1 Revising instructions 2.2 May 15 preamble 2.3 Lee's resolution and the final push 3 Draft and adoption 4 Annotated text of the Declaration 5 Influences 6 Signing 7 Publication and reaction 8 History of the documents 9 Legacy 9.1 Influence in other countries 9.2 Revival of interest 9.3 Slavery and the Declaration 9.4 Lincoln and the Declaration 9.5 Women's suffrage and the Declaration 9.6 In popular culture 10 Notes 11 References 12 External links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence