Declaration of Independence

July 4, 1776. Declaration of Independence.

Individual citizens should have rights.

America and India celebrate Independence Day on July 4th.

There was outstanding leadership at all levels in the revolution. There was a combination of minds and spirit that we couldn't begin to repeat today. George Washington was a giant among men; Ben Franklin was a master diplomat. Many European officers volunteered to fight for pay, and there was the Marquis de Lafayette. He was 19 years old when he became a major general in the colonial army. There was General Nathanael Green who in 1781 in North Carolina by his strategy of delay he exhausted the British troops. He finally succeeded in clearing most of GA and SC of British troops. The frontiersman George Rogers Clark came up with an idea to seize forts by surprise in 1778-1779 on the Ohio River. He organized 175 men and captured Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Vincennes forts. The end result was his occupation of the southwest corner of the great north of the Ohio forced the British to cede the whole region to the US at the peace table in Paris.

The infant navy had some daring officers of whom the most famous was John Paul Jones. The navy never did make a real dent in the British fleet, but they contributed by destroying the British merchant shipping, and bringing the war to the waters around the British Isles. Added to this was the fast small privateers that had about 70,000 seamen and they captured some 600 British prizes.

All in all there were a lot of nameless men and women who fought in the American revolution to make this country. One person that isn't written about much is the French Admiral de Grasse who, along with Rochambeau, helped Washington corner Cornwallis at Yorktown. While De Grasse blockaded by sea the French/American army beset the British by land. Completely cornered Cornwallis surrendered his entire force of 7000 men on October 19, 1781.

August 2, 1776. On July 4, 1776, only John Hancock and Charles Thomson, Seceretary to the Congress had signed it just to authenticate it as a true copy of what had been adopted. Single page copies were then printed to be sent out to the individual states. Those copies also had only Hancock and Thomson as signatories. On July 19, Congress ordered it to be engrossed on parchment. This larger version is the one that most delegates signed on August 2, 1776.

When Copies of the Declaration of Independence reached England, a civil war broke out. A number of Englishmen wanted their own freedom from King George. Men and supplies meant for America were diverted to put down the revolt. English armies also had to fight in Scotland and Ireland. Two Methodist Preachers, John Wesley and John Fletcher began writing sermons supporting law and order. The Methodist circuit riders preached them. Basically it was the Methodist Circuit Riders that put down the revolt. John Wesley's followers say that because of his circuit riders, England was spared the revolutions that spread across Europe. His critics say the same thing. King George offered John Wesley the position of Chancellor in the government and he offered John Fletcher the position of Prime Minister. Both turned him down.

equality of opportunity

In the preamble of the Declaration of Independence, the writers explain that in order to separate from a state, one must state the reasons for doing so, which prepares the reader to hear the colonist's reasons for separating from Britain. At the end of the Declaration, they state that the colonies should be free and independent and explain the terms of complete independence from Britain.

The United States Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain were now independent states, and thus no longer a part of the British Empire.

More than 50,000 colonists joined the British army.

William Floyd was a delegate from New Jersey to the Second Continental Congress, which debated and the adopted the Declaration of Independence. He signed it because the legislature of New Jersey wanted independence and authorized him to sign it for New Jersey.

It didn't come from a speech but the preamble of the constitution. It has been used in speeches through out our history. Lincoln used it in the Gettysburg address.

they wanted freedom

Yes, provided you are accorded due process of law. See the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.

thomas Jefferson

Yes, he was.

So that every one of the states agreed with the Constitution.

The Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence are two separate and distinct documents. The Declaration of Independence explains why it had become necessary for the United States of America to declare its independence from England. The Bill of Rights listed a number of things that congress can not do.

There is a connection. After the first four long sentences, The Declaration of Independence contains a bill of particulars. Some of the issues in the bill of particulars are in the bill of rights.

You can download the entire Declaration and the entire Constitution and compare the bill of particulars with the Constitution.

The Jefferson Memorial, located in Washington, D.C., is 74,300 square miles, or 192,436 square kilometers. The famous bronze statute of Jefferson, located in the interior of the Memorial building, is 9 feet tall and weighs 10,000 pounds.

May to the beginning of July.

No, not at all.

The declaration of Independence on declared it was free from Britain. It actually avoids the subject of women and slaves.

The emancipation proclamation is what really starts their road to their independence.

Angela Sarukhanyan

The Declaration of Independence showed what the patriots wanted, and the Treaty of Paris made the dream real.

None of the authors, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay, were Anti-Federalists at the time the Federalist Papers were written. James Madison later switched party allegiance and aligned himself with Thomas Jefferson in the Democratic-Republican (Anti-Federalist) Party.