Declaration of Dependence
July 4, 1776 the Representatives of the United States declared their independence from King George III of Great Britain. It was the culmination of years of petitions, diplomatic requests and ultimately a key rallying point during the Revolutionary War. The Declaration’s most famous phraseology is: “…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. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” The remainder of the document is a litany of complaints against King George III. Addressing those issues ultimately became the framework for the Constitution which would be fully ratified by all 13 colonies by 1790...14 years after the Declaration. The fundamental premise of the document is individuals have rights and that government exists only when the people who are governed agree to be. Governmen...