The Declaration of Independence is a document that states that the said country is free and independent.
United States Declaration of Independence originally published on July 4, 1776.
It outlines three basic ideas: that God made all men equal, the government's main job is to protect the rights of its citizens, and that when a government violates those rights, people have the right to revolt.
The document was originally presented to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia on July 2, 1776 and was approved with minor changes.
Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin were among the original signers of the Declaration of Independence. They were members of a committee that helped draft the document.
The Declaration of Independence had 56 signers. John Hancock was the first signer.
In the Declaration, Jefferson explained that people have the right to change their government, and that governments fail when they no longer have the consent of the governed and cited numerous examples where the monarchy in Britain was violating the rights of American colonists.
While the American Declaration of Independence's original wording did not gain prominence right away, its spirit continued to cause ripples.
The French Revolution of 1789 and the Haitian Revolution shortly followed, and many Latin American countries continued their struggle for freedom from colonial powers.
The Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh cited the American Declaration of Independence when he declared Vietnam's independence from the French Empire.