 Main Author: Thomas Jefferson  Written in Philadelphia at Independence Hall  Accepted July 4, 1776

 Although Thomas Jefferson was the main author, here is Benjamin Franklin editing a draft by Jefferson.

 1. “When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another…”

 “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.” ◦ Social Contract ◦ All men really equal? ◦ Unalienable: cannot be taken away

 A huge list of all the wrongs King George III has done to the colonies. ◦ “He has…...” ◦ This is the longest part of the Declaration

 “These united colonies are, and of right, ought to be free and independent states.”  The Declaration was written to tell the WORLD the colonies are now free

 56 Men signed the Declaration  People were scared to sign it because it was a “Traitors List”  They would be hunted down by the British  Benjamin Franklin’s quote: “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”

 John Hancock stepped up and was the first to sign his name and said “There now the king can read my name without his spectacles”

 Before the Declaration, colonists were fighting for their rights, such as gaining a representative in Parliament.  After the Declaration, colonists were fighting for their independence.