Documents

Declaration of Independence

Citation Formats

General Reference

Political Atlas. "Declaration of Independence." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-political.interactiveatlas.org/documents/declaration-of-independence.

APA Style

Political Atlas. (n.d.). Declaration of Independence. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-political.interactiveatlas.org/documents/declaration-of-independence

BibTeX

@misc{politicalatlas-declaration-of-independence,
  author = {Political Atlas},
  title = {Declaration of Independence},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-political.interactiveatlas.org/documents/declaration-of-independence},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

The Declaration of Independence is the document by which the thirteen American colonies announced their separation from Great Britain in 1776, setting out the political principles used to justify that separation. It was principally drafted by Thomas Jefferson.

Facts

Year

1776 1

Key Provision

Declares the thirteen American colonies independent of Great Britain, grounding the act in the proposition that all men are created equal and endowed with unalienable rights including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, and that a people may alter or abolish a government destructive of those ends, before closing with a lengthy bill of particular grievances against King George III. 1

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Consent of the Governed

The Declaration of Independence (1776) directly invokes the principle, holding that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.

Source Declaration of Independence, 1776 (National Archives)