When is declaration of independence

On July 2, , Congress voted to declare independence. Two days later, it ratified the text of the Declaration. John Dunlap, official printer to Congress, worked through the night to set the Declaration in type and print approximately copies. These copies, known as the Dunlap Broadsides, were sent to various committees, assemblies, and commanders of the Continental troops. What Does it Say? When fighting broke out between American colonists and British forces in Massachusetts, the Continental Congress worked with local groups, originally intended to enforce the boycott, to coordinate resistance against the British.

British officials throughout the colonies increasingly found their authority challenged by informal local governments, although loyalist sentiment remained strong in some areas. Despite these changes, colonial leaders hoped to reconcile with the British Government, and all but the most radical members of Congress were unwilling to declare independence.

However, in late , Benjamin Franklin, then a member of the Secret Committee of Correspondence, hinted to French agents and other European sympathizers that the colonies were increasingly leaning towards seeking independence.

While perhaps true, Franklin also hoped to convince the French to supply the colonists with aid. Independence would be necessary, however, before French officials would consider the possibility of an alliance.

Throughout the winter of —, the members of the Continental Congress came to view reconciliation with Britain as unlikely, and independence the only course of action available to them. Franklin and Mr. Adams requesting their corrections…. I then wrote a fair copy, reported it to the committee, and from them, unaltered to the Congress. As Jefferson drafted it, the Declaration of Independence was divided into five sections, including an introduction, a preamble, a body divided into two sections and a conclusion.

Congress officially adopted the Declaration of Independence later on the Fourth of July though most historians now accept that the document was not signed until August 2. The Declaration of Independence became a significant landmark in the history of democracy. In addition to its importance in the fate of the fledgling American nation, it also exerted a tremendous influence outside the United States, most memorably in France during the French Revolution. Together with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights , the Declaration of Independence can be counted as one of the three essential founding documents of the United States government.

But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. A member of a committee of five that also included John Adams of Officially, the Congress declared its freedom from Great Britain on July 2, , when it approved a resolution in a unanimous vote.

After voting on independence on July 2, the group needed to draft a document explaining the move to the public. Thomas Jefferson was the main author. Once the Congress approved the actual Declaration of Independence document on July 4, it was sent to a printer named John Dunlap.