Annotations are notes that explain the meaning of certain words or phrases in a document. The annotations here provide historical background, helping you understand what the writers of the Declaration meant when they wrote it and how other people interpreted their ideas.
Image: Detail from the Declaration of Independence, printed by John Dunlap in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 4, 1776. (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library)
The Continental Congress gave five delegates the job of explaining the colonists’ desire for a new, independent nation. Among them, Thomas Jefferson rose as the main author.
On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress made the fateful decision to break away and forge a new nation. Delegates then fiercely debated the content of the Declaration. On July 4, 1776, they approved the final version.
The Declaration of Independence created a new nation. After the Declaration, colonists became Americans. And the rest of the world paid attention.
Start from the beginning, taking the time to focus on the powerful words of the Declaration of Independence. Feeling a bit stuck? Uncertain of what a word or phrase means? When you click on any highlighted word or phrase, you will see a short summary.
Image: Portrait of Benjamin Franklin by David Martin, 1767. (Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts)
Click any highlighted phrase that catches your attention: You’ll discover a short summary followed by an engaging image, rich historical context, and a list of related resources. Deepen your knowledge with lectures by renowned historians, primary source analysis, and insightful historical essays.
Image: Thomas Jefferson’s “Original Rough Draught” of the Declaration of Independence with minor emendations in the hands of John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, June 1776. (Jefferson Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress)
Click the highlighted phrases to learn more about them.
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776.
BY THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
IN GENERAL CONGRESS ASSEMBLED.
WHEN in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.
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—That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security. Such has been the patient Sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the Necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The History of the present King of Great-Britain is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.
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Eric Slauter is Deputy Dean of the Humanities Division and Master of the Humanities Collegiate Division Associate Professor at the University of Chicago. He is the author of The State as a Work of Art: The Cultural Origins of the Constitution and the forthcoming The Promises of the Declaration of Independence.