The United States Declaration of Independence, a vital political document, is largely attributed to its primary author Thomas Jefferson, but it was a result of collaboration, debate, and approval by representatives of the thirteen American colonies.
In June 1776, the Second Continental Congress appointed a committee of five - Thomas Jefferson (Virginia), John Adams (Massachusetts), Benjamin Franklin (Pennsylvania), Roger Sherman (Connecticut) and Robert R. Livingston (New York) to draft a declaration explaining why the colonies sought independence from "Great Britain".
The first draft of the United States Declaration of Independence was written by Jefferson that was edited with some changes by Adams and Franklin. The full Congress then debated and revised the text before approving it.
The Declaration was officially adopted on July 4, 1776, by the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia and is marked as the Independence Day in the United States.
The main purpose of the declaration was to formally announce the independence of the thirteen colonies from Great Britain and explain the reasons for doing so and lastly, to present the philosophical principles on which the new nation would be based.
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Significance of the declaration
The declaration's major achievement was the formation of United States as an independent nation. It also inspired democratic movements and declarations of rights around the world.
Established principles of individual rights and government based on the consent of the governed, even though many of those ideals were not fully realized at the time, particularly for enslaved people, women, and Indigenous peoples.
The original document is preserved at the National Archives Building in Washington, where it remains one of the country's most important historical documents.

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