How Did the Declaration of Independence Come To Be?
Harini Senthilkumar
Harini Senthilkumar
In the early 1760 and 1770s, the North American colonists disagreed with the British policies about taxing and the frontier policy. When the North American colonists tried repeatedly to protest, they realized that it failed to change the British policies. Despite these protests, the colonial leaders decided to rejoin with the British Government, but most members of congress were declining the offer to declare independence.
In 1775, Benjamin Franklin, who was a member of the Secret Committee of Correspondence, told French agents that the colonies were leaning towards independence. In 1775–1776, the members of the Continental Congress were on the same page with Britain and independence was the only path available to them. On December 22, 1775, the British Parliament prohibited trade with the colonies. Congress responded in April 1776 by opening colonial ports.
On February 1776, colonial leaders were discussing the possibility of forming alliances and began to draft a Model Treaty that would serve as a major step for the alliance with France. On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee proposed the resolution of independence for the American colonies in the Second Continental Congress. Other members of Congress were coming around for the idea, but some colonies were not quite ready.
However, Congress formed a committee and told Thomas Jefferson to draft the Declaration of Independence. Benjamin Franklin and John Adams reviewed Jefferson’s draft. The committee presented the final draft before Congress on June 28, 1776, Congress then adopted the final text of the Declaration of Independence on July 4.
