Independence Day

July 4^th

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. -- President Abraham Lincoln

The United States Declaration of Independence was an act of the Second Continental Congress, adopted on July 4, 1776, which declared that the Thirteen Colonies were independent of the Kingdom of Great Britain. The document, formally entitled The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America and written chiefly by Thomas Jefferson, explained the justifications for secession from the British crown, and was an expansion of Richard Henry Lee's Resolution (passed by Congress on July 2), which first proclaimed independence. An engrossed copy of the Declaration was signed by most of the delegates on August 2 and is now on display in the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C.

The Declaration is considered to be a preceding founding document of the later formed United States of America, where July 4 is celebrated as Independence Day.