122
America’s First Constitutions and Declarations of Rights
vinced Americans at last that British officials were determined to subdue
the colonies at any cost, the American people advanced step by step toward a final break. On July 4, 1776, they announced their decision to
leave the empire. Although John Adams and Benjamin Franklin served
on the committee that was charged with the responsibility of drafting a
statement, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence was
Thomas Jefferson.
The document is divided into two parts. The first offered a philosophical justification for secession, based on the theory that all men are entitled to certain basic rights, that the purpose of government is to protect
those rights, and that the people have the right to abolish that government if it fails to fulfill its obligations. ‘‘We hold these truths to be selfevident,’’ wrote Jefferson,
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 serve 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 abolish it.
In the second part of the document, Jefferson presented a long list of
grievances against the King and Parliament, including those contained in
the 1774 Declaration, to demonstrate the many ways in which the government had endeavored to establish ‘‘an absolute Tyranny over those
States.’’ The document ended with an appeal to God ‘‘for the rectitude of
our intentions’’ and a solemn declaration that the thirteen colonies were
now ‘‘Free and Independent States . . . absolved from all allegiance to the
Crown.’’ Fifty-six delegates signed the document, asserting that ‘‘we
mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred
Honor’’ to defend the country at any cost.
The Declaration of In