Declaration of Independence

There are many political documents that have made significance on this country today. They are the reason why we live the way we do today. They are what make this country what it is today. These documents give us the freedom in this country that others lack. One of these political documents would me the Declaration of Independence. It is essentially a document that justifies how the American Revolution is presented to the world. It also presents its unique combination of general principals and an abstract theory of government and specific grievances and injustices. It has given it enduring power as one of the great political documents of the west.

Few political documents have affected the world quite like the American Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence is the historic document in which the American Colonies declared freedom from Britain. The meaning of the document goes well beyond the immediate circumstances of the time. England had been waging war against the Americans for 14 months, since the shot heard around the world at concord, and when General Washington was already moving a growing continental army toward New York, when the colonists decided to put into effect the final break. The Second Continental congress, a meeting of delegates from the colonies, adopted the Declaration on July 4, 1776. This date has been declared as the birthday of the United States.

The Declaration of Independence expressed the colonies reasons for rejecting British rule. The opening paragraph states that the people of every country have the right to over throw any government that violates their essential rights. The remainder of the document listed ways the British had violated American rights. The ideas expressed in the Declaration have long inspired the pursuit of freedom and self-government throughout the world.

The events that led to the Declaration were that the American leaders repeatedly challenged the British Parliament to raise taxes. These taxes were the Stamp Act, Townshed Acts, and the Tea Act. The Stamp Act was a tax that required colonists to pay for tax stamps placed on various legal documents. The Townshed Acts were placed on imported goods. The Tea Act made British tea cheaper than tea the colonists had been smuggling into the colonies. The