Declaration of Independence

Thomas Jefferson• Author of the Declaration of Independence

July 4th 1776• The date the Declaration of Independence was

signed• 56 delegates signed it announcing the birth of

the United States

John Hancock

• First to sign the D.O.I (president of the 2nd Continental Congress)

Declaration of Independence• 4 Major Sections

1. Preamble – introduction (states that people who wish to form their own

country should explain their reasons)

2. Declaration of Natural Rights – lists the rights the colonist believed they

should have

3. List of Grievances (complaints)

4. Final section proclaims the existence of the new nation

Unalienable Rights

• a right that cannot be surrendered without due process of law(life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness)

Too Late to Apologize – A declaration