What is the declaration of independence?

Question

and what was it for?

Answer 1

It was to declare independence.

Answer 2

DECLARation of Independence-

As in Declaring Independence from Britian after the Colonies couldn't gain more influence in Parliament, so they took it out on King George the Third

Answer 3

I hope you are foreign.  It was a "declarement" of independance of Britain.  It stated that it was no longer part of Britain and insulted the king of Britain like 67 times.  It said it is its own soveriegn nation.  It just declared independance.

Answer 4

Well there were Declaration of Independence documents all over the world for different countries. "The Declaration of Independence" is just  a document saying that they have now become independent from another country from whom they were controlled by. For example, when Spain controlled "New Spain" or what is now Mexico, New Spain had a war against Spain and if New Spain won then they would become independent and would no longer be called "New Spain" but "Mexico" the independent name.

Answer 5

~It was a meaningless redundancy, although the prose was, and is, nice.

The Second Continental Congress actually declared independence on July 2, 1776, with delegates from 12 colonies voting in favor of the Lee Resolution.  New York abstained.  Rhode Island had already declared independence on its own on May 4th, but joined in the July 2 vote, it detracting nothing from that which they had already done.

Having declared independence, the Congress wanted prettier words.  They assigned the Committee of Five to draw up a document to try to explain and justify what they had done.  Jefferson and company had already been doing just that.  They borrowed from any number of sources and came up with something that was pretty good.  Most of their sources where British, like John Locke and the English Bill of Rights and they admitted that they had come up with nothing new, novel or unique, but such was not their intention.  They did not want to break new political of philosophical ground, they simply wanted to justify the treason in which they readily agreed they were involved.

On July 4, the Continental Congress revised what the Committee had presented and delegations of 12 colonies ratified it.  New York again abstained.  The document was sent off for engrossing.  One July 9, New York finally cast its affirmative vote.  The printer was advised to add the word "unanimous" to the title.  Obviously, unanimity could only be claimed if the Canadian and Caribbean British colonies were ignored, but they had opted out earlier.  In August, the finished document was returned and over the course of the following year, most of the people who had voted for it got around to signing it.  Not all of them signed, but that was okay.  A few people who didn't vote for it  did sign.

The proposition of independence was never presented to the people for vote.  There is a simple reason for that.  At its height, the independence movement enjoyed the support of only 1/3 of the colonists.  One-third remained loyal to the rightful sovereign and 1/3 never committed on way or the other.  Put to popular vote, the Declaration and the Lee Resolution would have failed by a wide margin.

Neither the Declaration nor the Lee Resolution had any legal effect whatsoever.  They did not make the colonies independent.  The Declaration was a propaganda tool by which the rebels hoped to garner international support.  In this, they failed.  The document, when finally circulated abroad, was greeted by an overwhelming yawn.  Saying one is no longer subject to the laws of one's nation does not make it so.  Think about it.  Can you say "The speed limit doesn't apply to me" and then get off on those grounds when picked up doing 105 in a 30?  There is absolutely no difference.

Independence was granted by the British by means of the Treaty of Paris in 1783.  At that time, 13 new countries were created in the Western Hemisphere.  In 1789, those 13 nations banded together in a commonwealth of nations while, they thought, retaining their status as independent nations.  In 1865, they found out that they had lost their independence.

Anyhow, the Declaration was simply a piece of propaganda intended to enlist support for a highly unpopular cause.  In spite of the fact that it contains no new ideas whatsoever, it remains a brilliant piece of rhetoric.  The fact that it failed abysmally in its intended purpose does not detract from that.

Oh come on people, get real.  Don't cop out with a thumbs down.  Tell me where I am factually or historically incorrect.  Oh, that's right - you can't.  I guess those meanie hurtful thumbs are all that are left to you.

Answer 6

The Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Contintetal Congress on July 4, 1776.  This statement was a formal announcement declaring the thirteen American colonies to be independent soverign states from Great Britian.  Practically it did nothing, the colonies had already been at war with Britian for over a year.  However it was philosophical milestone that gave the colonies more legatimacy in the eyes of the world and other Americans.  The statement stressed two Lockean principles, individual rights and right of revolution.  Nearly every other government overthrow that followed American Revolution references this document including the French Revolution, the South in the Civil War, and Ho Ci Minh in the Vietnam War.

Answer 7

It was the formal declaration of the American colonies to the British King ,George III, to state that the colonies intended to seek complete independance from Britain.

Answer 8

It was to declare independence from Great Britain and become our own states. Hints DECLAREation.