The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America

“When in the Course of human events” begins a document that turns separation from a king into a question for the world: when may a people cast off its government?

In 1776, as the Thirteen Colonies confront British rule, Thomas Jefferson gives their case the force of a public reckoning. The Declaration moves from principles of equality and consent to a stark catalogue of grievances against George III, arguing that repeated abuses have made independence a right—and a duty. Its closing pledge places the representatives’ lives, fortunes, and honor behind that claim. How does a people make the break from empire not only an act of defiance, but a declaration of what government is for?

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