Few colonists sought independence at the time war began with Great Britain in April 1775. But as the American Revolution wore on, many colonists began to favor freedom from British rule. During the winter of 1775–76 John Adams found the people of Massachusetts no longer willing to “whine in the style of humble petitioners” to the king of England.

New reasons for independence from Great Britain appeared regularly. In August 1775 King George III declared that the colonists were rebels and hired foreign troops to fight them. The British attacked the coast of Maine and did great damage in Virginia. At the end of 1775 Parliament passed an act stopping trade with the 13 colonies. Despite these events, many people still felt loyalty to the king. They blamed Parliament for their troubles and called upon the king to protect them from Parliament.

In January 1776 Thomas Paine published the pamphlet Common Sense. It ridiculed the idea of loyalty to the king. Paine wrote that George III was a “royal brute” who did not deserve loyalty. The right to inherit a throne did not make sense, Paine argued, and the king and the upper classes of England took advantage of not only the colonists but also the people of England. More than 100,000 copies of Common Sense were bought, and support for independence grew.

New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and South Carolina were the first colonies to establish independent governments. On May 15, 1776, the delegates to the Second Continental Congress adopted a motion recommending to the rest of the colonies that they too set up independent governments. On June 7 Richard Henry Lee, a Virginian, proposed to Congress the resolutions in favor of independence. The formal decision was put off nearly a month.

The Congress appointed a committee of five to draft the formal declaration. Thomas Jefferson wrote the first draft. A few changes were suggested by other members of the committee: John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston.

On July 2, 1776, Congress accepted unanimously the idea of independence. Congress then debated the content of the declaration over the next two days. On July 4 the Declaration of Independence was accepted by the representatives of 12 states. The New York delegation accepted it 11 days later. It was first published in newspapers and read aloud to crowds in towns throughout the colonies. Members of Congress signed the official parchment document on August 2. The original Declaration of Independence is kept in the National Archives in Washington, D.C. The document first lists the complaints against the English king and then makes the actual declaration. (For the text of the declaration, click here.)