Declaration of Independence

  • Declaration of Independence
Declaration of Independence

In the summer of 1776, the Continental Congress appointed a committee of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman to draft a statement of independence for the 13 colonies. Jefferson drafted the document, and after several revisions, it was adopted by the Congress on the afternoon of July 4, 1776.

In exalted and unforgettable phrases, Jefferson expressed in the Declaration the convictions in the minds and hearts of the American people, summarizing a philosophy of “self-evident truths” and listing grievances against the King that justified to the world the colonists’ decision to break ties with their mother country.

Today, the Declaration of Independence is the nation’s most cherished symbol of liberty and is celebrated each year on July 4th, a national holiday that is considered America’s birthday.The original signed Declaration is safeguarded for the American people by the National Archives and is seen by more than 1 million people each year in the Archives’ Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom.

Download a high-resolution version of this document from the National Archives’ Online Public Access Database.

Past Featured Records
  • 70th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
    70th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

    Thursday, February 1, 2024 – Wednesday, February 28, 2024
    East Rotunda Gallery

    Equity in Education: 70 Years Later

    On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court delivered a unanimous ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka that “separate but equal” was unconstitutional in... Read more

  • 250th Anniversary of the Boston Tea Party
    250th Anniversary of the Boston Tea Party
    Thursday, December 14, 2023 – Wednesday, January 31, 2024
    East Rotunda Gallery

    The Destruction of the Tea

    It wouldn’t be known as the “Boston Tea Party” for another 50 years, but the destruction... Read more

  • Diseños: An Impact of Mexican Cession
    Diseños: An Impact of Mexican Cession
    Tuesday, June 20, 2023 – Wednesday, October 18, 2023
    East Rotunda Gallery

     

    At the end of the Mexican-American War, the United States annexed more than half of Mexico’s territory under the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Under its terms, the U.S. promised to... Read more

  • Celebrating Anna May Wong
    Celebrating Anna May Wong

    Anna May Wong
    National Archives, Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service

    “I want to be an actress, not a freak.”

    Film legend Anna May Wong’s talent could not be contained by the racist casting of early Hollywood movies. Born Wong Liu Tsong in Los Angeles in 1905,... Read more

  • The Maker of Pilots: Willa B. Brown
    The Maker of Pilots: Willa B. Brown

    Willa B. Brown, February 13, 1943
    National Archives, Records of the Office of War Information

    Aviator Willa Beatrice Brown (1906–92) achieved numerous “firsts” in her lifetime, many of them earned through her tireless advocacy to integrate aviation programs. Brown began taking flying lessons in 1934,... Read more