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The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaOn April 19, 1775, the Battles of Lexington and Concord initiated armed conflict between Great Britain and the 13 North American colonies (the nucleus of the future United States of America).
At that time few of the colonists consciously desired to separate from Britain. But as the American Revolution proceeded during 1775–76, Britain undertook to assert its sovereignty by means of large armed forces, making only a gesture toward conciliation.
Increasingly, the majority of Americans came to believe that they must secure their rights outside the British Empire.
The losses and restrictions that came from the war greatly widened the breach between the colonies and the mother country.
Moreover, it was necessary for the colonies to assert independence in order to secure as much French aid as possible.
The Declaration of Independence put forth the doctrines of natural rights and of government under social contract.
The document claimed that Parliament never truly possessed sovereignty over the colonies and that George III had persistently violated the agreement between himself as governor and the Americans as the governed.
When the Declaration was adopted, racing horsemen and the noise of cannon fire carried the news far and wide. General George Washington had the document read to the army, and its ringing sentences strengthened the morale of his troops.
The Declaration helped unify the colonies so that they all fought together instead of trying to make separate peace agreements with Britain.
Some of the phrases of the declaration have steadily exerted profound influence in the United States, especially the proclamation, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Although the meanings of these phrases, together with conclusions drawn from them, have been endlessly debated, the declaration has served to justify the extension of American political and social democracy.
The Declaration has also inspired revolutionary movements outside the United States.The document remains a great historical landmark in that it contained the first formal assertion by a whole people of their right to a government of their own choice.
