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Sentiment for independence was crystallized by ''Common Sense'', the astonishingly successful pamphlet by [[Thomas Paine]]. It sold over 150,000 copies in spring 1776; copies were passed from hand to hand and read aloud at taverns in every colony. General [[George Washington]] was especially impressed and he had it read aloud to his soldiers. Paine's forceful argument convinced the majority that that the Empire was a dead weight on American aspirations, and the time was now to become independent. The Loyalists were left almost speechless. Support for the King, which had been fast dwindling away, evaporated after Americans digested Paine's philippic. Not only was liberty at risk under monarchy, Paine said, but so was peace, as monarchs had little else to do but lay "the world in blood and ashes." His key argument was an attack on the possibility of reconciliation. Paine convinced his readers that independence was more likely to bring peace and prosperity than continued subservience to the empire. But Paine drove ahead adding a millennial quality to the colonists' struggle. This was not a revolt over taxation. The survival of liberty and republicanism was at stake, he argued and if the American Revolution succeeded, generations yet unborn would owe a debt of gratitude to their forebearers who struggled to defend—-and expand-—freedom. Paine foresaw an America that would become "an asylum for mankind." Not only would America offer refuge to the world's oppressed, but like a shining beacon, revolutionary America would herald "the birth-day of a new world," the beginning of an epoch in which humankind across the earth could "begin the world over again."<ref> John Ferling, ''Setting the World Ablaze: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and the American Revolution.'' (2002) p. 130</ref>

The "Declaration Committee," which included [[Thomas Jefferson]] of Virginia, [[Roger Sherman]] of Connecticut, [[Benjamin Franklin]] of Pennsylvania, [[Robert R. Livingston]] of New York, and [[John Adams]] of Massachusetts, was appointed by Congress on June 11, 1776, to draft a declaration in anticipation of an expected vote in favor of American independence, which occurred on July 2. <ref name="committee members">{{cite web

Early drafts exist dating to June 1776.<ref> See [http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/declara/frag.html "Transcription of the Fragment of the Composition Draft of the Declaration of Independence"]</ref> Jefferson's colleagues [[Benjamin Franklin]] and Adams made small changes in his draft text and Congress made more. The finished document, which both declared independence and proclaimed a philosophy of government, was singly and peculiarly Jefferson's.<ref> See [http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration.html "Declaration of Independence"]</ref>

The opening philosophical section is closely based on Virginia's "Declaration of Rights," a notable summary of current revolutionary philosophy, written by [[George Mason]] and adopted in June 1776.<ref> see [http://gunstonhall.org/documents/vdr.html "The Virginia Declaration of Rights," Final Draft,12 June 1776]</ref>

The Declaration is notable for both its clarity and subtlety of expression, and it abounds in the felicities that are characteristic of Jefferson's best prose.<ref> See Carl Becker, ''The Declaration of Independence: A Study in the History of Political Ideas'' (1922) ch. 5, [http://books.google.com/books?id=VC5nCgcUmjsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=intitle:declaration+intitle:of+intitle:independence&lr=&num=30&as_brr=1 online edition]; Garry Wills, ''Inventing America: Jefferson's Declaration of Independence.'' (1978); Pauline Maier, ''American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence.'' (1997)</ref> More impassioned than any other of his writings, it is eloquent in its sustained elevation of style and remains his noblest literary monument.

Americans celebrated the Fourth of July and often read the Declaration at that event, but paid little attention to it other days of the year.<ref>Len Travers, ''Celebrating the Fourth: Independence Day and the Rites of Nationalism in the Early Republic'' (1999) </ref> That changed when [[Abraham Lincoln]] in the [[Gettysburg Address]] of 1863 stressed its priority over the Constitution. Since then the statement 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" has resounded strongly in the American psyche, though it is not echoed much in other countries.

By the 21st century, over half of the 192 nations of the world have such declarations. Most, according to Armitage (2007), have copied the style and structure of the Declaration. Most important, the Declaration has marked and helped create the "contagion of sovereignty" that has transformed a world of empires into a world of states.<ref> Historians discount the influence of previous declarations. David Armitage, ''The Declaration of Independence: A Global History'' (2007) [http://www.amazon.com/Declaration-Independence-Global-History/dp/0674022823/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212623939&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]</ref>

The world was impressed with how colonies broke away from an empire, but it paid little attention to its more controversial metaphysical claims about all men being born equal with certain rights. Translators had great difficulty handling its key concepts. For example, the "unalienable rights" of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness were extremely difficult concepts in China, Japan, and Spain (where Catholic teachings placed true happiness only in the other world). The translators' difficulties with the Declaration also indicate that the document's "truths" about human rights were not nearly so "self-evident" as Jefferson believed. In China and Russia, particularly, the political rights of the individual were clearly not self-evident. Although Americans often enthusiastically championed the benefits of democracy throughout the world, not all nations or peoples appreciated the [[libertarianism|libertarian]] and [[capitalism|capitalist]] values enunciated in the declaration. They did, however, appreciate its [[Republicanism]], and most new nations declared independence in order to become republics.<ref>Eugene Eoyang, "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Linguistic Parity: Multilingual Perspectives on the Declaration of Independence." '' Journal of American History'' 1999 85(4): 1449-1454. </ref>

Gustafson (2002) traces the various locations where the Declaration, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, (known collectively as the Charters of Freedom), were kept until transferred with great ceremony to the National Archives in 1952. The Declaration was moved from one city to another and was at the Patent Office in Washington from 1841 to 1876, among other locations. The Declaration and the Constitution were in the Library of Congress from 1921 to 1952, amid some rivalry with the National Archives as to their proper location. As part of a new conservation effort, the National Archives constructed new encasements to preserve the documents and return them to public display beginning 17 September 2003.<ref>Milton Gustafson, "Travels of the Charters of Freedom." ''Prologue: Quarterly of the National Archives and Records Administration'' 2002 34(4): 274-284. Issn: 0033-1031 </ref>

[[Robert Morris]], [[Benjamin Rush]], [[Benjamin Franklin]], [[John Morton]], [[George Clymer]], [[James Smith (signer) |James Smith]], [[George Taylor]], [[James Wilson]], [[George Ross]]

* Bancroft, George. ''History of the United States of America, from the discovery of the American continent.'' (1854-781854–78), vol 8 [http://jrshelby.com/sc-links/bancroft.htm online edition]

* McDonald, Robert M. S. "Thomas Jefferson's Changing Reputation as Author of the Declaration of Independence: The First Fifty Years," ''Journal of the Early Republic,'' Vol. 19, No. 2 (Summer, 1999), pp. 169-195 &nbsp;169–195 [http://www.jstor.org/pss/3124951 in JSTOR]

* Malone, Dumas. ''Jefferson and the Rights of Man.'' 1951. Pp. &nbsp;550pp, vol 2 of Malone's standard biography

* Ritz, Wilfred J. "The Authentication of the Engrossed Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776," ''Law and History Review,'' Vol. 4, No. 1. (Spring, 1986), pp. 179-204&nbsp;179–204. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0738-2480%28198621%294%3A1%3C179%3ATAOTED%3E2.0.CO%3B2-A in JSTOR]

* Aruga, Tadashi. "The Declaration of Independence in Japan: Translation and Transplantation, 1854-1997," ''The Journal of American History,'' Vol. 85, No. 4 (Mar., 1999), pp. 1409-1431 &nbsp;1409–1431 [http://www.jstor.org/pss/2568263 in JSTOR]* Bolkhovitinov, Nikolai N. "The Declaration of Independence: A View from Russia," ''The Journal of American History,'' Vol. 85, No. 4 (Mar., 1999), pp. 1389-1398 &nbsp;1389–1398 [http://www.jstor.org/pss/2568261 in JSTOR]* Bonazzi, Tiziano. "Tradurre/Tradire: The Declaration of Independence in the Italian Context," ''The Journal of American History,'' Vol. 85, No. 4 (Mar., 1999), pp. 1350-1361 &nbsp;1350–1361 [http://www.jstor.org/pss/2568256 in JSTOR]* Eoyang, Eugene. "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Linguistic Parity: Multilingual Perspectives on the Declaration of Independence," ''The Journal of American History,'' Vol. 85, No. 4 (Mar., 1999), pp. 1449-1454 &nbsp;1449–1454 [http://www.jstor.org/pss/2568265 in JSTOR]* Kutnik, Jerzy. "The Declaration of Independence in Poland," ''The Journal of American History,'' Vol. 85, No. 4 (Mar., 1999), pp. 1385-1388 &nbsp;1385–1388 [http://www.jstor.org/pss/2568260 in JSTOR]* Li, Frank. "East is East and West is West: Did the Twain Ever Meet? The Declaration of Independence in China," ''The Journal of American History,'' Vol. 85, No. 4 (Mar., 1999), pp. 1432-1448 &nbsp;1432–1448 [http://www.jstor.org/pss/2568264 in JSTOR]* Marienstras, Elise, and Naomi Wulf. "French Translations and Reception of the Declaration of Independence," ''The Journal of American History,'' Vol. 85, No. 4 (Mar., 1999), pp. 1299-1324 &nbsp;1299–1324 [http://www.jstor.org/pss/2568254 in JSTOR]* Oltra, Joaquim. "Jefferson's Declaration of Independence in the Spanish Political Tradition," ''The Journal of American History,'' Vol. 85, No. 4 (Mar., 1999), pp. 1370-1379 &nbsp;1370–1379 [http://www.jstor.org/pss/2568258 in JSTOR]

* Thelen, David. "Individual Creativity and the Filters of Language and Culture: Interpreting the Declaration of Independence by Translation," ''The Journal of American History,'' Vol. 85, No. 4 (Mar., 1999), pp. 1289-1298 &nbsp;1289–1298 [http://www.jstor.org/pss/2568253 in JSTOR]* Troen, S. Ilan. "The Hebrew Translation of the Declaration of Independence," ''The Journal of American History,'' Vol. 85, No. 4 (Mar., 1999), pp. 1380-1384 &nbsp;1380–1384 [http://www.jstor.org/pss/2568259 in JSTOR]* Vlasova, Marina A. "The American Declaration of Independence in Russian: The History of Translation and the Translation of History," ''The Journal of American History,'' Vol. 85, No. 4 (Mar., 1999), pp. 1399-1408 &nbsp;1399–1408 [http://www.jstor.org/pss/2568262 in JSTOR]* Zoraida Vazquez, Josefina. "The Mexican Declaration of Independence," ''The Journal of American History,'' Vol. 85, No. 4 (Mar., 1999), pp. 1362-1369 &nbsp;1362–1369 [http://www.jstor.org/pss/2568257 in JSTOR]

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