The Declaration of Independence proclaimed the thirteen American colonies independent from Great Britain.
In 1776, the colonies were part of the British Empire and were governed under the authority of King George III and the British Parliament. Colonial resistance intensified over taxation, military enforcement, trade restrictions, and the absence of direct colonial representation in Parliament.
The Declaration presented a list of grievances against the king and described principles about equality, rights, and government. Its purpose was both domestic and international: it justified separation to the colonies’ inhabitants and announced the new states’ position to foreign powers.
Great Britain is sometimes casually called England in discussions of the American Revolution, but the political opponent was the Kingdom of Great Britain. That kingdom united England and Scotland in 1707; the United Kingdom did not exist until 1801, after the American colonies had become independent.